New Product: Belvita Breakfast Biscuits 1
I’ve tried many breakfast options, as I don’t like to have a heavy breakfast when I’m about to rush off to work. A big bowl of cereal or bacon and eggs are fine on the weekend, but if I have that before rushing off to catch the train, it can make me feel a little queasy. So when I saw the new range of Belvita Breakfast Biscuits, I thought it would be worthwhile giving them a go.
As I write this review, I keep having a multilingual Freudian slip and typing ‘brevita’ instead of ‘Belvita’ — which is entirely appropriate as ‘brevita’ is Italian for brevity, and this biscuits make an ideal breakfast for someone in a hurry. I have usually nibbled my biscuits while checking the morning news on the computer, as they are especially nice dunked in my morning cup of tea, but it’s equally convenient to throw a packet into your bag if you’ve slept in and eat them at work, or even while waiting for the train.
I bought all three varieties on special for one of my earlier reviews on online grocery shopping for $2.99 a packet (normally $3.99) and as each contains six individually packets of four biscuits, this means it’s under 70c a serve even without the discounted price. Even though I had cereal and toast and other options in the cupboard, this soon became my default breakfast and sometimes even morning tea if I hadn’t packed my usual piece of fruit. At around 4g of saturated fat per 100g and 15g of fat per 100g, they are not the most supremely healthy thing out there, but the fat and sugar content is comparable to many cereal brands, and they have the added bonus of built in portion control and being low GI. While there are healthier cereal options, Belvita Breakfast Biscuits are much better than most biscuits (which often have surprisingly high levels of fat and sugar), so they might be a good replacement for morning tea and not just for breakfast. If you don’t want to buy an entire packet, the biscuit aisle of the major supermarkets also had single four biscuit packages available for purchase.
Fruit and Fibre
While most of the flavours are fairly similar, there are some differences. Fruit and Fibre contains small pieces of dried fruit, and has a crunchier texture than the other biscuits. There is a sweeter flavour with an aftertaste of sultanas. This biscuit is paler than the others, and the texture is the most like cereal.
Crunchy oats
Crunchy oats is not quite as crunchy as Fruit and Fibre, with a slightly malty aftertaste. There is a slighly unpleasant foretaste that reminded me of baking soda but it does not last for very long and won’t be noticeable if you are dunking your biscuit in tea. I think it could be improved with the addition of a honey or golden syrup flavour (ANZAC biscuits show how well these go with oats!) as that would make it more interesting and cover the strange foretaste.
Milk and Cereal
Milk and Cereal has a much smoother texture compared to the other two varieties, and is closer to a tea biscuit than a cereal biscuit. The flavour strongly reminded me of a Scotch Finger biscuit — which is great as shortbread-type biscuits can be very fatty and this isn’t nearly so bad. I think the flavour comes from milk powder as there is a noticeable milky taste, and perhaps this is why this is definitely my favourite tea dunking biscuit of the three.
Overall, I enjoyed these biscuits and have spotted a few of my colleagues enjoying them on breaks as well. I hope this product sticks around and perhaps introduces some new flavours (like a cinnamon or spice flavour) as this will probably be my regular breakfast fallback during the week. I’m also curious to see how these biscuits hold up in recipes where pre-packaged biscuits are often used — such as cheesecake or slice bases.
If you’ve tried these biscuits, or have a better breakfast option, please feel free to add your comment below.
