5 Ways to Save on Cerealby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 25 Jul 2008 11:58 AM
Buy generic. While once in a while I do find an off-brand or generic cereal that I can't stand, for the most part generic cereal is just as good as the name brand expensive stuff. In fact, in a couple of cases, I have found the taste to be even better. Factories that produce cereal for the name brands often produce the exact same cereal for the generic companies. The difference in price is related to the marketing of the cereal brand. Make your own cereal. You can create both cold and hot cereals from scratch. Granola is so easy to make, and you can buy the ingredients in bulk for even more savings. Hot cereal, such as oatmeal is also easy to make. Use your own flavorings, such as brown sugar and cinnamon, bits of fresh apple, bits of strawberry, etc. The only difference between "instant" oatmeal and regular oatmeal is that the instant has been ground down a bit so it requires less cooking. Use your food processor on whole oats to achieve the same results, minus all of the sugar and artificial flavors. Provide lots of alternatives. Okay, this isn't so much saving on cereal as it is saving on breakfast. Muffins, pancakes and even baked oatmeal can be made quickly and ahead of time to reduce that cereal budget. Check out the clearance aisle or salvage section of the grocery stores. I find cereal here so very often. most of the time it is because the box has been opened or torn (with the plastic bag inside still intact.) Expect anywhere from $1.25 to $1.75 for a box. Combine those coupons, sales and rebates. Pick a price that you can aim for and don't pay more. My price used to be $1.00 a large box, but I have upped that to $1.50 based on price increases. Still, free cereal can sometimes be had. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. Starting June 1st, don't miss her articles in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. More Great Articles: Frugal Food: Make Some Muffins Stock up on Flour, Bread and Cereal Now While You Can Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments MegfromAllAboutAppearances (330) 25 Jul 2008 12:14 PMI love how you suggested alternatives! I find a lot of cereal to be quite tasty, but I never really understood why some people seem to think that cold cereal is a necessity -- especially considering it's outrageous price. And most of it is soooo unhealthy. Just because it's been enriched with vitamins doesn't mean that it's any healthier than chasing a cookie with a vitamin. Also, I find that most cold cereal just doesn't fill me up. Seriously, I could eat a whole box if I didn't worry about the cost and calories. I don't really have separate breakfast or dinner foods. I just have a mental list of things that are easy to fix (i.e. most of what I eat) and things that aren't. Even as a kid I thought eating dinner leftovers for breakfast made perfect sense! Frequent first meals of mine include tomato and mayo sandwiches on whole wheat bread, whole wheat couscous with olive oil and nuts, steel cut oatmeal (made in the microwave) with add-ins like nuts or fruit, good ol' PB&J sandwiches, and of course, leftovers.  Mary Ann Romans (26876) 25 Jul 2008 12:45 PMCan you tell me a little more about steel cut oatmeal? Is it better than regular oats? Also, I love all of your suggestions! Community Tags budget, cereal, food cost, frugal, thrifty Discuss this article
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