I want to drop cereal. But I love it and love the ease. Alternatives?

[Anonymous]

We almost completely extinguished a pretty heavy cereal habit here by doing two things: 1) I explained to the kids how much sugar is in Life cereal (or mainstay), and started buying only one small box per week, then stopped buying it altogether (we switched to plain Cheerios). 2) switched to non-dairy milk. Our boys were not interested in trying different mills to find one they liked, so they just stopped eating cereal. We do pancakes, muffins, and/or eggs and bacon now.

[Anonymous]

Yogurt + fruit + a sprinkle of cereal. Lately it's been plain greek + a bit of jam + banana + frosted shredded wheat. But there are many options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plain Cheerios isn’t bad for you but I understand that it’s not really filling. What about some of the high fiber cereals?

Yes they are. They are full of glyphosate. Do like 30 seconds of googling on how good that junk is for you/your kids' health...

[Anonymous]

I make my own cereal. I start out with bran buds or bran flakes and add puffed rice or millet for volume. Then I add some granola for flavor along with chopped nuts, chopped dried fruit, coconut shreds, pumpkin seeds, etc.

[Anonymous]

Peanut/Almond butter on toast. Banana rounds or apple slices with pb.

[Anonymous]

I love cereal so much. I can eat a box of peanut butter crunch in one sitting. 53 year old mom.

[Anonymous]

Find a local farmer to buy eggs from - they’re cheaper now at a local farm than the grocery store. Whip up a nice veggie filled quiche every few days - they take an hour to make if you use the store crust. I make spinach and sun dried tomato quiches, usually with some onions and garlic sautéed in as well. Each slice is ~300-400 calories depending on whether you slice in eighths or sixths. Quiche is a perfect food to fill you up for hours as it’s a great blend of protein fats and fiber. Have a quiche in your fridge at all times and you have a 5-10 minute prep for breakfast, just warm the slices in the toaster oven or oven for best results. You could also buy store bought quiche but homemade is very easy and always healthier, I think.

Yes, children can like quiche. I’ve seen it firsthand.

[Anonymous]

Eggs and toast and a side of vegetables

[Anonymous]

Toast. Every single morning. Whole wheat with avocado and cheese, served with fruit.

[Anonymous]

We’ve never done cereal for breakfast because as you said it’s crap and doesn’t fill you up. We didn’t fall for the marketing of cereal being a good idea. Anyway DD 10 had it somewhere so we do do now have instant oatmeal in the house and plain cheerios and she will have those at bedtime sometimes while I’m reading. We eat dinner very early so I’m ok with a bowl of cereal as a snack before bed.

[Anonymous]

PBJ on an English muffin.

[Anonymous]

I do not make instant oatmeal. Instead I make steel cut oats. Make a big batch adding chia seeds. It keeps very nicely for 3-4 days in the fridge. Heat ith a bit of milk and nut, berries, cut fruit. If you need more protein, you can add a boiled egg too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are also trying to reduce cereal because of the price, plus just trying to eat fewer processed foods in general. Though cereal and commercial bread are really the only processed foods we eat so I don't stress that much about it. But yes, the cost! $6 a box is not sustainable for us.

Agree with others that some cereals are more filling than others. I don't even like Cheerios (DD loves the honey nut and DH is generally a fan), but I find Raising Bran, Life, and Grape Nuts all to be pretty filling. Though I will also note that these cereals also tend to be more expensive, probably because they are more dense and nutrient rich.

Alternatives: yogurt with granola, oatmeal, and muffins. I try to make a batch of muffins every Sunday night so that people can grab one for breakfast when they need to. I do bran muffins with chocolate chips, banana, carrot, zucchini, and "pancake muffins" that are literally made with pancake mix (homemade) and berries. My kids don't like the zucchini muffins but will eat everything else. DH often has an early morning commute and especially likes the muffins because he rarely has time to actually sit down and eat a proper breakfast on those days. Lots of ways to pack in fiber and protein to these.

Unless you are making oatmeal from scratch, every other breakfast will be more expensive than cereal.

My thought as well. People telling you to sub out eggs, cheese and meat? Uh that’s more expensive than crushing a box of cereal.
I really like store brand cereals they sell in big bags. Taste just as good. Cheerios rule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not make instant oatmeal. Instead I make steel cut oats. Make a big batch adding chia seeds. It keeps very nicely for 3-4 days in the fridge. Heat ith a bit of milk and nut, berries, cut fruit. If you need more protein, you can add a boiled egg too.

Boiled egg on the side too!

[Anonymous]

We are not a family that is going to make complicated breakfasts, the easier the better! Some of our favorites:

Frozen waffles- can be served with a little butter/syrup, smear of nut butter, topped with greek yogurt and fruit
Tortilla roll-ups- can have nut butter/honey/cinnamon sugar/ham/cheese, anything you want
Make a batch of muffins on the weekend- I'll usually use a box and add things like extra berries, carrot shavings, nuts, etc...
Also a prep ahead on the weekend- egg 'muffins' (baked egg, veggies, cheese) in a muffin tin that just need microwaved for a few seconds in the morning