Breakfast is a very important meal, but on schooldays or days when we have a sports game or practice at eight o'clock in the morning, I do not have the time or energy to make eggs, pancakes or waffles. For that matter, I never wake up hungry and for the most part, I prefer to be awake for an hour or more before even considering even having coffee. For that reason, I keep a variety of different granola and breakfast bars in the house, so that I can have whatever flavor I desire on any particular day.

One of the bars that I recently tried is Kellogg's Special K Honey Nut Bars. These are on the small side, weighing 0.77 of an ounce, but they are packed with flavor. They have a consistency somewhat like a Rice Krispies treat, with honey loosely holding together bits of cereal and chopped nuts. The flavor of the honey and nuts come through very well and it has a very sweet taste.

A six-bar box is usually less than three dollars and I often see it for sale at large mass market discount stores, large supermarket and smaller convenience stores. I bought these bars because I like Special K cereal and the flavors of honey and nuts, and I did not really look at the packaging other than to see that the box proudly proclaimed that each bar contained only 90 calories.

Each bar also contains 2 grams of fat, 16 grams of carbohydrates (less than 1 of which is fiber, and 7 of which are sugars) and 2 grams of protein. Although cereal is the first ingredient, the next listed ingredients are corn syrup, fructose, dextrose and sugar. These sugars are very apparent in the taste, and there are days when I cannot bear to eat something so sweet as my first food of the day.

That is not to say that I do not like these bars. I very much like the taste so I try to balance out the sweetness by having some yogurt or fresh fruit with it, or simply having it later in the day as a dessert with lunch or an afternoon snack.

The bars are individually wrapped so that they can easily be packed in a lunch box, and my daughter will often take one to school or to Cheerleading practice as a snack. Since they are fairly soft, be sure not to pack anything heavy on top of them or they will become quite squished.

While there are healthier bars available in stores, Kellogg's Special K Honey Nut Bars are a good tasting snack, and they satisfy my craving for something sweet with fewer fat and calories than a candy bar would provide.