"cold cereal" news and stories

There are two things I have been trying like the Dickens to change about my diet: 1) drinking more water, and 2) eating food with more fiber. The water part is hard for me because I don't like how plain water tastes (yes, water does have a taste, you know), and I have an unholy addiction to Diet Coke and energy drinks.

The fiber part is even harder. I love fresh fruits and vegetables, but that's not the issue. The issue is my lifestyle. I don't just have a full-time job. I have the fullest-time job possible, I blog, and I live alone. This combination makes it near impossible to cook proper meals that include fresh produce and grains with fiber. For a while, I was taking fiber supplements in the form of, you know, those "drink" things, but that stopped as soon as I realized how bloated I was getting from it.

FiberOne is a candidate in my quest for quick sources of fiber. FiberOne is a line from cereal and food company General Mills that has a few products, all focusing on high fiber. The basic cereal looks like any other fiber cereal - little "noodles" or "branches" - that definitely look too healthy to enjoy. General Mills has expanded the line with two more family friendly cereals, meaning that in the bowl, they look a lot less clinical.

I tried FiberOne Raisn Bran Clusters, which is FiberOne's entrant in the raisin bran cereal playing field, which is dominated by Kellog's Raisin Bran. However, if the marketing on the cereal box is accurate, FiberOne beats all other raisin brans with 40% of the recommended daily intake of fiber. Supposedly, that makes FiberOne's Raisin Bran Clusters the leader.

I don't eat much cold cereal anymore these days. There was, however, a period of my life when cereal was my only form of sustenance. I ate a sugar-spiked cereal for breakfast to help jump-start my day, never ate lunch, then came home close to midnight after work every night (was I insane, or was I consultant on the partner track?) and wolfed down a bowl of Special K while standing over my sink before collapsing into bed. Cereal is fast and (relatively) cheap.

So, I understand why a person (or persons) would dedicate an entire blog to the stuff. Cereal Blogger is food blog authored by some peeps from New Jersey who do nothing but muse about cereal and all things cereal-related.

If you're a cereal addict, Cereal Blogger might be worth a peek. Don't worry, I don't think the bloggers' names are Snap, Crackle, and Pop.

I'm not usually a big fan of cold breakfast cereals and usually will opt for something like oatmeal (steel-cut or regular), pancakes or maybe even fruit salad. I do like breakfast to be simple, though, so I keep a couple boxes of cold cereals around. This weekend, I stumbled upon a box of Post's new Honey Bunches of Oats with Cinnamon Clusters at the supermarket and must confess that the entire box is almost gone after only a few days.

Honey Bunches of Oats consists of three kinds of slightly sweetened whole grain flakes and , in this case, cinnamon coated oat clusters that don't skimp on the cinnamon. The cereal is not overly sweet and reminds me very much of french toast, since I add vanilla and cinnamon to my french toast batter.

This cereal is fantastic, even when eaten dry, as a snack in the afternoon. It's a lighter, more flavorful alternative to granola and worth a taste if you come across a box at the store.

Kellogg's is planning to raise prices and decrease package sizes for its ready-to-eat boxed cereals this fall. The cereal giant is expected to increase its marketing budget, or at least maintain it, to make sure that customers keep buying their products in spite of pricing changes. After all, they have to convince the consumer that it is worth paying more money for less cereal for their profits to remain the same.

But is it worth it? The two main reasons that people eat cold cereal are convenience and price. A bowl of cereal takes seconds to prepare and you can get several meals out of one box. But, if given all the time and luxury of a relaxing Sunday, cereal might not be the first thing that breakfasters would reach for. A small price hike, about 2%, might not make a big difference in buying habits, but it will certainly set the stage for other cereal companies to follow in the footsteps of the largest cereal company and could even lead to further changes in pricing. When consumers realize that they are getting less than what they think they're paying for, some might stop buying cereal on a regular basis and the companies could be hurt more in the long run.

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Starbucks Gossip mentioned a rumor that Starbucks will be partnering with Kellogg's to introduce a line of granola cereals. The cereal will be packaged in individual portion cups, so steamed milk can be added easily for a convenient, quick breakfast. 

This seems like a great idea because so many people start their day at Starbucks. Along with a latte, people order breakfast of a muffin, scone or other pastry virtually every morning. The granola - which will most likely be a low-fat variety - will probably have more to offer nutritionally than the jumbo sized chocolate scones Starbucks serves. At the very least, the whole oats in the granola will add an extra serving of fiber to the daily diet. Offering both steamed and cold milk to top the granola gives the cereal the versatility to be appealing all year long.

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