I was given a free sample of Carnation Breakfast Essentials - Chocolate from the Chickadvisor review club.
Overall, I thought it was a decent breakfast replacement.

Pros:
- Convenience is the big pro for me - easy breakfast that I can take on the go
- Chocolate flavour was good, kinda tasted like regular powdered chocolate milk
- Easy to toss a sachet in my bag and mix with milk later

Cons:
- I had some problems getting rid of all of the powdery lumps, and even when I made a conscious effort to get rid of them all some would elude me. Not yummy.
- I am a big breakfast eater, so I was definitely hungry before lunch and needed snacks.

I received a box of chocolate Carnation Breakfast Essentials to try for ChickAdvisor. The idea is that you can get many of the essential nutrients needed from one packet mixed into a 250 ml glass of milk at Breakfast. While I didn't love the product, it isn't bad. It does taste chocolatey, it isn't the best tasting 'chocolate milk' I've ever had, but it also isn't chalky tasting. The biggest issue I had was getting it o dissolve in cold milk. It didn't matter how well I tried to mix, I always had powdery lumps in it. The breakfast essentials are nice in that they provide 60, 90, 35 and 50% of your daily intake of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and iron, respectively when mixed into milk; not bad. Carnation is a little sneaky in suggesting that the product provides 50% of your required Calcium and Vitamin D, but on closer inspection you realize that those values come entirely (Vitamin D) or almost entirely (calcium) from the milk and not the Carnation product. Since the product does actually provide you with several nutrients legitimately on its own, I wish Carnation didn't have the 'Calcium/Vitamin D' claim on the front of the box, but that is just me. While there are specific situations where I might want to use the product, in a huge hurry or after getting wisdom teeth out, I doubt I would use it on a regular basis. While I tried the chocolate flavour, they also come in vanilla and strawberry for those of you who would prefer other flavours.

I was a bit hesitant at trying this breakfast powder, as I'm not a big chocolate fan.

Tastewise, i actually like the taste - it is not too sweet and the perfect chocolate level for my taste buds. Chocolate lovers may be disappointed with the lack of chocolate richness though.

It mixes up in milk MUCH better than most protein powders do, without any of the normal clumping, making it easy to make in the morning.

Where it fails is the high caloric intake for something that really doesn't fill me up - 300 calories with milk! The protein limit of 7g and high sugar content also don't make it a great alternative for anyone who avoid sugar or works out and needs a higher protein intake to help fuel the body properly - thus I am definitely not the right fit for this drink.

For those who are okay with sugar and aren't regularly working out, it's a decent solution to upping their Protein intake.