The guys at Perfect Keto are first up on our brand new series of reviews and ‘gnom-gnom approved brands‘. An honest chat about quality, ingredients, flavor… and, most importantly, our needs as a community!
Perfect Keto, The Review!
Introducing gnom-gnom approved brands
I don’t know about you, but every time I go grocery shopping here in LA (or login to instagram!) I discover new keto brands… and I couldn’t be happier. Of course, this isn’t to say that we should go back to eating processed foods; after all, I’ll always advocate that cooking for yourself is one of the greatest acts of self care.
But I do appreciate products, with solid ingredients, that can make life a little easier (and hopefully tastier!) when in a pickle. Because trust me, after my sciatic nerve accident last year, I have a whole new appreciation for ‘easy’ and ‘convenient’ when need be.
Now, if you’ve been following the blog for a while, you’re probably aware that I had ‘as policy’ not to accept free product from brands. This was partly because it takes a lot of time to manage brand partnerships, but also because I didn’t want you guys to get a commercial vibe from the site (particularly as I was still ‘finding my voice’).
I feel it’s super important to keep the per usual transparency, so note that we’re still not taking on sponsored posts and brands are made aware that free product doesn’t equal a positive review.
So this what “gnom-gnom approved brands” is all about, researching ingredients, gathering our voice (as a community!), and having a conversation with brands to continue to get keto foods packed with nutritional value.
Perfect Keto
I’m sure many (most?) of you guys have already met Perfect Keto. I say this because I follow many of you on instagram, and several of their products pop up on my feed constantly (with generally solid reviews, I may add).
So to make a long story short, they sent over a box packed with goodies for me to try a couple weeks back and I’ve been tasting (and testing) their products throughout.
First impression as a whole? A brand with pretty good ingredients (think organic and grass-fed when important), and with a solid understanding of what the keto community needs.
The Chocolate Covered Nuts
i.e. Love at first sight! Particularly the macadamia ones.
They’re not very sweet at all though, so these are only for you if you enjoy dark chocolate! But I’m totally crazy about the ingredients: organic raw cacao nibs, organic yacon-sweetened cacao nibs, organic cacao butter, MCT oil, vanilla bean, organic monkfruit, roasted nuts.
I mean the dream right? Organic chocolate, packed with healthy fats and no lecithins or sugar alcohols (I know this is becoming increasingly important for many of you, myself included).
The Cinnamon Roll Bars
They also sent over a box of their cinnamon roll keto bars, which I was curious to try given the glowing reviews on insta (even though I’m not really a bar person).
And tbh, while the taste is ace and they’re just 3g net carbs (!!), I wasn’t particularly crazy about the texture (they’re very soft.. too soft?). So just keep that in mind if you’re into crunchy or chewy bars.
Note: I’m also going to include an * here, as these guys include ‘soluble tapioca fiber’ as an ingredient. Many of you guys have voiced concern to me about the increasing number of keto products including soluble fibers as main ingredients. Most concern is in regard to ‘soluble corn fiber’ being labeled as ‘grain free’ or even as ‘probiotic vegetable fiber’. We’re currently doing extensive research on this to provide the community with a clear picture on exactly what these ingredients are and how they serve us (feel free to reach out in the comments with leads!).
Collagen & MCT Oil Powders
These are terrific, grass-fed and all that jam. I personally loved the unflavored collagen in my morning coffee (I’m a black coffee kinda gal!).
But the salted caramel collagen (smells great) and matcha MCT oil (super creamy!) were also pretty good too. Just note they have some slight stevia trace, in case you’re sensitive to this particular aftertaste (like me!).
Having said that, I’ve enjoyed them very much when I crave something a little sweet, but with no sugar alcohols and still packed with nutritional value. All natural and solid choices IMO for upping your collagen and MCT oil consumption.
So do tell! Do you have any favorite Perfect Keto products in your pantry? Any brands you’d like to suggest?! Say… up next I’m thinking of reviewing for you guys all the keto store-bought ice creams I can find. Maybe cereals too?
The point is to use our voice as a community to discern the best keto products, and to ultimately get from brands what we need (and deserve!). 😉
Big hug and many kisses!
Paola
p.s. Justin from Perfect Keto was kind enough to set up a special promotion for you guys. Simply use the code GNOM20 to get 20% off a purchase of $40 or more of any Perfect Keto individual products!
I purchase unflavored MCT oil powder, vanilla collagen and peach exogenous ketones. When I bake with peaches (small amount), I add a scoop ish of peach exogenous ketones in the batter for more peach flavor. I researched tapioca fiber one night. From what I gathered, it is IMO and I stay away from it. It would be great to learn what you find out from your research. Sorry, I am not a cereal kind.
Hola
Como puedo sber más sobre las barritas de cinnamon?
I look forward to trying your new recipes as they come along. Makes eating low carb less of a torment and more of an adventure as well as a way to get back to get back to cooking healthy foods.
