I have found it more economical and twice as much fun to make my own bulk cereal. What is great about homemade cereal is that you can customize it to you and your family’s preferences!! You can make it as healthy as you like (try adding ground flax, slivered almonds, etc…), as sweet as you please (sweetened granola, dried fruit), and as all-natural as you prefer (all organic, etc.). The first bulk cereal I tried was dubbed Blueberry Crunch.

My Blueberry Crunch mixture includes:

• Chopped walnut (or walnut baking pieces-I used Trader Joes)
• Granola (buy at in bulk form-it’s much cheaper than the boxed kind!!)
• Generic Total (find on sale)
• Generic Rice Krispies ($1.50 for a HUGE box!)
• Generic Honey Bunches of Oats (Similarly inexpensive)
• Dried Blueberries (these you’ll have to hunt for a good deal. If you can’t find one, any dried fruit will do!)

Single-grain cereals like Rice Krispies and Total are usually much cheaper than more complex varieties, and that is why it is so great to buy a bunch of the cheap cereals and combine them with some dried fruit and nuts to make a delicious and nutritious blend!!! It is so simple to make your own bulk cereal.

Here is the step-by-step breakdown:

(1) Pick your combo (e.g., Cranberry Nutmeg Pecan).
(2) List your needed ingredients (e.g., dried cranberries, pecans,    rice krispies, total, maple granola…)
(3) Hunt down sale and generic brand cereals, dried fruit in the varieties on your list.
(4) Mix them together in a large bowl.
(5) Store your homemade cereal in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.
(6) Label the container (with the date) for freshness.

Some of my Fave Mixes!
Blueberry Vanilla Almond  (dried blueberries, vanilla granola, almond slivers)
Cranberry Nutmeg Pecan (dried cranberries, ground nutmeg, and toasted pecans)
Apple Cinnamon Raisin (dried apple chunks, ground cinnamon, and plump raisins)
Banana Walnut (dried banana chips and walnut pieces)
Cranberry, Dark Chocolate Muesli (dried cranberries, dark chocolate cocoa powder, oats)

Give it a whirl and let me know what creative combos you come up with!!