While I was at Kroger (needed a few things Aldi didn‘t have; God I hate that place), I saw a box of Malt o’ Meal’s Fruity Pebbles knockoff. But what attracted me to it was a banner across the front of the box, declaring that blind taste testers chose Fruity Dyno Bites over the national brand pebble. This didn’t really catch my attention because I couldn’t believe it and had to try it for myself to see if it was really true; I bought it because I’d always believed Malt o’ Meal was one of, if not the best, cereal company’s out there. It had been a while since I had Fruity Dyno Bites, and I just wanted to get reacquainted with the taste.
I generally like buying MOM cereals (as they are also known, for short) in the large bags, but as much as you get, I can never justify paying over $3 for a bag. I know, it’s still much cheaper than buying the boxes, but Big Lots seems to get 2 lb. bags about twice per year for under $3 (last year I got bonus bags that were slightly over two pounds, for $2), so I tend to wait for those kinds of deals. So I stuck with Fruity Dyno Bites in the box, for $1.99, still way cheaper than the national brand box.
The cereal itself looks pretty much exact: Brightly-colored pebble-shaped corn cereal. Some off-brands have duller colors, but these are super bright and inviting. Of course, the small shape of the cereal nuggets also keeps one of my least favorite aspects of the cereal: They get soggy pretty darn quickly. I mean, you have a couple bites of crispiness max before it starts to be a less-inviting sludgy mess. Still, the flavor is pretty much exact. I did detect a little bit of graininess that I don’t remember being in the national brand, but it was only a minor quibble…the taste is there in spades.
Overall: 8.5/10. I’ve long regarded Malt o’ Meal as the best cereal manufacture in the U.S., and their Fruity Dyno Bites does nothing to dissuade me from that opinion. There is a little graininess that I detected, which I’m not a big fan of, but everything else–texture, taste, and appearance–are right on point. It does get soggy earlier, but given the teeny size of each flake, that’s pretty much unavoidable. If you like the national brand and are on a budget, this is an excellent alternative; even if you aren’t on a budget, these are cheaper, not to mention just as good as, the original.