PS: “Rebel” brand keto ice cream is a quantum improvement over other low carb frozen desserts I’ve tried.h ope you get a chance to reviewit .
I would love to see these reviews from you. So often I blindly drop lots of dollars on Keto products only to end up disappointed. I remember last year, I tried the Perfect Keto Almond Brownie Keto Bars when they first announced them and I did NOT enjoy them at all. I have since tried the Catalina Crunch Honey Graham flavored cereal expecting Golden Grahams flavor but only getting a bag of crunchy disappointment. My sad heart was weeping for Golden Grahams so I hopped on your site and made your Cinnamon Toast Crunch (except I added Graham and caramel flavoring and omitted the cinnamon.) I can tell you that your cereal recipe is hands down 1000 Percent tastier than theirs. I have a feeling you’re going to be disappointed in how things that are store bought taste, compared to your recipes, I mean, I know sometimes not having to cook it yourself does make it taste better but that Catalina Crunch doesn’t even hold a candle to yours and while I am glad to see keto (ish) products on the market, I would be happier to see them get an impartial review by someone who has the same dietary goals as I do before I throw more money down the drain. Thanks again for all you do for this community <3
Aloha Paola! I am so grateful for all the wonderful recipes that you post and your continued dedication to support those of us that are living a keto lifestyle. I wanted to remind people of your granola recipe because I think it’s fantastic and a great alternative to trying to buy keto cereals. I combined your granola recipe with a another popular bloggers granola recipe and it’s Simply Fabulous so I want to encourage people to make their own granola whenever possible!
In Joy,
Cecily
I have just discovered Diabetic Kitchen Cinnamon Pecan Granola Cereal (3 net carbs for 1/3 cup). It is an amazing topping over Greek Yogurt with wild blueberries. However, it is pricey (amazon.com has it for $12.83 for 11 oz., which is 10 servings – it can also be ordered directly from Diabetic Kitchen). It is so good!!!
For Cereal I highly recommend Diabetic Kitchen brand Cinnamon Pecan Granola Cereal. A serving is 31 g (1/3 Cup). 160 Cals, 14g Fat, 4g protein, 8g Carb but 5g Fiber so 3 net carbs Now 1/3 Cup sounds like a very small amout, BUT I put it in 8 ounces of plain no sugar added coconut milk and its super filling and very yummy! My favorite evening snack!!
Being new to your site, am very glad to see responsible discussion of various products. I really miss cereal so please help me find affordable, nutritional product.
I would love to see a post about cereals! I do like magic spoon and catalina crunch (my kids love the chocolate one so we buy it all the time!). I would be especially interested in the insoluble fiber conversation.
Thanks for all your amazing work with gnom-gnom. It is my go-to recipe website and makes being keto a breeze!
i absolutely LOVE perdect keto, been eating mostly the bars and collagen for about 9. months now, and im addicted, coffee with chocolate collagen and a keto bar in the morning is my bulletproof coffee – i cant stand fat in my coffee so my PK bar is perfect, best thing as well those are the only bars i have found not affecting my bloodsugar (T1 diabetes here) if there are any products out there i trust its perfect keto
I don’t have any suggestions on products to try, but I would LOVE to see more reviews from you!
I haven’t used many specifically keto “processed” or prepackaged products. So honest reviews from trusted people like you are awesome!
Keto isn’t the cheapest lifestyle, so when it comes to luxury items, I’d rather know more about them than just spend a bunch of mooola on things that taste like crud!
Thanks again!
These Keto bars proven to be low GI?
Tried to use the promo code – on chocolate chip bars and the variety pack of chocolate nuts. It’s not working??
I use their collagen too 🙂 And yes please do reviews comparing brands so we know the best one and don’t waste so much $$$$$$$ i had a really bad experience with cereal
May I ask which cereal it was? I get you, I’ve had some bad personal experiences were a lot goes to waste…
I had the worst experience with Catalina Crunch!!! So much money and now that I think about it has soluble corn fiber as an ingredient…
the cereal school was awful also!!! huge waste of $$$$$. anyone try magic spoon brand?
And agreed – posting and comparing brands and ingredients is such a nice addition to your blog!!!!!
I’ve personally bought Magic Spoon and can say that it’s truly a great option (I’ll review this one next I think, given the interest in cereal lol!). It does get stuck in your teeth a little and not perfect, but it’s legit crisp and no aftertaste.
Cereal School were meant to sent me a tester But haven’t received (i believe they’ve changed their formula a couple times?).
I haven’t tried Catalina Crunch but love the Fruity and Frosted cereals from Magic Spoon. Didn’t love the Cinnamon or Chocolate, their flavors were strong but didn’t hit the mark, and hopefully they are working on that. But so happy to have a healthy cereal alternative for breakfast. Great with unsweetened almond milk and a few fresh blueberries!
I love the salted caramel keto bars. I eat half before my workout and the other half afterward.
I actually haven’t seen those! 🤩