A bowl of muesli can be a nourishing, fibre-packed breakfast that sets you up properly for the day — oats with a generous sprinkling of nuts, raisins and seeds. The problem is that lots of the muesli you find in the supermarket is closer to granola or flapjack mix than cereal, made too cloying with sweetened dried fruit and caramelised nuts.
My favourite muesli is the balanced variety, not the kind that turns milk into a milkshake. One of the mueslis I tried had a whopping 27g of sugar per 100g — I could barely have more than two spoonfuls.
Here are the cereals I liked the most, and a few I’ll leave on the supermarket shelf.
Jordans Fruit & Nut
★★★★★
Waitrose, 620g, £3.80
This bulky muesli gives your jaw a big workout from the chunks of nuts, coconut shavings, seeds and jumbo oats. But it’s balanced and has one of the lowest amounts of sugar in this selection — 14.6g per 100g.
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Dorset Cereals Fruit, Nuts & Seeds
★★★★★
Ocado, 600g, £4.50
A muesli that has got the ratios of fruit, oats and seeds just right. Most importantly, it doesn’t taste so sugary it feels like a children’s breakfast cereal.
Fruit
★★★★★
In store at M&S, 1kg, £3.50
Spot-on muesli — a good mix of dried banana, raisins, flaked oats and toasty wheatflakes. This will set you up for a good day, but it does contain a lot of sugar.
Duchy Organic Muesli with Raisins and Almonds
★★★☆☆
Waitrose, 750g, £3
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For people who prefer a more savoury muesli. Each spoonful is mostly wheat and oat flakes, and you have to go fishing for raisins and whole almonds, but it’s very satisfying.
The Best Fruit & Nut Granola Muesli
★★☆☆☆
Morrisons, 500g, £3
Is this trail mix, muesli or granola? With caramelised nuts and huge raisins it would be perfect for a crumble topping, but it’s too sweet to be something I want to start my day with. Plus it’s got the most sugar — 27g per 100g — of the lot.
Crownfield Premium Fruit & Nut
★★☆☆☆
In store at Lidl, 750g, £1.89
There’s a lot going on here — raisins, nuts and unidentifiable cubes of dried tropical fruit, which delivers a sugary hit with just one spoonful. It tastes more like flapjack than breakfast.
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Specially Selected Very Berry
★★☆☆☆
Aldi, 500g, £1.99
A very good base of crunchy barley and toasted wheat flakes. But not everyone will love the extremely tart freeze-dried redcurrants that turn the milk pink.
Taste the Difference Fruit & Nut
★☆☆☆☆
Sainbury’s, 500g, £3
There is no way I could eat a whole bowl of this. It’s shockingly sweet because of the dried tropical fruits.
