A lazy sunday afternoon question about Life (cereal)

[thejnaitor]

Hey fellow ATOTers,

Are any of you Life cereal lovers like I am? If so, have you noticed how the big boxes (21 ounces) of Life taste noticeably different (read: worse) than the smaller boxes (15 ounces)? The problem with this is that all my local grocery stores sell the big boxes for less than the small boxes ($3.19 for the bix vs. $3.99 for the small) and I am sick of paying upwards of $16 for cereal each week since I go through about 4 boxes a week. Has anybody else noticed this? Also, I know it isn't just me, because my best friend and his wife have noticed the same thing, but they live in the same city as me. Maybe it's just a Utah problem?

 

[chrisms]

I can't answer your queston but I think you've motivated me to buy some Life and milk. That stuff is tasty, how it soaks up all the milk.

 

[minendo]

Unless the company screwed up packaging materials, there should be no difference in taste.

 

[InFeXiOn]

That's just plain weird. I mean, I don't eat Life cereal but I buy the cereals I do eat in small and bulk boxes all the time and have NEVER noticed a difference. That's so weird.

 

[moshquerade]

That's life...

 

[thejnaitor]

Yeah, I thought it was totally weird when I first noticed it too. That's why I had my buddy try the big boxes to see if he noticed a difference, and he did. I noticed it about a year ago probably, so it's not just been something recent. Also, why on earth would the smaller boxes be significantly more expensive than the bigger ones? It makes no sense.

 

[thejnaitor]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
That's life...

lol. I should have seen that coming.

 

[Indolent]

Originally posted by: thejnaitor
Yeah, I thought it was totally weird when I first noticed it too. That's why I had my buddy try the big boxes to see if he noticed a difference, and he did. I noticed it about a year ago probably, so it's not just been something recent. Also, why on earth would the smaller boxes be significantly more expensive than the bigger ones? It makes no sense.

I eat a lot of cereal but I'm not really a fan of Life. I'll have to look next time I go to the store to see if the big boxes are cheaper around here.

 

[Midlander]

Originally posted by: thejnaitor

Originally posted by: moshquerade
That's life...

lol. I should have seen that coming.

Wait for the bowl of cherries comment.

 

[ppdes]

Reminds me of how the local pizza place here makes their pizza differently if they are selling it by the slice or the pie. My friends swear the slices are bigger bought individually.

 

[DrPizza]

I've noticed that with several types of products; not with Life cereal though. Notably, Troyer Farms potato chips, in the 25cent bags taste a LOT different than the chips in the $2 sized bags. Last time I checked, the ingredient list was different too (at least for salt&vinegar and bbq) - sort of like they try to hook you with better flavored chips in smaller bags, then rip you off on the big bags.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Check on the package to see who it was made and distributed by. Its possible that different factories are making each size, and they could be using different formulas for making it, which would likely account for the difference in taste.

 

[keeleysam]

Write corporate, I'm sure they will send you some coupons for free cereal.

 

[TwinkleToes77]

Originally posted by: ppdes
Reminds me of how the local pizza place here makes their pizza differently if they are selling it by the slice or the pie. My friends swear the slices are bigger bought individually.

That's something I've noticed too. You can get 4 LARGE slices of pizza out of 1 pie if you pie it by the slice.. where as you get 10 tiny slices if you buy a pie

 

[thejnaitor]

darkswordsman17: Last time somebody in the family bought a large box I checked on both packages to see where they were made and, as far as I could tell, it was the same place. I don't have a large box on hand right now because I don't ever buy them on purpose, and if one gets purchased I usually manage to pawn it off on my older brother who doesn't seem to mind the taste... hehe.

keeleysam: Thanks for the idea. I hadn't thought about doing that before, but I just went ahead and emailed them about it through their website.

 

[johnjbruin]

Sometimes packaging for different sizes happens at different plants. It is quite possible that the machines in one of the plants are not calibrated exactly as the machine in the other plant. Or the ingredients for one plant is different from the other plant. For e.g., corn from state 1 could be different in taste from corn from state 2.
Why don't you just call the 800/888 number on the box and ask them? Let us know what they say.

 

[Lola]

I love LIFE cereal more than almost any other kind.
I am a weirdo that likes my cereal less than crunchy so this is THE perfect cereal for that.
It is sweet but not too sweet.
All flavors are good to me.
Now, I have never noticed the taste difference between the larger and smaller boxes.

 

[MX2]

I buy the smaller boxes and I LOOOVE Life cereal. With just enough milk so that when you are done with the cereal, there is hardly any milk left, you get a mix of crunchy and milk soaked....yum!

 

[Amused]

No love for Cinnamon Life?

 

[Tremulant]

cinnamon life is my favorite.

 

[FoBoT]

Hey Mikey! He likes it!!

 

[thejnaitor]

Originally posted by: Amused
No love for Cinnamon Life?

I was actually going to try a box of cinnamon life yesterday but I got 4 of the original (small) boxes instead... hehe. I noticed that the cinnamon kind has a tad more sugar than the original so I didn't want to chance it. I think Life is plenty sweet as it is (especially when combined with vanilla soy milk).

 

[pennylane]

I've noticed that different packages of chips ahoy also taste different. ie, smaller packages taste better. I never figured out why.

 

[Miramonti]

I'm amazed at how much sugar they put in Life these days. Absolutely disgusting.

 

[thejnaitor]

fanerman91: Finally somebody that has potentially noticed something similar to what I've seen! I'm not a fan of chips ahoy really, but I'm glad (and feel sorry for you at the same time) that a similar issue exists with them.

jjsole: The first time I had Life cereal was last November of 2005. I've been hooked since then. Have they really put more in? It doesn't seem sugary...