Saturday, December 19, 2009

Cereal ... It's What's For Dinner

Move over beef, for a small but growing number of consumers, it's Cereal For Dinner.

Cereal for dinner? It's a tough reality for some cash-strapped people. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Cereal-fo ... 0.html?x=0

Rising popularity of cereal among those looking for a cheap meal combined with plunging ingredient costs to boost the second-quarter profit of Cheerios maker General Mills Inc. 50 percent.

The increase is a sign of the economic stress still facing families amid high unemployment who want to cut spending and save time, but don't want to rely on fast food. Food banks are seeing rising demand for cereal as people try to find a nutritious meal that costs as little as possible. That's blurring lines between traditional meals.

Kellie Hotz and her husband, Jeff, eat cereal for dinner three times a week as they struggle to stretch their budgets and care for a toddler. Hotz said cereal is less expensive than fast food, so she keeps a dozen boxes on hand. "It's the fastest, easiest and at least somewhat half-nutritious thing to do during the weekdays," said Hotz, 29, of Arlington Heights, Ill.

Breakfast foods such as eggs are popular now all times of the day because they're quick, nutritious and inexpensive, said Christopher Shanahan, a research analyst with Frost & Sullivan. "The lines of when to eat breakfast, when to eat dinner, when to eat lunch have been slightly blurring," he said.

Food banks across the country are clamoring for cereal to hand out to families, who are increasingly seeking out food assistance.

Cereal is the top priority for Gary Knuth, who coordinates food donations and purchases for the Northern Illinois Food Bank. On Thursday, he put in a bid for a truckload of Shredded Wheat in Iowa. "You can give one box to a family and feed a number of people," he said. "It goes a long way, and it fills a lot of bellies with good stuff."

Bacon, The Recessionary Version Of The Truffle

Justin Rohrlich writing for Minyanville expresses his thoughts about What Our Bacon Intake Says About the Economy. http://www.minyanville.com/articles/bac ... ex/a/26000

Stop the presses, folks -- your world is about to be rocked.

Take a look at this headline from Scott Hume's BurgerBusiness.com: “Data Confirm Sharp Increase in Bacon on Burgers and More.â€