Aldi has a history of copying popular name brand products and packaging, sometimes rather shamelessly. From soup to rolls to premium ice cream, or just about anything really, if there’s a name-brand food out there, Aldi has probably tried to imitate it at some point.
One of the more brazen copycat attempts I’ve seen recently was with some cereal treat bars with packaging that makes them look like dead ringers for name-brand Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal bars. Take a look and judge for yourself:
Millville Marshmallows & Stars Frosted Oat Cereal Treat Bars and Millville Cinnamon Crunch Squares Cereal Treat Bars each cost $3.99 for a box. Each box contains 15 individually wrapped 0.84-oz. bars, and they come out to about 27 cents per bar.
The Aldi bars are a better deal than name brands at most other retailers. Lucky Charms or Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal bars at Target are $2.99 for a box of eight 0.85-oz. bars at the time of publication (about 37 cents per bar). A value pack of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal bars from Walmart are $5.48 for sixteen 0.85-oz. bars (34 cents per bar).
The Millville cereal treat bars are Aldi Finds (Special Buys), which means they’re only in stores for a short time. Once they sell out at your local store, that’s it, and Aldi does not offer online ordering for its specials.
These are classic sugary cereal bars with a white yogurt-like or icing-like coating on the bottom. With 11 grams of added sugar per bar, they’re not health foods and are probably best saved for an occasional treat, although on the plus side they are small and have between 100 and 110 calories per serving. They don’t contain high fructose corn syrup, although they do have corn syrup, corn syrup solids, and other processed ingredients. They also contain no synthetic colors, in keeping with Aldi’s commitment several years ago to stop using artificial colors in its house brands. Both cereal bar boxes state these do contain bioengineered ingredients.
If you’re watching out for allergens, both of these bar varieties contain almonds, milk, peanuts, soy, and wheat. They may contain other tree nuts not listed.
Read on for more information on each bar variety.
Millville Marshmallows & Stars Frosted Oat Cereal Treat Bars
These were my family’s favorite of the two cereal bar varieties. It has that classic Lucky Charms flavor with colorful marshmallow pieces interspersed among cereal pieces all held together in a sticky, chewy bar with an iced bottom.
Millville Marshmallows and Stars Cereal Bars nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
One 24-gram bar has 100 calories, 2.5 grams of total fat (3% DV), 1.5 grams of saturated fat (8% DV), no cholesterol, 90 mg of sodium (4% DV), 19 grams of total carbohydrates (7% DV), no dietary fiber, 12 grams of total sugars, 11 grams of added sugars (22% DV), and 1 gram of protein.
One bar also has 10% of your daily requirement of folate and Vitamin B6.
Millville Cinnamon Crunch Squares Cereal Treat Bars
My family loves Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and these bars taste fine, although my family likes the Lucky Charms imitation bars mentioned above better. These feature cinnamon and sugar cereal squares held together by that same classic sticky goo, with a “yogurt” bottom and a drizzle of icing on top.
Millville Cinnamon Crunch Squares Cereal Bars nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
One 24-gram bar has 110 calories, 3.5 grams of total fat (4% DV), 2 grams of saturated fat (10% DV), no cholesterol, 85 mg of sodium (4% DV), 18 grams of total carbohydrates (7% DV), no dietary fiber, 12 grams of total sugars, 11 grams of added sugars (22% DV), and 1 gram of protein.
One bar also has 10% of your daily requirement of iron and Vitamin B6.
The Verdict:
Millville Marshmallows & Stars Frosted Oat Cereal Treat Bars and Millville Cinnamon Crunch Squares Cereal Treat Bars look and taste just like their name brand cereal bar counterparts: Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. These are loaded with sugar and are not ideal to eat daily for breakfast or as a snack, but they are a fun occasional treat.
