When you cook, you need to be spontaneous. It may sound strange, but cooking is a little like trial-and-error. I was once making a banana milkshake when my sister suggested I put Coco Puffs in it. This came out delicious. So if you see a spice just lying around try putting it into your dish; you never know!
By fenben from Totowa, NJ
This page contains the following solutions.
I am a child caregiver. I end up with lots of small amounts of dry cereal every week. I take the extra cereal and crush them.
Tired of throwing out cereal when there's not enough for a bowlful? Make "mystery cereal". Get a nice large plastic container with a lid and just pour those odd bits of cereal into it.
Use leftover or stale cereal as a casserole topper. Just crumble it up and use in place of or in addition to crackers.
Whenever the last bowl of cereal is emptied from a cereal container, there is a powder remnant. Instead of throwing it away or eating a really soggy last bowl of cereal, I save it for powdering raisins which I pack daily in my office lunch.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I have been searching for ideas for using WIC cereal. I receive 48 ounces every month but we only go through about half of it. I can choose between Kix, Cheerios, Honey Bunches of Oats, and corn flakes. Does anyone have any great recipes or new uses for one of these cereals?
I like to use Corn Flakes as a coating for chicken or fish before frying. Just put it in a food processor and it wil be the right texture.
If you have boxes you just can't find a use for, I am sure any local food bank or church food pantry would appreciate them. Sometimes it is just so hard to use EVERYTHING up before it goes bad.
YOU CAN ALSO USE CEREAL TO MAKE RICE KRISPIE TREATS (ANY CEREAL WILL WORK) AND CEREAL CAN BE USED IN COOKIE RECIPES TOO
Crushed Kix or Cheerios can be used in place of bread crumbs in meatloaf and any other recipe using them.
I make a "trail mix" for my daughter by mixing several different dry cereals, nuts (if they're not a choking hazard or allergy for your kids), raisins, pretzels, small crackers...whatever I have lying around the pantry, usually! Anything bite-size and dry works--don't be afraid to mix salty and sweet...kids love that. This trail mix is a wonderful snack--both at home and on the go. Great to put in lunches, too.
You can crush the corn flakes and use them to make homemade cheese sticks. My family loves to use pepper jack cheese cut into sticks. Dip the cheese into some egg, then into some flour, and then last into the crushed corn flakes.
Hi,
Like someone said crushed corn flakes is GREAT for chicken coating. Try looking up clone recipes for shake and then bake---- I use ---corn flake crumbs, onion powder, garlic powder, paprica, salt and pepper, then bake. You can dip in -- egg or water or milk or butter milk first. Do not save what is left if it touched raw chicken. Just sprinkle more on top before baking to use up what is left. Can spray with cooking spray if you take skin off.
I always check the company websites for recipes.
www.cheerios.com/
go to www.kraftfoods.com/
same here, www.kelloggs.com/
for recipes using Kix, try this or other general recipes sites
www.cooks.com/
If you can't use all the cereal, find someone who could use it. It could be eaten as a 'starch' or 'bread' at any meal; i do this when I don't feel like cooking. Rather than high-caloried chips or other 'junk foods', fer example, they're great to snack on while watching TV.
You could give your kids a bag of it to keep them occupied when you're away from home. I've seen it at grocery stores and even a back pew of my church (as an aside, said parents also brought 'silent' toys to occupy young minds while adults were uplifted by the sermon) :o)
As to crushing the cereal, I have read (probably here on ThriftyFun!) that a good way to crush stuff is in cereal bags. Someone suggested saving the inner bags from boxes of cereal for crushing crackers with a rolling pin or can. These bags are pretty durable so that should work nicely for cereal too.
Also, don't be afraid to experiment. Check out the manufacturers' Web sites for ideas and recipes. I love to improvise in the kitchen but it's good to start with some basic ideas and work from there. Good Luck!
When my kids were still at home, I would melt some almond bark or chocolate chips (or any other flavor), add some peanut butter and add odds and ends of cereals, peanuts, raisins, mini marshmallows - anything like that - and make them into bars. Even if they didn't care for the individual items, they loved the bars adn they were relatively healthy and nutricious.
You can use these cereals to make into Rice Krispie squares along with the Rice Krispie cereal, or alone.
These cereals can be used as stretchers in any bread, cookie, or cake recipes. Also, if you wished they could be used in stretching meatloaf or hamburger patty recipes. Or as topping when mixed with a bit of melted butter on top of a casserole. Or crushed and used on top of salads, instead of croutons.
You could use the Cheerios for the kids to string up to make 'necklaces', for a rainy day project. They'd be edible, afterwards.
www.health.state.mn.us/
Minnesota Department of Health has some great recipes for using different WIC products.
well, ive heared of using crushed cornflakes as chicken batter, its like knock off kfc, i know there are recipes on the internet if you look.
I found some great recipes on Kraftfoods.com that use cereal. Just put into the search POST and you'll get a bunch of recipes. There are a lot for Honey Bunches of Oats.
We used to bake chicken years ago by putting chicken is Wesson oil and seasoned crushed corn flakes and baked it. Very crispy and not fried. This was a Wesson recipe and any oil would work.
Some time ago, I saw a recipe for muffins which uses the leftover crumbly stuff that is at the bottom of every cereal box. I can't remember where I saw it, but if anyone knows, I would love to have it again. Thanks,
I know this is 2 years late but if you ever check your post again - here's a recipe I found online.
KATIE'S LEFTOVER CEREAL MUFFINS
This next one is a genuine original and has come in handy many times.
Combine:
2 cups unsweetened leftover cereal or granola (this works with those sample packages that arrive in the mail no one will try)
2 1/2 cups flour
2 T baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 T cinnamon
Combine:
2 cups milk
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moist. Fill greased muffin tins (paper wrappers don't work with these).
Sprinkle tops with a combo of 1 T cinnamon and 3 T sugar (can be raw or granulated) and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. Makes 24.
Katie Watts
The Katie's crumb muffin recipe is bang on. Quick to put together...and pretty healthy from the oil and sugar standpoint (for me they had the perfect amount of sweetness...mind you I added some semi sweet chocolate chips). Thanks!
This is a page about uses for cereal crumbs. The crumbs at the bottom of your bag of cereal can be saved and used in baking recipes such as cookies.
Packaged cereals are used in a variety of recipes, typically sweet snacks or granola bars, along with some savory snack mixes. This page contains several recipes using popular boxed cereals.
Cereal can get messy when you need a snack for the kids. Here's an alternative that adds some peanut butter protein and is easier to handle.
