This week in the cereal aisle: 31st variety of Cheerios, special edition Lemon Frosted

 

Photo by Retiring Guy

The Impulsive Buy, 3/22/2023

A bit too rhapsodic for Retiring Guy's tests.  But then he's made his own granola for years.

Ah, seasonal flavors, you tasty little tropes. Pumpkin spice might have a choke hold on the fall, but which flavor will prevail to rule the spring? Carrots have tried, but they taste like nothing. For a moment, I thought this would be the Age of Raspberry, but it seemed that was a Valentine’s red flash in the pan. Therefore, I would like to present my case for lemon. The Year of Lemon is upon us. Will this drastically underrated flavor finally prevail? Cheerios is willing to find out with its new Frosted Lemon variety.

Cheerios varieties (1941-2023)

• Cheerios (originally named Cheerioats) (1941)
• Cinnamon Nut Cheerios (1976)^[24]
• Honey Nut Cheerios (1979)
• Apple Cinnamon Cheerios (1988)
• MultiGrain Cheerios (Original in the UK) (released 1992, relaunched 2009)
• Frosted Cheerios (1995) (not related to Frosty O's)
• Yogurt Burst Cheerios (variations include vanilla and strawberry) (2005)
• Fruity Cheerios (2006) (Cheerios sweetened with fruit juice)
• Oat Cluster Crunch Cheerios (2007) (sweetened Cheerios with oat clusters)
• Banana Nut Cheerios (2009) (sweetened Cheerios made with banana puree)
• Chocolate Cheerios (2010) (Cheerios made with cocoa)
• Cinnamon Burst Cheerios (2011) (Cheerios made with cinnamon)
• MultiGrain Peanut Butter Cheerios (2012) (Multigrain Cheerios with sorghum, not wheat, and peanut butter)
• Multi Grain Cheerios Dark Chocolate Crunch (2013)^[25]
• Cheerios Protein (variations include Oats & Honey and Cinnamon Almond) (2014)
• Ancient Grain Cheerios (2015) (sweetened Cheerios made with "ancient grains like kamut wheat, spelt, and quinoa")
• Pumpkin Spice Cheerios (sweetened Cheerios made with pumpkin purée and pumpkin pie spices) (2016) (limited edition)
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheerios (a blend of two types of sweetened Cheerios, one with a cocoa coating, the other with peanut butter) (Limited Edition in 2016, made permanent in 2017)
• Strawberry Cheerios (sweetened Cheerios made with strawberry purée) (2017) (Limited Edition)
• Very Berry Cheerios (sweetened Cheerios with strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry flavors) (2017)
• Peach Cheerios (sweetened Cheerios made with peach purée) (2018) (Limited Edition)
• Blueberry Cheerios (with blueberry purée concentrate) (2019)
• Maple Cheerios (sweetened with maple syrup) (2017 in Canada, 2019 in the United States)
• Cinnamon Cheerios (made with cinnamon) (2020)
• Toasted Coconut Cheerios (limited edition) (2020)
• Frosted Vanilla Cheerios (2021 in Canada only)
• Chocolate Strawberry Cheerios (limited edition) (2021)
• Banana Caramel Cheerios (limited edition) (2022)
• Honey Vanilla Cheerios (2022)
• Strawberry Banana Cheerios (2022)
• Frosted Lemon Cheerios (limited edition) (2023)

Other cereal aisle posts:

2023

New shape!  Fruity flavor!  Kellogg's Rainbow Krispies!  (8/24)

Movietime!  (7/24)

And here you thought it was just Hollywood suffering from a lack of originality.  (7/14)

General Mills IHOP Mini Pancake cereal.  (7/13)

Kellogg's Rice Krispies red and blue color mix. (6/13)

Kellogg's Froot Loops Mega MixUps.  (6/9)

Kellogg's Rice Krispies blue and green color mix.  (4/23)

Sugar-loaded cereal bars elbow their way to prominence.  (3/27)

A big dose of sugar for Easter.  (3/25)

Get your recommended daily allowance of synthetic dye.  (2/2)

Kix just keep gettin' harder to find. Again. Two years later.  (1/7)

Kellogg’s Tiger Paws Jumbo Snax.  (1/2)

2022

General MIlls limited edition dessert fest.  (11/30)

Kellogg's Family Size Cosmic Brownies.  (11/6)

Hocus Pocus 2.  (10/17)

