Food & Drink

What happened to Red River cereal?

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  • Nov 22nd, 2022 9:43 pm
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Deal Fanatic
Oct 7, 2007
9404 posts
5374 upvotes
jsinon wrote: Thanks, but I've had those -- they're oatmeal with grains added. Red River isn't oatmeal-based.
It's true. Because I eat this cereal daily and am picky about the texture, I buy Red River and the Rogers alternative and use 1/2 of each when I make my cereal. It gets the texture about as close to what it used to be as possible.
Perhaps there is an opportunity for a Canadian company to make the original Red River formulation that we all miss. It certainly shouldn't be a "copyright infringement" seeing that the new Red River formulation is something totally different than the original.
Newbie
Apr 30, 2020
3 posts
2 upvotes
I too was a fan of Red River Cereal. now not made in Canada and the the quality has suffered along with price, I have changed my buying to Sunny Boy Cereal out of Canmore Alberta one brand I use to buy many many years ago. Roman Meal was a great family product for cereal and breads. Now gone the way of the dodo bird.
Newbie
Apr 30, 2020
3 posts
2 upvotes
Try Sonny Boy Cereal from Canmore Alberta. Years ago I worked with a guy from Canmore Alberta and he put me on to it. I use to buy it but hard to find now, contact them and ask who sells it. Roman Meal. A family owned company from Michigan I recall, but long out of business., use to make a excellent hot cereal. Very much the same as Red River and Sonny Boy. http://sunnyboyfoods.com/our-food/hot-cereal .......... I always mix 1 to 1 Quaker Large Flake Oats
Good Luck
Deal Fanatic
Oct 7, 2007
9404 posts
5374 upvotes
captnsquid wrote: Try Sonny Boy Cereal from Canmore Alberta. Years ago I worked with a guy from Canmore Alberta and he put me on to it. I use to buy it but hard to find now, contact them and ask who sells it. Roman Meal. A family owned company from Michigan I recall, but long out of business., use to make a excellent hot cereal. Very much the same as Red River and Sonny Boy. http://sunnyboyfoods.com/our-food/hot-cereal .......... I always mix 1 to 1 Quaker Large Flake Oats
Good Luck
I remember Sunny Boy from when I was really young. Where can you buy it?
Newbie
Apr 30, 2020
3 posts
2 upvotes
I have an e-mail to Sunny Bot Cereal Company asking where I can buy tin the Kitchener, Ontario Area.. No reply yet.. I was living in Vancouver and it was on every store shelf...
Deal Fanatic
Oct 7, 2007
9404 posts
5374 upvotes
captnsquid wrote: I have an e-mail to Sunny Bot Cereal Company asking where I can buy tin the Kitchener, Ontario Area.. No reply yet.. I was living in Vancouver and it was on every store shelf...
Well I will have to keep an eye out for next time I shop. I didn't notice it in the hot cereal section but maybe I wasn't looking closely enough.
Newbie
Nov 22, 2012
3 posts
Newcastle, ON
I didn't realize they'd actually changed the recipe - but they have. Both the rye and the wheat are now steel cut instead of cracked, and I assume that the cooking issues/texture changes are a result of this. I was finding it wasn't microwaving well, so I put some of the dry cereal in the blender and whizzed it around for a bit until it was ground a little finer and then cooked it. Worked well. A food processor would also work and may be easier to control. It's still pretty "hearty" - not smooth like cream of wheat or anything. I do the same with the Rogers Porridge Oats with ancient grains - just a little finer and it cooks so much better in the microwave! While the texture may be somewhat different, at least the ingredients themselves are still the whole grains.

I have had a look online for cracked wheat and cracked rye. Not easy to find - Bob's Red Mill has discontinued their cracked wheat, which with the addition of some cracked rye and flax would have been a good stand-in for Red River. There is a mill called Grainworks in Alberta that sells both, but you have to want to order 11.34Kg of each (min.) which is rather a lot. :p Walmart does appear to sell cracked wheat - it's in the Indian section, and presumably also available at grocery stores with good selections of Indian food. Note: it's not the same as bulgur (which is much more processed). Cracked rye is proving somewhat difficult to find, as is pumpernickel meal, which Bob's Red Mill has also discontinued. The copycat recipe: 2 cups cracked wheat, 2 cups rye, 2 tbsp golden flax, 2tbsp brown flax.
Deal Fanatic
Oct 7, 2007
9404 posts
5374 upvotes
Paddykins wrote: I didn't realize they'd actually changed the recipe - but they have. Both the rye and the wheat are now steel cut instead of cracked, and I assume that the cooking issues/texture changes are a result of this. I was finding it wasn't microwaving well, so I put some of the dry cereal in the blender and whizzed it around for a bit until it was ground a little finer and then cooked it. Worked well. A food processor would also work and may be easier to control. It's still pretty "hearty" - not smooth like cream of wheat or anything. I do the same with the Rogers Porridge Oats with ancient grains - just a little finer and it cooks so much better in the microwave! While the texture may be somewhat different, at least the ingredients themselves are still the whole grains.

