Product Review: EnviroKidz
In the nice little giveaway package from Kelly, I received a number of products with the brand name of EnviroKidz. Specifically, 3 organic crispy rice cereal bars (peanut butter, berry, and chocolate), and 2 boxes of cereal (“Leapin’ Lemurs Peanut Butter & Chocolate” and “Penguin Puffs Whole Grain Cereal with Brown Rice, Kamut, Corn & Qunioa”).
EnviroKidz prides itself on two main points: a) being organic, and b) donating part of its sales to a wildlife charity. Aww! How sweet! Then you realize that it’s 1% of all their sales. Which I’m sure amounts to quite a bit because cereal companies are a jackpot, but even so, you’re making all that money and then you donate 1% of your sales to a wildlife fund just so you can stamp that on all your packaging? To me that’s kind of like adopting a homeless kid just so you can drag them off to special events and show them off to people to demonstrate what a generous person you are (a la this episode on the Sarah Silverman Show).
(End of rant).
Organic Crispy Rice Cereal Bars
The front nutritional claim states that these bars contain nothing artificial and no additives. And, of course, it’s organic! Turn the package over and the nutrition facts label is very similar for each bar: 110 calories per 28g bar; 2.5-3g fat, 20g carbs with 1g fiber and 7g sugar, and 2g protein. Not much in terms of vitamins and minerals, unless you count the 15% daily value of iron in the chocolate bar.
Okay, so now comes the fun part of flipping up the wrapper so we can look at the tiny print of the ingredients list. Seriously, what is it with bars and ingredients lists? The ingredients list is arguably the most important piece of information on the package and it’s always in tiny print and hidden from view. No wonder we don’t know anything about the food we are eating!
(End of rant #2).
They all share the same beginnings of the ingredients list: organic crispy rice (organic brown rice flour, granulated organic sugar cane juice, sea salt, organic molasses, organic rice bran extract), organic brown rice syrup, organic honey. Then they go on to include many other things, but among them is organic soy oil, organic corn starch, organic invert cane syrup, organic peanut butter, and organic cocoa.
Let’s have fun for a moment and take out the word “organic” from the ingredients. Now re-read that list. Mmm, sugar! Remember that organic does not mean something is nutritious. That word on the package implies the environment is being treated right and that there’s no weird chemicals, but does not mean its healthy.
Basically, we’re looking at a candy bar here, although I will agree that this is going to be better for you than other candy bars because there are far fewer calories and fat in this one, and it also does use natural ingredients. Also, even though sugar is listed under different names many times, 7g of sugar for a cereal bar isn’t too bad. That’s just under 2tsp of sugar for the whole thing.
Now for the good part, the taste! Super delicious. The peanut butter had very distinct peanut butter and honey flavours; the chocolate was decidedly chocolatey, and I loved that the berry one used freeze-dried blueberries and raspberries in it. These are decently sized and chewy. They make for a tasty treat!
The Cereal
Leapin’ Lemurs tastes exactly like peanut butter and chocolate flavoured corn pops. They are super crunchy and are honestly fantastic in a bowl with skim milk (my feeble attempts to make it somewhat healthy:)). Penguin Puffs also have a corn pops taste and their nutrition facts are almost identical to Leapin’ Lemurs.
Nutrition Facts: 120 calories per 3/4 cup serving; 1.5g fat, 25g carbs with 2g fibre and 8g sugar, 2g protein.
Ingredients List: organic corn meal, organic whole grain corn meal, granulated organic sugar cane juice, organic peanut butter, organic molasses, organic cocoa, sea salt, organic soy oil, natural flavour, tocopherols.
No doubt about it, this cereal is far more dessert than cereal! Take out the word “organic” again. At least the first two ingredients aren’t sugar, I suppose?
Overall, it would probably be better to not get either the cereal or the bars for your kids, because they might get addicted. Yum. These food products really can’t be considered part of a healthy breakfast or snack, but they’re way better than just about any other kids sugary cereals out there, and if you’re looking for a tasty once-in-a-while treat that uses natural ingredients, then EnviroKidz would fit that description very well.
Tasty!
Never heard of those products before!
Happy Friday!
