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To choose a good breakfast cereal for your kids, essentially you need to turn into a label detective. Check these 3 things and you will more than likely make a great choice.

The 3 things to check when choosing a healthy breakfast cereal

1. Sugar content in a healthy breakfast cereal

1. Find the nutrition information panel on your breakfast cereal.

2. Look at the per 100g column (Ignore Per Serve)

3. Is the sugar content less than 10g per 100g?

YES : Perfect, It meets the sugar test, move on to fibre
NO : Ok a little bit more due diligence is needed, on to step 4

4. Check the ingredients list

Is sugar (or one of its buddies) listed in the first 3 ingredients? (Check the list below for ingredients that all essentially mean sugar)

YES : Put it back on the shelf
NO : Ok two more things to check, move on to step 5

5. Check the ingredients list

Does the cereal contain dried fruits?

If it does, then we can be a little bit more lenient on the amount of sugar per 100g.

6. Is the sugar content less than 15-20g per 100g? (The lower the better)

Yes : Ok, it is probably an ok choice from a sugar perspective
No : Put it back on the shelf

2. Fibre Content of a Healthy Breakfast cereal

1. Find the nutrition information panel on your breakfast cereal.

2. Look at the per 100g column (Ignore Per Serve)

3. Is the fibre content more than 10g per 100g?

YES : Perfect, It passes the fibre test, Move on to salt
NO : Put it back on the shelf, there will be better cereals to choose

3. Salt Content of a Healthy Breakfast Cereal (Sodium)

1. Find the nutrition information panel on your breakfast cereal.

2. Look at the per 100g column (Ignore Per Serve)

3. Is the sodium content less than 120 mg per 100g?

YES : Perfect, It passes the salt test. Put it in your trolley
NO : Put it back on the shelf, there will be better cereals to choose.

When it comes to salt < 120mg sodium per 100g is always a good choice. In some product categories I would consider up to 400mg per 100g acceptable. However I think breakfast cereals is a category that we should stick to the lower 120mg guide.

Heathy Breakfast Cereal Choices

If you are time poor, and these steps seem just too hard. Then here are two choices that will always be good.

Wheat Biscuits (Don't worry about the brand)
Rolled Oats (Must be plain, the flavoured ones can be very high in sugar)

MIX it UP

If you find that the cereal you absolutely adore doesn't quite meet the 3 criteria. Then go for the mix it up strategy. Mix cereals together, ie higher sugar cereals with low sugar cereals, and low fibre ones with high fibre ones. The end result will be better! You will more than likely have improved the nutritional profile.

I have a large glass jar, with a big scoop! I mix mueslis that come on special in the jar. The kids then get served a wheat biscuit in their bowl with a mix of muesli on top.

In the winter we are pretty much a porridge family!

My MEGA MIX healthy breakfast cereal Jar! I love this jar and my stainless steel scoop.

This video looks at the sugar content per serve of some regular kids breakfast cereal

THE SUGAR GALLERY

I'm busy building a sugar gallery at the moment. A visual reference guide for parents showing how much sugar is in common every day foods. It grows all the time, and will cover most food categories including breakfast cereals check it out!

Head to the Sugar Gallery.

So go on, check the breakfast cereal in your cupboard. Does it pass the test? Or do you need to consider a different one next time you are at the supermarket