In a February 2020 article on prnewswire.com, Packaged Facts declared the breakfast cereal industry to have a value of $35 Billion! And, who doesn’t love to dig into a happy bowl of cereal to start their day? With an outrageous array of choices, you can Cap’n Crunch it, you can Frosty Flake it. How about Cookie Crisps or Lucky charms? There are cereals with marshmallows and some with raisins or nuts. Flavors include peanut butter, cinnamon, chocolate, and a variety of fruit choices.

If you choose to adult while cerealing, there are many organic choices that claim to be healthy alternatives.

Here’s my challenge: check the side panel of your favorite cereal for its nutritional values. I have never found a cereal that could beat Bran Flakes for the number of vitamins and minerals with 100% values; not even the so called healthy organic cereals match up. As a semi-vegan, I especially like to see that 100% value next to B12, it’s the vitamin found mostly in meat.

I sprinkle cinnamon over my Bran Flakes and toss in a sliced banana, as well as craisins and raisins. Sometimes I even throw in strawberries or blueberries. I do my best to stay dairy free, so it’s almond milk that floats my bowl.

Warning! The one draw back to my branny breakfast is that the flakes go from crunch to mush fairly quickly, so, once the milk has been poured, you’ve got to stay on task.

While a lot of people enjoy cereal as a snack, and could care less about the nutritional facts, if you want something more substantial, do a cereal box panel check, and see if you can find those hundreds!

Happy munching,

Bonn