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.
Honey Nut Cheerios is my all-time favorite cereal! And no off-brand–only General Mills will do! It is on the healthy side so I don’t feel bad about buying it EVERY GROCERY TRIP!!
But–as a splurge I do love Cinnamon Toast Crunch!!! YES!!!!!
No one can ever go wrong with Honey Nut Cheerios. A classic. And a delicious one at that!
Haha! My dad was a dentist, so sugared cereals did NOT exist at my house growing up. Yes, we were deprived! But for some reason the sugar bowl was right there on the table and we were allowed to decorate our sugarless choices. Even today I prefer regular bite-sized Shredded Wheat (with my sprinkling of sugar) over the frosted ones.
I think my childhood favorite cereal was Grape-Nuts Flakes.
Target brought back Boo Berry, Franken Berry, and Count Chocula recently and my husband was ecstatic!
I’m the same way! Especially about Count Chocula, it’s the best stuff ever and needs to be available year-round, imo!!
Frosted Flakes. And just an FYI I LOVE your fun blogs that don’t have anything serious in them. Although cereal really is a serious matter. HaHa Just very nice in a stressful world to have a nice laugh. Thank you Lindsee
Susan, the truth is, in the midst of craziness and life, we have to laugh! 🙂 Be blessed today!
Chocolate Lucky Charms! And as you said Lindsee, BOOM!
Ginger
Wetumpka, AL
Cap’n Crunch Peanut Butter
LOVE this post! And LOVE Reese’s Puffs!!
frosted Lucky Charms, they’re magically delicious! and YES, you MUST save all the marshmallows until the end!
Frosted Cheerios. I believe these will now make the grocery list this week! Thanks Lindsee!
Golden Grahams. Haven’t had those in years! And now I have permission to indulge!!
Three words ya’ll…….Banana Nut Crunch. By Post. Enough said exept maybe….YUM !!
Lucky Charms!! So with you on the marshmallow finale. I know the marshmallows are nothing like this now, but the jingle from my childhood hasn’t faded a bit: “Pink hearts, orange stars, yellow moons, green clovers, blue diamonds and purple horseshoes.” Yep, cereal nerd.
Captain Crunch!!!!!!!!! Not soggy though, yuk. Hahahahahha…
Love, love, love this! Thanks for making me smile this morning! Think I will head to the store for some Lucky Charms!
Lucky Charms . . .but I have to tell a mom story! My four year old son Benjamin LOVES the marshmallows from Lucky Charms and then leaves the rest in his bowl. A year ago he convinced me to bring a box of Lucky Charms to share at daycare. When I handed the box to his dear daycare provider, she announced that Lucky Charms were outlawed! YES OUTLAWED! The children would only eat the marshmallows and then ask for more. My little boy was smuggling contraband in for his friends!
Gotta check out the bag of just Lucky Charm marshmallows! That would be pretty close to Heaven for him!
Duh… Sugar Crisp anyone?! Love sugary cereal and if Rice Krispies doesn’t have a sugary taste, my Mama encouraged us to put a teaspoon of sugar on it! Love a 3-bowl cereal dinner!!! Great post, Lindsee!
SUPER Sugar Crisp for me, too – yummy! and the slogan – Can’t Get Enough of That Sugar Crisp!
They’re magically delicious!!! Lucky Charms is my all time favorite cereal. My kids love them as well.
Oh my gosh Lindsee!!! I have too many favorites!!! And I was like you and grew up with all kinds of sugary snacks and cereals!! My sister and I would save all the marshmallows until the end too or all the crunch berries till the end!! Ok but my Mom did try to get us to eat healthy cereal once in a while and she thought the puffed rice that had nooooo taste at all was one we should eat! You can NOT even add enough sugar to that to make that taste good!!! Thanks for the fun post and reminding me of my childhood!! Oh and I just remembered Fruit Loops were always in the house!!! They are healthy because they have “fruit” in them!!! 🙂
Loved this post Lindsee! I buy Peanut Butter Cap’n Chrunch “for my kids” but then I end up eating it. Haha 🙂
Booberry and Frankenberry which come back at Halloween. My mom would never by Count Chocula though, she did not approve of chocolate for breakfast, it annoyed me then, but I am the same way.