General Mills Limited Edition L.O.L. Surprise Birthday Cake Cereal.  (10/12)

Kellogg's shocking orange Halloween Rice Krispies.  (8/24)

And after a few minutes in milk, it looks like a bowl of barf.  (7/15)
Retiring Guy arrives late to Cheerios 80th birthday party.  (7/13)
Wheaties 100 Years of Champions limited edition collector series.  (4/27)

Living dangerously.  (4/19)

2021

Give your kids a sugar buzz with a new Elf on the Shelf tradition.  (11/26)

Limited Edition Kellogg's Frosted Flakes Apple Jacks Mashup,  (10/3)

Fall is here and so are limited edition pumpkin spice choices.  (9/28)

Kellogg;s adds another variety to the Frosted Flakes brand.  (7/12)
Team Cheerios.  (7/9)

Remembering the Apple Jacks bullies jingle.  (6/1)

Kellogg's shamelessly promotes major breakfast sugar buzz.  (5/19)

Kelloggs Crayola gets the puff piece treatment @ BestProducts.  (4/5)
Grape Nuts.  (2/22)
Kix just keep getting harder to find.  (1/23 update)
Cheez-It horns in.  (1/10)

2019
This box wants to party with you.  (6/4)
Blueberry Cheerios.  (5/16)
Snap, crackle and redpop.  (2/26)
Kellogg's Honey Oat Frosted Flakes.  (2/19)
Kellogg's All Bran fights for shelf space.  (1/22)
 
2018
Cheerios adds to its long list of flavors. (12/31)
General Mills offers two flavors of Dippin' Dots.  (11/28)
Kellogg's vanilla latte Frosted Mini-Wheats.  (10/1)
Nutter Butter.  (6/24)
Still a little bit of shelf space provided for boxes of Big Biscuit Shredded Wheat.  (4/3)
Chocolate Frosted Flakes.  (3/30)
It's just peachy, part 2 (with probiotics).  (3/26)
It's just peachy (Cheerios).  (3/25)
Snap, Crackle and Pop shrug off competition from Fancy Friends Cereal Treats.  (2/23)
Lucky Charms wants you to have a daily dose of yellow 5 and blue 1.  (3/9)
The takeover of Mom.  (3/1)
Hoopla over rainbow marshmallows added to Lucky Charms.  (2/22)
Kellogg's Donut Shop in your choice of flavors.  (2/14)
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the shredded wheat go down.  (2/6)
General Mills offers yet another flavor of Cheerios -- chocolate and peanut butter.  (1/30)
I suspect this special edition Cocoa Puffs isn't exactly flying off the shelves.  (1/16)
What's really going on with this General Mills blend.  (1/10)
Giant size bargains to kick off the new year.  (1/3)

2017
Satisfy your craving for chocolate.  (12/22)
Pumpkin Spice runs amok.  (11/7)
Danger lurks.  (11/2)
Dan G. wets himself over Special K Blueberry with Lemon Clusters.  (9/20)
Limited Edition Mocha Crunch.  (7/16)
Kellogg's Frosted Flakes with Marshmallows.  (2/1)
A marriage between General Mills and Girls Scouts of America.  (1/19)

2016
Alpha-Bits is getting squeezed out.  (11/23)
Special K continues to branch out.  (10/23)
Wedding bells chime.  (10/5)
The price of convenience (22.54 cents per ounce).  (8/19)
Make up your mind already!  (8/14)
Remember Nabisco Shredded Wheat?  (7/13)
Features Batman and Superman.  (7/7)
Post wants you to have ice cream for breakfast.  (6/30)

Tiny Toast.  (6/21)

2015
Fewer of us are starting the day with a breakfast "hoop-de-do"!  (2/13)

2014
Kellogg's wants you to put out the box at bedtime.  (12/20)
Decline in cereal sales bite into Kellogg's results.  (Fortune, 10/30)
Americans aren't eating their Wheaties.  (CNN Money, 9/18)
Cereals Begin to Lose Their Snap, Crackle, and Pop.  (The New York Times, 9/10)
Why Don't Americans Like Breakfast Cereal Anymore? The once-loved product whose sales went soggy.  (Adweek, 8/14)
I imagine General Mills has done the research, but what if this is the case?  (7/1)
Maybe it's the rainbow colors.  (7/1)
They still call it 'breakfast cereal'.  (2/14)

2013
Cereal killers:  Americans' new breakfast habits.  (CNBC, 8/2)