I have had a look online for cracked wheat and cracked rye. Not easy to find - Bob's Red Mill has discontinued their cracked wheat, which with the addition of some cracked rye and flax would have been a good stand-in for Red River. There is a mill called Grainworks in Alberta that sells both, but you have to want to order 11.34Kg of each (min.) which is rather a lot. :p Walmart does appear to sell cracked wheat - it's in the Indian section, and presumably also available at grocery stores with good selections of Indian food. Note: it's not the same as bulgur (which is much more processed). Cracked rye is proving somewhat difficult to find, as is pumpernickel meal, which Bob's Red Mill has also discontinued. The copycat recipe: 2 cups cracked wheat, 2 cups rye, 2 tbsp golden flax, 2tbsp brown flax.
I might have to try this. It would be an easy solution to make a great cereal cook nicely again. In its place, I have resorted to buying the 12-grain bulk cereal in the bulk section at Superstore. It is the closest thing I have been able to find to the "old recipe" Red River. Sometimes I mix this with "new" Red River or Rogers version of the cooked cereal in search of that perfect balance between a nice texture and getting as many nutritious grains in there.
Newbie
Apr 20, 2021
1 posts
You can get Sunny boy anywhere in AB or BC. I just came across a copy cat recipe:

2 Tablespoons of brown flax seed
2 tablespoons of golden flax seed
2 Cups of cracked wheat
2cups of rye meal

I haven’t tried this yet but I will as I miss the old Red River cereal too.
Deal Fanatic
Oct 7, 2007
9404 posts
5374 upvotes
Slay99 wrote: You can get Sunny boy anywhere in AB or BC. I just came across a copy cat recipe:

2 Tablespoons of brown flax seed
2 tablespoons of golden flax seed
2 Cups of cracked wheat
2cups of rye meal

I haven’t tried this yet but I will as I miss the old Red River cereal too.
Thanks for sharing.

Can you let us know how this turns out after you've tried it? Also, where will you get the cracked wheat? Rye meal? I am very curious to know how it compares to RR.

Despite trying several similar types of cereal, no cereal I have tried actually replicates the texture of RR. In some cases I suspect this may have to do with steel cut grains instead of what RR cereal previously used to use.

Also, prepandemic, many stores used to sell 12-grain cereal in the bulk section which I used to buy. For example, Save on Foods and RCSS. However, since the pandemic, both stores stopped selling this bulk product altogether.
Deal Expert
Dec 4, 2010
19536 posts
2260 upvotes
Quarantine Bubble
I recently tried looking for Welch’s concentrate grape juice. Turns out they discontinued the product wholesale. Wasn’t selling well evidently.
Newbie
Oct 29, 2022
1 posts
1 upvote
I don't know where you are, but in Vancouver BC Famous Foods (on Kingsway) has an EXCELLENT version of Red River Cereal. I, too, mourned RRC's disappearance a couple of years ago (I used to add it to my bread dough!) and was happy to find this replacement.
Deal Addict
Nov 12, 2006
3109 posts
2309 upvotes
London
abstract808 wrote: Anybody try the new/old Red River yet?
I have.
To the best of my memory, it's just like the original.
Deal Addict
Nov 12, 2006
3109 posts
2309 upvotes
London
Here's an article about it, published yesterday.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/re ... -1.6657563

I do take exception to the statement "Arva Flour Mill, located about nine kilometres northwest of London"
Typical reporting, where some naive reporter has just punched it into Google apparently, and it's been based on city center.
The mill is actually only about 1km outside the city.
Most would say north, although the road does skew slightly west.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 29, 2013
2115 posts
1929 upvotes
Ontario
I have tried other look-a-like mixes from the Health Food Store but nothing bets Red River.

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