Captain Crunch, and as Cynthia says, not soggy!
Cinnamon Toast Crunch!
FRUITY PEBBLES. EVER SINCE I CAN REMEMBER (LIKE 4ISH) IT HAS BEEN MY FAVORITE 🙂 I REMEMBER THEM ADDING THE PURPLE AND/OR BLUE IN AND IT MADE IT TASTE DIFFERENT TO ME 🙂
Frosted Flakes – They’rrrrrre GREAT!
(My Dad is 86 and still has a bowl every morning!)
Oh, and our Sunday night dinner was cheese sticks (from the Kraft American block) and prunes – no lie!
I love that, Beth! My Grandpa, who just passed away, had a bowl of Cap’n Crunch. I ate them in honor of him. 🙂
Lucky Charms because, for real, They’re Magically Delicious.
And please say we can still be friends… only way to chow on those puppies is to scoop huge fist-fulls and go directly to over-stuffing my mouth. No milk, even. This and way too much Coca-cola (original, thank you) carried me through several term papers and my eventual undergraduate degree.
Now, for the record, as a kid we were allowed ZERO sugar cereals. This was a real problem for camping trips when my parents brought those assortment packs of mini cereal boxes for our four-boys-and-a-girl crew. There was one singular solitary box of Fruit Loops in those things and we would scrap like wolverines over that thing. Which is why the minute I could afford to buy (and then hide) my own box of cereal it had a Toucan on the front. 🙂
Thanks for the smile, Lindsee! My teeth ache for the sweet crunchy combo of oats and marshmallows just thinking about this!
Jennifer, don’t think we didn’t discuss the small assortment boxes of cereal. Those were gold.
YES! Pure Gold!
But, I doubt any of you actually used them the way they were DESIGNED back when…
They literally had perforated flaps on the front of the box you could peel back. Then, laying the mini box on its side you could open a little slit in the inner bag and use the packaging as its own bowl! My mom says as an Army wife she learned how to squeeze a nickel until the Buffalo, well, had-to-go. Those mini cereal boxes saved her space and dishes when we went camping on our vacations. Love those memories!
Is there any other way to have the small box cereal – but to open the flaps as a bowl? The only way to truly enjoy a good treat! 😀
Cap’n Crunch Cereal in chocolate milk.
Cap’n Crunch all the way…..with berries. Every Christmas morning since I can remember my mom would buy my brother and I our favorite sugary cereal and wrap it up and put it under the tree. Needless to say we always knew what it was (cause we shook it 😉 So now that I am out of the house, I buy it for myself, still just as good. Every Christmas morning, that is my breakfast! Cap’n Crunch with berries…..I am such a big kid!
When I was a little girl I actually liked corn flakes & my sister would make fun of me & say “Ewe…you like cornflakes.” I felt like I was really weird for liking that kind of cereal. 🙂
My family’s favorite is Cocoa Krispies.
They make really good rice krispie treats too!
Fruit Loops for sure… definitely my favorite cereal as a child. My grandmother always had Grapenut flakes at her house, so I ate those when going there. Funny how cereal makes such a fun impact on our memories.
Sorry, Froot Loops is the correct spelling I think, made by Kellog’s. Hee Hee 🙂
And the correct spelling of the cereal company is Kellogg’s. Just saying.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch! I have been known to pour myself a bowl and just eat it dry. Delish!! Thanks for this fun post.
YES!!!!!
Does it get any better than Fruity Pebbles?! OK, but what about Honeycombs, Honey Nut Cheerios, Golden Crisps, Honey Smacks, Pops, Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops, Trix, Cocoa Puffs, Rice Krispys… only with about 3 spoons of sugar! And does anyone remember Count Chocula?
