A couple nights ago I was leaving a friend’s house when we landed on a really serious discussion. It was so serious that I set my purse down and sat back down on the couch. What was so important, you might wonder?
Cereal.
Not just any cereal, y’all, we were salivating over the sugary, good, delicious, unhealthy, childhood cereal that we all secretly dream about while we choose to eat the healthy cardboard junk. Who invented Kashi cereal anyway?
Even as I type this I’m feeling all giddy again.
I went on to explain to my friends that growing up my mom might have well been named the Junk Food Queen. We had every imaginable sugary cereal and Hostess Cupcake you can imagine. I wish it weren’t true. In fact, I’m almost certain that if I were to open my mom’s pantry door today, I’d see remnants of my childhood. (Well, they wouldn’t be THAT expired, but you get the point.) My mother still doesn’t believe in food tasting like cardboard and I don’t blame her.
(I think she got the habit from my Grandpa who, until the day he passed away, would eat Cap’n Crunch nearly every morning. I ate it in his honor the last time he visited, because you better believe he had a box left.)
Since I am now considered a grown up, I try to make healthier food choices, including the cereal I eat. (And let’s be so honest, any evening that includes cereal for dinner is a really good evening.) This means I steer clear of the Cookie Crisp, the Corn Pops, the Cocoa Pebbles, the Apple Jacks, the Cap’n Crunch, the Frosted Flakes, the Fruit Loops and well, you get the point.
(And don’t even get me started on how Lucky Charm marshmallows should be saved for the end of your bowl and then eaten all together. Or the fact that you can buy Lucky Charm marshmallows separately and if that doesn’t make you happy, I don’t know what will. If you’re one of those eat-one-marshmallow-with-each-bite kind of person, I don’t know if we can be friends.)
I could name twenty more cereals and add a jingle or a tag line with each one of them.
(Oh, and shall we discuss at large the leftover milk if you’ve eaten Fruity Pebbles or Cocoa Pebbles? It was one of the best parts of the cereal eating experience.)
After our detailed discussion we decided we needed to have an official cereal night. There are a bunch of us that frequently eat dinner together on Sunday evenings, so the rule this past Sunday for all who decided to join was to come with your favorite sugary cereal. I’m not even kidding, y’all. These are adults I’m speaking of. We usually eat very adult meals with an occasional chicken nugget thrown in, but Trix aren’t really just for kids.
I failed to get a picture of our cereal choices Sunday evening because I was too busy eating said cereal, but despite my lack of photographing that particular evening, I struck gold when I reached this aisle the day before and bought myself a box of Cocoa Pebbles. Not for the Cereal Extravaganza of 2013, but just because.
I think I even heard angels singing.
This entire conversation and experience is something I felt so passionate about, I knew I had to share it with you guys. I know how you people get all excited about the little things with us. Even if it’s about cereal.
So can we all just take a moment and relive our childhood by naming off our favorite all time cereal? And by all means, throw the slogan in there, too.
And if your mom never bought you the good stuff, today we grieve with you. But please, for the love of all things normal, go buy yourself a box of Fruity Pebbles.
They even make those gluten free.
Boom.
I hadn’t been to this blog for a couple of weeks and I pulled it up just now, following our supper of cereal (!) I thoroughly agree that any evening that involves cereal for supper is a great evening.These days we eat healthy cereal but we put chopped fruit, almonds and yogurt on top, so that makes up for its lack of flavor. But I grew up with Trix, Cap’n Crunch with Crunch Berries, Fruity Pebbles, etc. I started off back in the days of Marky Maypo (“I WANT MY MAYPO!”) and grew up with cereals that were still called “Sugar Crisp” and “Sugar Frosted Flakes”, etc.back in the days before “sugar” was a bad word. In adolescence I lived through the war between Quisp and Quake. Even ate a few Quangeroos… Hurrah for cereal!
Linda says: Why do they limit Boo Berries and Frankenberries to the Fall Season now?
Those are my favorites! And you can count on my grocery cart having at least
five boxes of Boo Berries every time I get the chance to shop starting in
September. They are already gone from the stores this year, but I’ll look
forward to next year!!
So as a kid my mom wasn’t in to sugary cereals– we would get rice krispies or corn flakes with a spoon of sugar only. But once I hit college– man, I ate every sugary cereal known to man. Now as a mom of 4, we usually try to balance with some healthy and some junky cereals. But my favorite is still Froot Loops– amazing!!!! But I can’t buy it because I eat it all in one day and the roof of my mouth hurts! I also love Oh’s– a cereal that looks like an adult cereal but I promise has as much sugar as lucky charms, maybe even more!!! Love you Lindsee– this post cracks me up!
I am now gluten free 🙁 and no cereal despite it’s claims really is. Most have this thing called BHT and it is a sneaky wheat. But when I remember cereal-and i did love love love it especially for supper or a late brunch (and yes, it is a brunch food also)-i loved frosted flakes with bananas (they had to be cold and sliced very thin). And i had to have super buttery toast with it-sweet and salty! What comfort food it was!
