Breakfast Cereals - how to cut the cost and keep the taste?

Mazzy_2

Breakfast cereal doesn't last 5 minutes in our house, I don't eat it myself, but DH, DD (20) and DS (16) do, and not just for breakfast they will eat it as a snack as well, usually in the evening.

I buy branded cereal but really need to cut the cost, so wondered if any of you had been successful in switching down to an own brand and it still being edible, as I tried it once a couple of years ago and got nothing but complaints about it tasteing awful.

At the moment I'm buying Weetos, Cheerios, Shredded Wheat Bitesize, but it changes from week to week, depending on what they ask me to buy.

Any ideas would be great, thanks.

Oh, and I shop at Tesco, but do also have a small Morrisons within walking distance.

penelopedee_2

At their ages they are old enough to be using their own money for branded cereal. We all eat a lot in our house and the general rule is own brand unless the branded is on a really good offer and is liked by everyone.

wornoutmumoftwo

We don't eat any branded cereal, boys are young. I have two and allow them to choose one box a week (only if it has a yellow sticker), and then buy a box of either cornflakes, rice crispie or shreddies. Once there own box have gone that's it for the week.

I don't like the cheap value cereal's, though use them for cooking crispie cakes.

butler_helen

penelopedee wrote: »

At their ages they are old enough to be using their own money for branded cereal. We all eat a lot in our house and the general rule is own brand unless the branded is on a really good offer and is liked by everyone.

same rules in our house. I buy special k - tescos version, bran flakes - tesco version and weetabix... you guessed it - tesco version! All taste EXACTLY the same... even better in the case of the bran flakes. I usually pay around £1 per 500g box of each of those cereals. I'm not sure on the more 'yummy' cereals though.

Edit; Tesco standard and not value versions.

stef240377

My ex SIL tried to tell me her kids would only eat branded cereals and it was costing her an arm and a leg as they too snacked on cereals mid evening as well as the usual bowl for breakfast. So on the next shopping trip i got her to go to the next brand down and just take the inner packs out placing them into the old boxes. This proved that it was all in the mind and that the packaging did the talking, because she had no complaints about the taste/flavours the following week bought she the same cereals but left in original packaging and the kids went ballistic saying they were horrible and nasty etc. Unfortunately she gave in to them and replaced the lot instead of persevering.

penelopedee_2

We don't do the value versions unless its for doing crispie cakes or something. But normal own brand isn't a lot different from the branded ones. If they are covered in milk and sugar I doubt many could tell the difference.

Bigsleep

Agree,Tesco & Morrisons own brand Weetabix & Bran Flakes are very good.
Morrisons mini-shredded wheat are great too.
Its only Kelloggs cornflakes for me tho, I've tried all the own brand ones & they dont come anywhere near Kelloggs

money21

we go through so many cereals ,its like i am constantly looking out for cereal on offer.When i have a big stock it seems to finish so quickly.I dont buy value just branded cereals when they are on offer.

adsk

Lidl's Crownfield cornflakes cost 89p for 500g. They are the closest to Kellogs that I've found, unlike Aldi's that were tasteless. Their version of Shreddies is also very good as is Aldi's. I also like Sainsbury's own brand Bran Flakes.

babyshoes

I don't eat much cereal, but after buying both the sainsburys and tescos 'value' crispies for making crispy cakes, I ate the leftovers and thought the sainsburys ones were quite nice - I have bought them since to eat. The tesco (plain and chocolate) ones weren't so great, but edible.

Kimitatsu

I invested in the plastic cereal storage boxes and just use own brand for the ones that they cant tell the difference with. We use Morrisons own brand cheerios as no-one can tell the difference, cornflakes I have just bought a cupboard full from approved foods, rice crispies are own brand too. Give it a go and see if anyone notices!

Like you though we go through bucket loads of cereal so I am always looking for a way to cut the costs!