Rant #1,052: My Cereal

I eat cereal every morning for breakfast.

Well, not quite every morning.

On Sundays, I usually eat something else. I give myself a treat on that day, and on holidays when I don't have to go to work.

But normally, I eat cereal.

Cereal has traditionally been a cheap way to get a good start to the day.

It was easy, didn't have to be heated up, and mixed with milk, you really got everything you needed to get your day moving.

The same still holds true, but prices have gotten out of this world.

You can easily spend $5 on a box of cereal, which to me, is really ridiculous.

Why does cereal cost so much?

I truly believe that it costs so much because the cereal manufacturers know that it is a staple of our diet, and that people will spend whatever it is priced at to have their favorite cereal in the morning.

I used to have any cereal in the morning, but in recent years, I have some derivation of Cheerios. I was told by a doctor a few years back that having such a cereal would help my digestion, and he was right, it has, so that is what I have.

I prefer the "Honey Nut" variety, so that is what I have every morning.

But rather than buy the branded product, I usually go for the knockoff, unless the branded product is on sale.

I am not going to spend $5 on a box of cereal if I can help it, and I haven't in years.

Even my local dollar store stocks this type of cereal--the knockoff, of course--and for $1, I am very satisfied.

Cereal is a big business, and it always has been.

There are so many tie-ins to cereal, lots of movie and TV links, and everybody eats cereal, so you are kind of stuck.

But I guess in my own small little way, I am beating the system by eating the knockoffs, which I have found are generally every bit as good as the branded stuff is, at just 20 percent of the price.

How about you? What cereal do you eat for breakfast, and have you found that outlandish prices have changed your habits at all?

Goodbye Kellogg's and General Mills, and hello, Malt-O-Meal.

What more can I say ... or eat?

Snap, crackle and pop!