Have you tried these Nature Valley Soft Oatmeal Rounds yet? They’re pretty good!

They come in two flavors:

Apple Cinnamon
Banana Chocolate Chip

In this article, I’ll be reviewing the Apple Cinnamon flavor. Check out this article for a review of the banana chocolate chip flavor.

Where to Purchase Nature Valley Soft Oatmeal Rounds

These NV oatmeal rounds are actually meant for foodservice, so you will not be able to find them in grocery stores.

You could order these from online stores, like Amazon; however, you’ll receive an entire case of 72 oatmeal rounds.

Packaging

These Nature Valley Soft Oatmeal Rounds Apple Cinnamon come frozen. Considering this, it could be a challenge if you have limited frozen space.

I like that the packaging has a clear window so you can see the product, while still being colorful and featuring the Nature Valley branding.

You can serve these at room temperature or warmed. If choosing to serve them warm, the packaging is ovenable film, so you can use an oven or warmer to heat them. This is great because I’ve seen products with non-ovenable packaging put in the oven, and it’s not pretty!

First Impressions

My “rounds” weren’t perfect circles, so they measured different diameters at different points, but on average, they’re about 3.25” round.

This gives pretty decent plate coverage and is about the size of any other school oatmeal bar that credits for 2 oz grain.

Up close, you can see oats baked into the round, along with the cinnamon chips. The chips are the same color as the rest of the bar, so you have to look closely to find them. There’s no visible apples in the bar.

Taste & Texture

The flavor of the Nature Valley Soft Oatmeal Rounds Apple Cinnamon is good but not very strong.

The apple cinnamon flavor was subtle and reminded me of a toned-down version of a packet of apple cinnamon instant oatmeal. Heating the round made the flavors stand out more and brought out more of the sweetness.

The texture is somewhere between an oatmeal cookie and baked oatmeal. Not as sweet and buttery as a cookie but more compact than baked oatmeal.

The texture became much softer when heated, which made it more difficult to eat. I actually preferred the flavor and texture of the room temperature oatmeal round over the heated version.

They are a tad dry, so you’ll need something to wash it down with.

Nature Valley Soft Oatmeal Rounds Apple Cinnamon Ingredients

As a registered dietitian, I read carefully the Nature Valley soft oatmeal round apple cinnamon ingredients and found some I liked and a few I didn’t.

Whole Grain Oats & Whole Wheat Flour

These two ingredients make up the grain ingredients in the oatmeal round, and since both are whole grain, this is a 100% whole grain product.

Whole grains add fiber and additional vitamins and minerals that refined grains don’t, so I love seeing an option that uses entirely whole grain ingredients.

Sugar

Sugar is the third ingredient listed, which means it’s the third most prevalent ingredient by weight.

Palm Oil

Nutritionally, palm oil falls somewhere between butter or shortening and canola or olive oil. They contain less saturated fat than butter or shortening, but more than canola or olive oil. This makes them more of a semisolid at room temperature rather than a full solid or full liquid.

An additional factor to consider is the growing concern with increased use of palm oil on the environment. To make room for palm oil plantations, there has been a widespread deforestation of tropical rainforests, something that’s a major concern for endangered species and global warming.

The World Wide Fund for Nature advocates for manufacturers to adopt sustainable methods for purchasing palm oil. They also conduct a periodic review of manufacturers’ practices as they pertain to a sustainable way to purchase palm oil and gives them a score.

General Mills, Nature Valley’s parent company, chose not to participate in the last assessment.

Tapioca Syrup

Tapioca syrup is a sweetener that has 15% less calories and sugars as corn syrup, so it has a slightly better nutrient profile. Even still, it is adding extra sugars to the product.

Tapioca syrup is also used as a binder to keep the breakfast round from falling apart.

Apple Puree Concentrate

Fruit puree concentrates are just like they sound: fruit that has been pureed, then the water removed to concentrate it into a more potent version of the fruit. The concentrated version is sweeter, since the fruit sugar is more condensed.

Because of this, fruit puree concentrates are commonly used to add flavor and sweeten a product.

But here’s the catch. The FDA doesn’t require companies to include the extra sugar from fruit puree concentrates in their “added sugar” calculation. So companies are now using these fruit purees to sweeten products without needing to claim them as added sugar. Sneaky.

