Thursday, 31 May 2012

The Breakfast Cereal Phenomenon

I don't know what it is but people in my family seem to be very reluctant to finish off a box of cereals.

They will happily use them until near the bottom - then they will carefully pour a bowlful, but manage to leave a couple of spoonfuls in the box.

Anyone picking up one of these more or less empty boxes will shake it and then put it back, moving on to another one.

So, every so often, when I realise it has happened again, I finish off all of these more or less empty cereal packets - yesterday I had a really strange mixture of about 4 different types!  Suddenly that part of the food cupboard looked very empty...

Of course there is another downside to doing this - those boxes have to be recycled too, and the recycle bin is ALWAYS full when I go to it, so I have to empty it and put in a new liner, etc.

Maybe I should just do what everyone else does and just leave those more or less empty boxes in the cupboard?

11 comments:

agg79 said...

Same deal over here. There's been a few morning's I've eaten a bowl of Cheerios/Special K/Frosted Flakes/Chex. Definitely unique taste. But how come nobody ever eats my Grape Nuts?

What you should try is to take the remnants and mix them all into one box. That way, EVERYONE gets to share in the culinary experience.

Rock Chef said...

Agg79 - A great idea, but not sure it will float. But I will see how I feel next time I am in that situation.

wigsf3 said...

Several reasons why.
Reason #1 - By the time the cereal gets to the bottom of the box, it's stale and tastes worse than my butt.
Reason #2 - Lots of cereal crumbs accumulate at the bottom of the box. The cereal dust turns to cereal mud in the milk.
Reason #3 - Blame the UFOs.
How to avoid this phenomenon: "Kids, I'm not buying a new box until this box is finished." Then you will find a couple spoonfuls of cereal in the trash bin, but still, the box will be empty.

Rock Chef said...

Wigsf - Excellent points. One thing, though - wondering how you know what your own butt tastes like, but no, I don't really want an answer - hoping it was just an expression...

Karie said...

I actually do this. Haha! My reasoning is the amount of crumbs at the bottom. Nobody wants to eat a spoonful of crummy milk!

Rock Chef said...

Karie - But do you put the crumby stuff back into the food cupboard? I hope not!

ShadowRun300 said...

We don't have that problem with cereal, 'cause we all like the powdery crumbs at the end. BUT, the kids ALWAYS empty a box of snacks/crackers/cereal and leave the empty box in the cupboard, leading me to believe we still have food in there. When I finally realize the boxes are empty, the cupboard clears out fast. And I, too, have to recycle the boxes....
Did we do that as kids???

Rock Chef said...

ShadowRun300 - I certainly threw out empty stuff, and let my mom know we had run out. The only thing that seemed ongoing was the Marmite - a Marmite jar is never quite empty (you can always scrapea little more out) and I am sure that we had only one jar during my entire childhood.

Abby said...

My family members do this too. And I do a similar version of your combo platter. I mix the various spoonfuls together and combine them into one of the almost empty boxes. Surprise!

I still end up being the one to flatten the empties and toss them in the recycle bin, but the remaining mystery box watch makes it all rather fun.

Rock Chef said...

Abby - I really will have to do that now!

terri said...

I know it's sort of wasteful but why don't our kids just throw that last little bit away? We'd be none the wiser and much less frustrated.