A Berry Merry Summer: Taste Testing McDonald's Cherry Berry Chiller and Blueberry Banana Nut Oatmeal

By: Finance Foodie

This summer, berries are everywhere – in food, fashion, beauty, home and lifestyle, berries are a summer “must have.” To capitalize on capture this trend, McDonald’s has premiered two of its newest menu innovations, the Cherry Berry Chiller and Blueberry Banana Nut Oatmeal,  featuring seasonal berries as on-the-go meals or snacks. I'm always excited to see new menu innovations from McD, so obviously I had to try these two berry babies out.

First up to bat - the Cherry Berry Chiller, an ice beverage made with 100% fruit juice that combines the flavors of cherry and raspberry in a sippable, icy blend. To be honest,  after remembering the unpleasant high fructose of the Frozen Strawberry Lemonade of last summer, my expectations were quite low for this cherry drink.

Surprisingly, the drink was not bad. Not as much of a sugar headache as expected and the cherry, raspberry (along with a tinge of apple) were distinctly noticeable in the blend. I must mention that I had one of these chillers as I was heading into a non-air conditioned subway car during rush hour on quite possibly the hottest day of the year - so the drink was truly a refreshing burst of coolness in an otherwise hot and sticky situation. (200 calories for 12oz small serving, Retail Price: $2.29) 

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Moving on to the Blueberry Banana Nut Oatmeal, McD's newest breakfast item made with whole grain oats, walnuts and (like the name implies) blueberries and bananas. Now I know when it's 100 degrees outside, the last thing I'm thinking is, "mmm I could really go for a nice hot bowl of oatmeal now" - so why McDonald's would introduce a "warm-you-up" menu item smack dab in the middle of summer is completely beyond me. But hey, this site is called Finance Foodie, not Marketing Foodie....

Anyways, beside the fact that I was sweating as I was eating the oatmeal, I did very much like the generous helping of real blueberries and the nice crunchiness of the walnuts in each bite. The oatmeal also had a nice consistency (glad they corrected this -- last year's Fruit and Maple Oatmeal was plagued with oatmeal that was either too runny or too dry). I  probably wouldn't buy this again soon (NYC summers can be quite the rice cooker), so hopefully MCD will keep this product running into the fall. (290 calories for 8.6oz serving, Retail Price: $2.49) 

****Giveaway****

McDonald's wants financefoodie.com's readers to "berry" it up with a month of free McCafe drinks and oatmeal! Two lucky reader will win either a $25 Arch Card or ten (10) coupons good for any McCafe Drink and Oatmeal (5 each)!

Grand Prize: $25 Arch Card - Congrats JC! 
1st Prize: 5 McCafe Drink and 5 Blueberry Oatmeal free product coupons - Congrats Ann! 

There are THREE ways to enter
1. REQUIRED: In my comments section, tell me what is your favorite summertime fruit (I like blueberries and mangos!). Also please include your email address so I can contact you if you win!
2. Follow Finance Foodie on Twitter (leave separate comment telling me this)
3. Reblog / Retweet this giveaway (leave separate comment telling me this)

Contest ends Tuesday, June 12, 2012 at 5pm EST. Winners will be chosen via random integer generator on random.org announced on the financefoodie.com site shortly afterwards!!

Full Disclosure: The  coupons are being provided by McDonald's. Finance Foodie Media Productions purchased the Arch Card. I was not compensated for this post.