How To Read a French Cereal Box

The other morning as I was enjoying my petit-déjeuner (breakfast), I thoroughly examined my cereal box. After three months, I have finally discovered my favorite type of granola. The one pictured is a close second, but my favorite one comes from a German grocery chain called "Lidl." The slogan that "everything is cheaper at Lidl" is 100% true. Some grocery stores can be pretty overpriced. Anyway, I digress. For the purposes of this exercise, we will be examining the cereal box below, purchased at another supermarket called Géant. It is like the mother of all supermarkets, with an endless variety of anything you can think of, from organic food to slippers.

As I was saying, the cereal box caught my attention, not only because it was in French, but due to the suggestions on the back of the box...

Faites attention!!  Make sure you only buy granola that says "croustillant" (crunchy)  otherwise you'll get a bunch of raw oats, which I don't like at all unless I'm going to cook them to make oatmeal. I only say this, because I made the mistake of buying a croustillant-less box of granola one time....I donated it as a gift to my French roommate who loved it. To each his own.

Back to the box. As you can see below, the kind people at the cereal company give you suggestions for a well-balanced meal. This well-balanced meal includes a bowl of their muesli, or granola, (of course), "125 ml de lait demi-écrémé"  (this is basically the equivalent of half-milk, and it's what most people drink/use, which was surprising to me. When it comes to milk your choices are basically half or whole milk. They definitely don't have 2%, and my preference - skim milk - is challenging, yet not impossible to find. Skim milk does exist, but a lot of times stores will be out of it, consistently leading me on a wild milk chase.) 

Ok, so to round out your meal, you apparently should consume 2 kiwis and a cup of tea or coffee. On pretty much every package, some "meal guidance" like this exists. Usually the advice includes some kind of chocolate...sometimes in the form of hot chocolate...and I'm actually kind of surprised this one doesn't. The French love their chocolate, especially in the morning. (In the cereal aisle, the amount of chocolate cereal variety is slightly overwhelming.) Anyway, a kiwi (well always 2 kiwis) is typically the fruit of choice, no matter the box/box contents. Kiwis are also appropriate for dessert. How thoughtful there is so much guidance to help me create well-balanced meals.

Something else I like about the box...they tell you the "Energie" in kcal. It is indeed energy, so I'm glad it's described as such. "Calories" don't give you much information on what they actually are/do for you.

Something I don't like about the box...half milk is the suggested addition "pour mieux apprécier le croustillant de ce muesli" because it has half the fat, but just as much calcium. I still like my lait écrémé better.