Aldi Aisle Of Shame: Could This Sweet Breakfast Find Be Too Good To Be True?
Welcome back to the Aldi Aisle of Shame column, where Daily Meal's Aldi superfan tries out the most attention-grabbing new Find of the week to let you know if it's worth seeking out.
On my radar this week was the Simply Nature Organic Confetti Cake Oatmeal. When I heard about this, I practically ran to the store to try it. As someone who spent decades of their life in bakeries, either working or running underfoot at the family business, I've developed such a sweet tooth that it's almost embarrassing.
The idea of eating healthy, perfectly made oatmeal for breakfast but feeling like I'm having cake instead is pretty much a dream come true. Of course, the mom in me also saw the potential to avoid fighting with the kiddos at breakfast, so that was a bonus. Another new oatmeal flavor from Simply Nature was also amongst the Aldi Finds this week, Banana Strawberry, but it was the confetti cake flavor that called out to me.
This is basically regular oatmeal with extra sugar and a few pretty dots
Alas, the Simply Nature Organic Confetti Cake Oatmeal did not live up to my expectations of making me feel as though I were eating cake for breakfast. It's not a bad product if you're a fan of oatmeal (which I am), but there's no real confetti cake flavor. The confetti pieces themselves are few and far between, while the flavor profile is just regular oatmeal with a few extra spoonfuls of sugar.
The consistency is a bit more watery than I expected. The big issue is that some of the oats remained raw and hard instead of softening up, even after leaving the oatmeal to sit for extra time after adding the boiling water. This left behind excess water that the oats couldn't soak up.
The one redeeming quality of this oatmeal, for me, is the scent. Here, it really does shine beyond standard oatmeal, with a faint but pleasant smell that is lightly reminiscent of cake. Overall, this isn't a bad product, just excessively mediocre. I wouldn't personally buy it again because it isn't as special as the packaging made it seem and it doesn't offer anything significant beyond standard, unflavored oatmeal with extra sugar. There are much better ways to upgrade oatmeal.