Comparison: Bran Flakes

Despite my mediocre success thus far at Nutrisystem (due completely to my own weak, emotional eating), I want to be prepared for WHEN (not if) I lose the weight.  They offer "maintenance" plans including ordering foods a la carte.  So I've decided to start doing a comparision between Nutrisystem foods, homemade foods, and store bought foods to decide which items, if any, I will continue buying a la carte.

Comparison: Bran Flakes

 The contenders:

• NutriFlakes Cereal
• Safeway Bran Flakes

I was not about to spend time making my own cereal so there is no homemade contender for this comparison.

Nutrition

The most important comparison for me is nutrition.  In my brief review of all my Nutrisystem foods, the primary difference compared to "regular" food is the increased protein and fiber, and lower fat and sugar. 

*I increased the Bran Flakes serving size from 3/4 cup to 1 cup to make them more comparable.

Volume/Appearance

No big difference in volume between the two cereals.  Bran Flakes filled the bowl slightly more, but it also has 10 more calories.  Bran Flakes had larger flake sizes.

Left: NutriFlakes.  Right: Bran Flakes

Taste

NutriFlakes had a slightly sweeter taste, but it also absorbed the milk very quickly and was a bit soggy after only a couple minutes.  Bran Flakes was crunchy and slightly less sweet.  They both had a bit of a gritty texture and were basically what you would expect from a bran cereal.  I personally like bran, but to each their own.

Cost

Buying one serving of NutriFlakes a la carte costs $1.79.  The Bran Flakes cost $3.00 per box with approximately 12 servings or $0.25 per serving.

Other Considerations

NutriFlakes comes in it's handy, pre-measured serving bowl which is recyclable.  Bran Flakes on the other hand comes in a cardboard box and plastic bag like most cereals.  Environmentally Bran Flakes makes less waste, but you will need to deal with the minor inconvenience of measuring out your serving size, which could easily become too large of a serving size if, like me, you have a bad habit of pouring without measuring.

Left: NutriFlakes.  Right: Bran Flakes.

 Conclusion

Overall, Bran Flakes is a decent replacement for NutriFlakes with the cost alone making it well worth it.  This is one item I would not buy a la carte.

Product Review: Tofurkey Vegan Pizza

This blog seems to have turned into a long discussion of my attempts to lose weight by overcoming my obsessive eating habits.  That wasn't my original intention, but I once read a post about how people tend to only present the best of themselves on the internet, giving people an unrealistic impression of their lives.  That struck a chord with me, so I've been trying to keep it real by documenting my attempts and failures.  They've mostly been failures.  In fact, here is another partial failure for you.  I recently started Nutrisystem.  The first week went great, second week had some cheating, third week was a disaster.  I'm not so good with that "will power" thing.  Oh, well.  Fourth week will be awesome, right?  I've lost 7 pounds so far and gained 2 back.  Still in the negative! 

So, back to my original intention for this blog: discussing food!

Tofurkey Vegan Pizza

I was strolling through the frozen food section of the grocery store, looking for something for dinner.  My requirements:

• Healthy
• Child Approved
• No Cooking (I'd been doing too much lately.)

What did my eyes behold, but a frozen pizza from Tofurky!  I love their deli meats, especially the hickory smoked variety, so I immediately snatched it up. 

• Pizza - definitely child approved. 
• Whole wheat and soy protein - healthy approved.  

I opted for the Italian Sausage variety since it came with "fire roasted veggies."  I'm all about finding ways to get my child to eat more veggies and pizza is a good way. 

http://www.tofurky.com/tofurkyproducts/pizza.html

My first impression was that I either didn't cook it long enough or the crust was too thin.  I ended up eating it with a fork and knife because the crust couldn't support all the toppings.  Second impression - spicy!  I didn't end up feeding it to my child for this reason.  I can stand a little heat so long as it doesn't take away from the flavor, but this was a bit much for me.  Third impression - cardboard aftertaste.  Maybe it needs the heat to cover up the not-so-great taste.  Overall: not impressed.  I'd be interested to see if the other varieties are any better.  The price was decent, but I didn't enjoy it enough to finish the whole pizza the first time so I'd rather not waste food by trying another.

Have you tried one of their pizzas?  Thoughts?