Totally agree with you. Smacking Organic onto a label, people are often tricked to think that they are healthy, even if they are still filled with sugar!
Great review!
I always ask what % goes to the actual cause when talking to charity peoples. Its vary rare to find any that go 100%, I believe here in the UK they have to give a minimum of 4% to be considered a charitable organisation.
Natural Flavouring is also very bad.
I never buy cerals anymore, stick to oatmeal! yum!
Well after that month long challenge you accomplished, you deserve a treat!!
I totally agree. It’s like they try to use the word “organic” thinking people will think it’s healthy. I just try to give my kids real food. I’ve seen those cereals, and bars at the grocery, and even “organic” Mack N’ Cheese. Doesn’t mean it’s any more nutritious then the other kind. Thanks for the review.
Biz319- I hadn’t either until I got them in the package. They must be hiding behind the Frosted Flakes at the grocery store.
Sharon- it’s terrible misuse of the word organic.
Jack- mmm oatmeal, so good. Natural flavoring makes me wary, but I never really understand that ingredient. I need to learn more about what exactly it means. As far as charities go, I’m pretty wary of most of them too because of the %, but I LOVE World Vision- they give a lot of their money to the people themselves.
Dr. J- oohh I’ve had more than enough treats:)
Fitness Surfer- or whole wheat mac and cheese, I think they have that kind too. Probably a vitamin enhanced one as well lol. So good that you give your kids real food!
Yum. I love “dessert” cereal… I know, the sugar isn’t ideal, but everything in moderation, right? 🙂
i love kiddie cereals like these 🙂
Thanks for the review and for reminding us that organic does not equal healthy. That’s a ton of sugar for cereal – it’s right on par with Lucky Charms and Froot Loops. And it’s not like our bodies can tell the differences btwn HFCS and brown rice syrup.
Great product review!
“Organic” definitely does seem to be the craze nowadays, and if you think about it, everything has an organic base…. but let’s not get technical! 🙂
Thanks for the review! Ive seen these around and was wondering about them
Kelly Turner
http://www.everygymsnightmare.com
Thanks for the review! Ive seen these around and was wondering about them
Kelly Turner
http://www.everygymsnightmare.com
Thanks for the review! Ive seen these around and was wondering about them
Kelly Turner
http://www.everygymsnightmare.com
Envirokidz products are definitely tasty… but I don’t buy them for exactly the same reasons that you ranted about. You’re totally right that people see the word organic and think “healthy!”. I’d rather have PB puffins – yum.
Juliet & Loveofoats- the packaging is so cute too!
Charlotte- you're right; added sugar is still added sugar.
Bag Lady- haha I hadn't thought about it like that before! It's such a misleading term.
Kelly- I still have so much of the cereal from the giveaway to go through… yum.
Magpie- I can't stress how happy it makes me when I see products with ONE ingredient in the list. That's a real food.
New ones for me! Thanks for the reviews! Always good!
just found your blog, great post!
Thanks for the review! Love the rants. 🙂
I completely agree with you. Organic or not, sugar is still sugar. I prefer the less is more approach especially when it comes to the kid. And I’ve always been wary of cereal bars – what’s wrong with snacking on an apple or a hunk of cheese…
Oh, I actually popped by to say Happy New Year (she says after ranting!).
And, yes regular sugar would be perfectly good in the panettone (it’s an Italian Christmas bread) pudding. If you’re looking for ideas for regular bread pudding, I have one with Nutella 🙂
Mark & Jenn- am glad you like!
Cassandra- thanks! Hope you stick around:)
Dee- rants always get first priority:) I've never been a huge huge fan of Nutella, but am still wanting to try my hand at bread pudding at some point… I've never made it before and it sounds like fun!
I totally agree… whether or not something is organic, if it’s packed with sugar it’s dessert, not “real” food!
shopping list shopping list!
how did I miss this post?
thanks Sagan. I think it might be less sugary than what the husband feeds the Toddler—baby steps around here…
Crabby- there’s a whole lot of dessert food out there that we think of as real food!
MizFit- it’s okay, my mum fed my little twin cousins maple syrup on Christmas morning, and they’re only a couple months old. Ack.