Sue
Oh! The Frosted Flakes with bananas sound delicious. I’m going to try!!
Sugar Smacks!
Sugar Pops, Lucky Charms, Frosted Flakes when I want sweet. Shredded Wheat and Cheerios usually chosen. Great post. 🙂
hey linds 🙂 sorry- i shorten everyone’s names. its a thing with me. anyway, just had a baby and all bets were off during my whole pregnancy with junky cereal. i couldn’t get enough – and neither could my husband and two girls (who were so happy i was buying that kind of cereal for a change). michelle obama will be happy to know i am back to the healthy choices now that baby is here, but our favs were most definitely: lucky charms, fruit loops, cocoa krispies, cookie crisp, & cap’n crunch 🙂 xo
Life.
Feed it to Mikey … he like it, he likes it … Mikey likes everything!!!!! 🙂
Life.
Feed it to Mikey … he likes it, he likes it … Mikey likes everything!!!!! 🙂
I would appreciate your prayers and those of your friends for a sweet little mama in our tiny community. She and her husband have nine children, as of yesterday, when she had twin girls by C-section. Michelle is a shy person with a heart of love for her family. Right now she is in the air being “life flighted” to Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. She has had two or three surgeries in the past 24 hours. I have had her husband and her children in my classes, and we really need prayer warriors. I thought of you. Thank you.
Gayla, I’ve been off the blog all weekend so I’m just now seeing this. Praying right now that the Lord would be near and bring complete healing, in Jesus’ name!
Please give an update!! Would like to know how our little mother is doing. Prayers are lifted for her.
Quisp! They were in the shape of flying saucers & the character on the box was an antenna-clad cartoon alien!
Does anyone else remember these? No one I’ve ever asked has recalled them. (always was a space cadet!)
You had me at captain crunch, all peanut butter. 🙂 I still love the days where I can sit in my living room, reading a book and eating a bowl for dinner. I think I may have to do that tomorrow. 😉
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
We didn’t have much sugary cereal in the house while I was growing up , but, from what we did have, Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal was, & still is, my all time favorite ! But, adding extra brown sugar and milk makes it even better !
I love eating Frosted Mini Wheats still ! They are great for snacking on in the car, with milk (in a covered
cup), too ! ! !
But, my 3 older sisters and I knew that we could always get some Double Mint Gum at our Grandma Blanche’s house, and Claey’s Horehound candies at Grandma Florence’s house ! And, better yet, the horehound candy still help calm coughs, because they are made from tea, I guess ……….
Jennifer
We always had Cocoa Pebbles, Honey Combs and Lucky Charms in the house! Even now my husband and I will have our box of sugary cereal in the pantry! Right now it is Honey Combs and Cinnamon Toast Crunch!
Come to think of it, Cocoa Puffs were my favorite, and we did have all manner of unhealthy snack food in the house too. I think it was something that my stepdad liked to shop for moreso than my mom, but she had her own junk food habits, like icecream…I’ve always been a chocoholic, so it seems fitting to me that this particular cereal was my favorite.
lucky charms. hands down. (but seriously, who drinks that blue/green/gray milk?! gross.)
my roommate of 3 years & i have a tradition: we eat ginormous bowls of lucky charms & watch the macy’s parade on thanksgiving (or i watch it & she joins me when she has breaks from making the thanksgiving feast…because let’s face it: i’m 100x better at EATING than i am COOKING ;P)
Capn Crunchberries. yum! of course sugar corn pops because they are big n yellow and all texans like things big and yella. if u remember that ur as old as i am!!! (not u lindsee!)
My mothers idea of cereal was oatmeal she cooked on the stove. Hostess and Coke were not allowed in our house. I’m 61 and have only one filling so I’m not complaining, though I did as a child. Today I love Cocoa Pebbles and Reece’s cereal. 🙂
I had an awesome mom! Although I was one of five siblings, she let us choose our own box of cereal! It was fantastic! When I was little, I chose Frankenberry. 🙂
Lucky Charms, they’re magically delicious!
If you tell my kids, well-i may have to have you taken down a notch. You see, i tell them…sugary cereal is just candy with milk on it.
I love cereal, especially Cocoa Pebbles (not Puffs, PEBBLES – lol) I would eat cereal every single day if Kellogg’s and General Mills would just be real and make them GMO free. **sigh**
in college I was introduced to the goodness of cinnamon toast crunch. HOW COULD I HAVE NEVER KNOWN?!?!!! and now i’m a mom that hides all those sugar-covered teeth-rotting cereals from her kids… 🙂
I remember Quisp cereal and consumed a ton of it as well as Fruity Pebbles, Fruit Loops and cocoa pebbles oh and Trix! Loved it!!