Flavors Tried: Cinnamon Toast, Apple Smacks, Fruity Flakes
Price: $39.99 for 15 servings ($2.66 per serving)
Nutrition: 230 Calories, 11g Fat, 17g Carbs (8g Fiber & 1g Sugar), 23g Protein
I recently reviews CTRL protein bars, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. When I ordered the bars, I also got a few samples of their protein powder, so it’s time to give those a try.
Now, this is not your standard protein powder, so I can’t really view it through the same lens.
As the name implies, these are meal-replacement powders, so the calories are naturally going to be a bit higher than regular protein powder.
CTRL targets its products at gamers who are too busy to put together a meal, so these shakes are meant to act as a meal.
With 230 calories and 23 grams of protein, they’re much more similar to a pre-made protein shake than whey protein powder.
Combine the fact that these are a bit higher in calories with the fact that breakfast cereal is my ultimate comfort food, and I have pretty high hopes for these.
The three flavors that were available when I ordered were Apple Smacks, Cinnamon Toast, and Fruity Flakes, all of which I love the cereal they’re named after. Since each powder contains actual cereal pieces, consider me extremely excited.
CTRL Fruity Flakes Meal Replacement Shake
CTRL recommends mixing the powder with almond milk, which is exactly what I did here.
I used a milk frother to mix everything up, and it mixed pretty easily. Although I must admit that a serving contained way more powder than I expected, so the glass I chose was not really the best choice.
You can see the Fruity Pebbles pieces in this shake, which is really exciting, but this shake is very, very sweet.
Yes, it resembled Fruity Pebbles to a degree, but it is insanely sweet. Is it something I could choke down if needed? Yes. Is it something I’d want to enjoy as a meal? Definitely not.
The flavor itself is decent enough, but it very much just tastes like whey protein. I know that’s a silly thing to say about protein powder, but considering this is a meal replacement shake, I was hoping that they’d be able to transform the flavor profile a bit more.
I have a very large sweet tooth, but this was a bit much for me. It’s definitely a fun flavor, but not one I’d recommend.
CTRL Cinnamon Toast Meal Replacement Shake
Cinnamon Toast had me really excited because Cinnamon Toast Crunch is definitely my favorite cereal of all time.
When I opened this one up, it definitely did not pass the smell test. In fact, I didn’t smell any cinnamon at all, which I found to be very odd.
Luckily, the flavor itself is pretty solid. Instead of just tasting like cinnamon, it actually tastes like the cereal itself. If you blended up Cinnamon Toast Crunch with whey protein, this is roughly what you’d expect to taste.
I do find the cereal pieces to be pretty off-putting in this one. While it worked for the Fruity Flakes flavor, the pieces of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in this shake just make it taste chunky. Since the cereal just becomes soggy, you’re drinking what feels like soggy leftover cereal in milk.
This one was definitely the best of the flavors I tried, and of all of them, this is the flavor I could actually see enjoying as a meal replacement.
CTRL did not nail this as well as Legion did with their cinnamon cereal Whey+ flavor, but it’s still a decent option.
CTRL Apple Smacks Meal Replacement Shake
The Apple Smacks flavor was significantly thinner and easier to mix than the other two flavors. I’m not sure if that was a fluke, but I preferred this much more over the thick nature of the other flavors.
Unfortunately, the good news ends there.
The smell of this powder is super strong of apple, similar to green apple Jolly Ranchers, and the taste is very similar. If you’re expecting Applejacks cereal like I was, you’re going to be disappointed.
If you love apple candy, you might really like this, but it certainly doesn’t taste like Applejacks cereal.
And, similar to the cinnamon toast flavor, the cereal pieces simply do not work for this flavor. The soggy pieces of Applejacks cereal just turn this into a chunky protein shake, which is less than ideal.
Overall Thoughts: CTRL Meal Replacement Shakes
I appreciate the effort that CTRL put into these meal replacement shakes, but there are far better options out there. For the price, I’d much rather buy some ready-to-drink shakes like Fairlife or Premier Protein.
CTRL reminds me of Ghost– a company with awesome marketing and branding but inconsistent products. I really did enjoy the CTRL protein bars, but the powders just don’t do it for me.
I’ll give credit where it’s due: these flavors are really fun, and I appreciate CTRL using actual cereal in their powders.
But as a meal replacement powder, they don’t really offer a big enough advantage over regular protein powder to make these worth it in my eyes.
