Be Your Own Convenience

Standing in the checkout line the other day, I saw a big bin of individual cereal packages for sale.  Cereal on the go!  You know, for all those busy people who don't have time to get out their own bowl and pour the cereal themselves, right?  Essentially it's one cup of cereal that costs almost as much as a whole box.  It seems crazy to me, but obviously somebody is buying it or they wouldn't keep selling it.  And the longer these products sit on the shelf the more they start to seem normal to all of us.  And sooner or later a large portion of reasonable minded people (like you and me) are going to see them and start to think we need them too.



Do I need individual servings of cereal?
No.
Would my life be better if I had individually packaged cereal?
I don't think so.
But sometimes my kids need to eat on the go.
True.
And I really hate to see them go to school on an empty stomach.
Yes.
And sometimes the kids just need a snack, right?
Sometimes.
And think about how much cereal we waste when kids pour their own bowls and spill or just eat half and throw the rest away.  Portion control would be great, right?  And it would save money by eliminating waste!
Right.
So my life would be better if I had these individual cereal servings after all.
Yes.  I guess it would.

So rather than wait for convenience food mentality to sink into our subconscious, let's fight back now.  Let's make our own lives more convenient (for free) before the advertisers have  a chance to persuade us.

 Bag your own cereal.

There is a really simple solution.  When you bring home a box of cereal, immediately bag it up into individual serving sizes.  Then whenever someone needs cereal, they just grab a bag.  Cereal stays fresher longer because you don't have an open box sitting on a pantry shelf forever.  It helps with portion control, prevents spills, and makes it easy for kids to grab a snack "on the go".  (Hey!  That sounds familiar!)  The baggies stay clean except for the crumbs, so we reuse them again and again with no waste.  It really is that simple.  It only takes a few minutes of your time (actually I don't do it at all.  My kids do.  As part of our regular chores one of my kids is assigned to make sure the cereal bucket is filled up each week!), and is totally worth it.

Marcia