I think I have a cereal problem.
Boom.
The first sign is confession. I too have a cereal problem.
Count Chocula was one of my favorites!
We have Fun Friday Cereal day at our house! I’m with you Lindsee – grew up on all the sugary cereals & now have grown to eat the more nutritious varieties. However, it struck me one day – our kids need to have some balance 😉 – they most definitely need to try Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, Frosted Flakes, …. So Fun Friday Cereal day was born. They love it and look forward to picking out a new flavor to try each Friday.
Sugar Pops!! Cap’n Crunch. Sugar Crisps! I must go to the store now!!
Yes!!! I love “Sugar Pops”. They have renamed them “Pops”.
Now, I have to eat Gluten Free. So, no more Pops for me.
Favorite was Cocoa Pebbles…but, I overindulged once and it came back to get me…while I was in Mr. Brown’s 7th grade Life Science class at York Jr. High. So embarrassing! That was 25 years ago, I’ve overcome.
Not only were the sugarly cereals good but they also contained cool prizes! I remember each week my Mom would let us pick one box of cereal. My brother and I would spend the entire time Mom shopped trying to decide what we wanted. The prize made it extra tough to decide. We tried them all. Today I keep Lucky Charms, Trix and Honeynut Cheerios in stock!
48 And still loving my Honeycomb & Captain Crunch…
I enjoyed the other cereals you mentioned but those 2 are my FAVORITE!!! I think because I love just snacking on them out of the box without bowl or milk!
Now there are days I eat a more respectable “Life” cereal, but it ain’t your Kashi! Squirrel food needs to be left to the squirrels 😀
Kidding!
Love this post. It’s so fun to see the real day-to-day side of people that you admire. Thanks for sharing. I love Rice Krispies (with lots of sugar)
Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch Yum!!!
Lindsee,
I didn’t have Captain Crunch until College, but boy it was yummy then!
A good bowl of cereal helps everything. 🙂
Also, separate Lucky Charm marshmallows!?
I will be going on a search.
Trix
Cocoa Puffs
Cocoa Krispies
Alpha Bits
Honey Comb
Frosted Flakes
I remember putting sugar on some of these!! It is a wonder I have my teeth still.
Never cared for Lucky Charms – I didn’t like that annoying leprechaun!!!
I am not a cereal person, but once in a blue moon before I got to school I might eat cereal. I am somewhat of a health freak and stuff and I am only a freshman in college. I survived freshman 15!
LOVED THIS!!!!
Especially….BOOM
Hahahaha ~ yep it’s Honey Nut Cheerios for me. Not that I grew up with them….my mom ALWAYS gave me Special K. The cheerios came after marriage…perfect cereal. My husband even added more honey!! YUM 😉
Puffa Puffa Rice. It wasn’t around very long but it was so good. It was sugar coated puffed rice. We live in an area where they test market foods…..I guess I didn’t eat enough of it to get it past the testing stage…..
I ate a Lucky Charms flurry (like a Blizzard) this summer at a local ice cream place. My 10 year old didn’t like it – Lucky me! It was sooo good.
I loved (and still do) Captain Crunch when I was little.
Fruity Pebbles and Honey Nut Cheerios…..makes me want to have a bowl right now!!!! Haha
Cocoa krispies
Cap’n crunch
Cocoa puffs
Its been YEARS since I’ve had any of these…
Beth, we so miss hearing from you.
Frosted Flakes. They’re GRRRREEAAAAAATTT!!!
Rice Krispies with a few spoonfuls of sugar and a cut up banana. Enough sugar so that the milk at the bottom still had evidence of sugar. Yes, yes I did eat it that way as a child.
Not a childhood cereal but it’s just as sinful! Kellogg’s Limited Edition Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Chocolately Almond Cereal. Yes, that’s its real title!!! You can’t wait to get up in the morning!
Lucky Charms!