In the last couple of years, Kellogg’s (and maybe the other manufacturers) got into trouble by pricing their cereals higher than the market would bear. Homemakers began looking at generic cereals (or cinnamon toast) as viable alternatives, sales slumped, earnings went down and heads rolled at corporate headquarters.
The cereal manufacturers are caught between the rock of meeting shareholder demand for higher earnings and the hard place of a cereal market that really isn’t growing that fast and consumers who eventually DO get fed up with price increases.
The preceeding does not imply any desire on my part to pay $4 for a box of Wheaties, however.
I’m told you can buy whole grains for human consumption at health food stores.
Also you could PROBABLY wash grain from feed stores and get away with eating it. Also some feed grain comes already packaged,usually 50 lb bags. This may be acceptable for human consumption. Ask the feed store guy.
Funny, I always thought of cereal as pretty cheap. There’s really no point in comparing the price per pound of cereal and meat since you don’t use them is the same way. I’ve never eaten a pound of cereal in one sitting, but I have eaten a pound of meat.
Using Askia K. Hale’s numbers:
With a serving size of 1 oz. (probably a large portion for the very light Rice Krispies), you get a price per serving of $0.558. Add in the cost of milk, a maybe even a little fruit, and you have a meal costing less than $1.00.
i feel it’s my duty to help folks save money and report this fact:
Fruit Tasty Os are much better than Fruit Loops. they seem to have an added citrus taste that i love. so you don’t have to feel like you’re taking a step down…
I was going to say the exact same thing JeffB did; even if you shell out nearly $4 for a box of cereal, you do get quite a few quick, convenient breakfasts out of it. That being said, I tend to buy either the store brands or the generic knock-offs, when the store does carry some palatable ones. Geez, a corn flake is a corn flake as far as I’m concerned, a “Fruity O” is as good as a Froot Loop, and a Magic Star is as good as a Lucky Charm.
I agree, although there’s something that just won’t let my buy Price Chopper’s house brand “Silly Spheres” (Kix), or “Krispy Hexagons” (Crispix). I don’t know why, but they just seem too damned geometric for my tastes.
http://soar.Berkeley.EDU/recipes/
Don’t know if this will get you there or not the site is full and won’t let me on.
Look for
Overnight Whole grain cereal
and
Whole-Grain Breakfast Cereal
As for the stubborn kids refusing to eat house brand cereal, sounds like a bait and switch opportunity.
Buy a box of Kellogs Sugar Frosted Flakes. Buy a bag of house brand frosted flakes and hide it where the kiddies won’t find it (anywhere near a lawn mower or vacuum cleaner should fit this bill.) Refill box as necessary.
I thought JeffB raised a good point. Everyone pretty much will complain about $1.40 gas (at least in the midwest, the left and right coasts have it even worse). Who complains about a $0.50 twelve ounce can of soda? That is $64.00 a gallon! A one liter bottle that sells for $2.00 means $7.57 a gallon.
Of course, soda does not make your car operate in an efficient manner while gasoline will not keep you awake during an afternoon meeting (but drinking it might get you OUT of that meeting… and into the morgue.)
What the market will bear. The prices of most American groceries are the same as the Canadian prices – i.e. we pay roughly 35% less on everything. Here a box of cereal is between $2.50 and $4.60 Canadian; much higher and it would certainly affect sales.
The way to get rich in the late 19th century was to sell breakfast cereal. It has always been pricy, and more fortunes besides kellogg and Post have been made in Battle Creek.
Not to get too off-topic here, but I think you’re all giving supply/demand too much credit… You’re ignoring competition
If I make a cereal that
1-tastes just as good as Brand X
and
2-Is cheaper than brand X
Then Brand X will need to reduce it’s price to stay in business. There is plenty of competition in the cereal market, which is why we pay as little as we do anyway.
If you truly believe that the store brands taste as good as the major brands, then we don’t have a problem with the cost, as it has been shown in this thread that you can save a bundle going with the store brand.
So why does the name-brand stuff cost more? I say it’s 2 things:
1-It tastes better
and
2-They have more advertising costs.