The fruit puree concentrate will still be reported in the Total Sugar count, so in this case, the apple puree concentrate is adding up to 2g of sugar to each round.

Nature Valley Soft Oatmeal Rounds Apple Cinnamon Nutrition

Sugar

Speaking of sugar, if planning for about 500 calories at breakfast, each round would contribute 10.4% of those calories from added sugar. This is slightly higher than the Dietary Guidelines recommendation of 10% or less calories coming from added sugar.

However, you could easily balance this by offering less options with added sugar throughout the week.

Dietary Fiber

Each round contributes 4g of dietary fiber, which is a significant amount! This is coming mainly from the whole grain oats and whole wheat flour.

Considering the average child doesn’t consume enough fiber, a product like this can help meet that need.

Protein

Each oatmeal round contains 5g of protein, which may seem surprising. However, oats do contain quite a bit of protein, compared to white flour.

Paired with a milk, students will meet the recommended 10% minimum calories from protein for breakfast.

School Uses

This item credits for 2oz grain in the school meal programs. This makes for a good entrée option for breakfast. Additionally, it could be paired with eggs or a parfait to make a hearty breakfast-for-lunch option.

The item does not meet Smart Snack requirements, so it can only be sold a la carte the day it is served as a reimbursable item and the day after.

A Dietitian’s Recommendation

Truthfully, this is a slightly healthier version of an oatmeal cookie, dressed up as a breakfast bar. I recommend serving this once a cycle, balanced with lower-sugar options.

Procurement Tips for Schools

For school nutrition programs, here is a suggested specification:

Breakfast Bar/Round, oatmeal, apple cinnamon, whole grain, IW

Comparable Products for “or Equal” Consideration

• J&J Snacks # 40403, Readi-Bake BeneFIT Apple Cinnamon Bar
  • This one is only 51% WG, compared to 100% for the NV oatmeal round
  • Oats are further down on the list, making this less “oatmealy”
  • The packaging is NOT ovenable
• Darlington’s 75100, Appleways WG Soft Oatmeal Apple Bars
  • It’s also only 51% WG
  • This doesn’t have cinnamon listed – be sure to update the spec to just “apple” if you plan on using this item as an “or equal”
  • The packaging is NOT ovenable
• Zee Zee’s # D60260 Berry Apple Crisp Bar
  • This one also has berry flavor, in addition to apple & cinnamon
  • It is also only 51% WG
  • The packaging is NOT ovenable
• Rich’s #08733, UBR Cinnamon Ultimate Breakfast Round IW
  • If you’re not married to the idea of “apple cinnamon” and would settle for just “cinnamon”, this is a similar product. Just be sure to update your spec to say something like “apple cinnamon or cinnamon”
  • It’s not listed online, so I can’t guarantee the packaging is ovenable.
• Bake Crafter’s #2234, Break Bar in Apple Cinnamon
  • This one only credits as 1 oz grain
  • It’s also not 100% WG, but a little higher than some others – 56% WG
  • The packaging is NOT ovenable
• Kellogg’s #38000-59779, Nutri-Grain Soft-Baked Breakfast Bar Apple Cinnamon
  • This only also only credits as 1 oz grain
  • As written, this item does meet the spec, even if they seem like totally separate products.
  • If you’re looking for something more like the NV oatmeal round, I recommend adding more descriptors (see below)

Additional Descriptors to Consider

If you have good reason to narrow down your options, you could add the following descriptor to your specification:

each = 2 oz grain

This will exclude the Bake Crafters and Nutr-Grain bar. You would want to include this if you don’t plan on pairing the oatmeal bar/round with anything else. If you DO consider the 1oz grain items and “or equal”, you’ll want to account for this in your bid calculation, as the 1oz bars will be smaller.

ovenable packaging

This eliminates all the other options except the Nature Valley soft oatmeal rounds. You could justify this if you plan on serving the item hot, rather than just warmed.

Summary

The Nature Valley Soft Oatmeal Rounds Apple Cinnamon are a hearty breakfast item suitable for school breakfast menus.

For more information on writing product specs, refer to my article Writing Product Specifications.