We have decided to stop eating cereal. You know, the super sugary stuff you buy in the store for ridiculous prices that come in excessive packaging? We’re giving up that stuff. And I’m so excited to start doing it!
We decided to do this a couple weeks ago when we were doing our weekly dreaming about how we want to grow and make all of our own food. Like everything. Breads, buns, herbs, tortillas, potato chips, yogurt, butter, tomato sauce, pasta, jams . . . you name it, I want to make it! But we don’t exactly have all the resources for doing all of this quite yet (like the room to grow everything . . . Although check out this farm. Definitely an inspiration!) But you need to start somewhere right? So we decided to stop buying boxed cereals.
Between the two of us, we typically go through a box of cereal a week (unless its mini wheats, in which case it would be like 2 boxes a week. Because you need to fill your bowl to the brim with those, right?). We started thinking of different breakfast options that could easily replace cereal without having to buy something else with a lot of packaging, and the options were pretty much endless and so easy! We already make our own waffles. When we make them, we usually do a double batch and throw the extras in the freezer. When you want to eat them, just pop em’ in the toaster and voila! Fresh, tasty waffles. I’ll post some of our favourite recipes soon. Oatmeal is always a great option as well. Buy some quick oats in bulk form, scoop your desired amount into a bowl, top with whatever you want (raisins, cranberries, almonds, apples, blueberries, cinnamon, brown sugar . . . ), pour some hot water into it and you have custom instant oatmeal. Top with some milk, maple syrup or honey and it is delish!
I was recently perusing my More with Less cookbook (a book on how to eat better and consume less) and found an entire section on cereals! There are some great granola recipes that I’m going to give a whirl, but what was most interesting was the information given about boxed dry cereals. Here’s a quick summary:
1. Boxed cereal is a very expensive way to eat grain. It is even more expensive than bread and in some cases can be more expensive per pound than some varieties of meat. So basically, cereal is muchos expensive!
2. Dry cereals are extremely wasteful; they have excess packaging, they take up space on shelves, and take up energy as they are developed, processed, advertised and delivered to stores and in turn our homes.
3. Many dry cereals are loaded with sugar and most are filled with dyes and preservatives. The cereal grains in their natural state contain much-needed fibres are are pretty much fat free whereas the dry cereal have most of the good stuff like fibre, removed in the processing stage and then have added fats . . . gross.
4. Cereals are one of the most advertised foods on children’s TV. And the cereals advertised and then most often bought for children are the ones that contain the highest amount of sugars, making young children accustom to heavy sweetening on their foods (and perhaps not as keen for vegetables).
Wow, so this little bit of information I found has only encouraged me to cut out boxed cereals forever. Yup, forever. It will take a little more work and planning, but the end result will be worth it; more nutritious and delicious breakfasts, less packaging going to the dump, and probably more time spent eating breakfast with family 🙂
It would be amazing if you could join us on this adventure. Even by just starting small, having a couple cereal free breakfasts a week, you’ll be making a difference. I’ll be posting some cereal free breakfast recipes soon so stay posted! I’d love to hear of any great recipes or breakfast ideas you have as well!
Ashley “)
