MixMyGranola: Custom Granola at the Click of a Mouse

Do you like granola? We do. We always think about making it ourselves, but never seem to get around to it, sadly. So we jumped at the chance to try out a new online product: MixMyGranola, which lets you mix up custom batches of granola that are shipped to you overnight. What would this be, we wondered? Gimmick? Great granola?

A little of both, it turned out, in the end.

MixMyGranola’s website walks you through choosing a base granola (we chose an organic granola) and then you get to customize it with all sorts of good things. Dried strawberries, blueberries, raisins, Goji berries, banana chips… the list of fruit goes on and on.

Then you get to the nuts and seeds: almonds, walnuts, pepitas — over a dozen choices! Then there were the potential mix-ins: protein enhancers, coconut shreds, yogurt pretzels, even M&Ms.

In the end, we plunked quite a few things into our granola: dried berries and bananas, flax seeds, almonds, pepitas, and more. The final tally came to quite a bill, too; including shipping this would cost about $18.

The granola-mixing process is a lot of fun, and very easy. But of course the shipping is a little discomfiting; all those airmiles, for granola? And for that price?

But we needed to taste it before passing judgment. The granola showed up the next day in a sleek tube. It was printed with the name we had assigned our granola, plus custom nutrition facts and labeling. The whole look of the product was sleek and impressive.

But how was it? All that is sort of beside the point if it isn’t good granola, right? It was very good granola, with plenty of crunch and fresh taste. It lacked, however, the big crunchy chunks we really like in our granola. It had a finer texture, but it was still very oaty and delicious. There were also plenty of the mix-ins; they weren’t skimped at all.

Overall, the verdict on this granola is that it does inspire us to make our own more often, since realistically we probably wouldn’t pay this much money for a pound of granola. But it also did make us realize that buying this variety and quantity mix-ins might actually push our own homemade granola up to a similar price.

In the end, we think this could be a fantastic gift for a friend or sibling at school — perhaps someone you needs a gentle nudge to eat healthier or to eat breakfast more often. The service is fun, fast, and the granola was definitely delicious. It just isn’t an everyday thing for us.

• Try it yourself: MixMyGranola

Related: D.I.Y. Recipe: Basic Granola Formula

(Images: Faith Durand)