EXPOSING the 5 Most Popular CEREAL RECIPES to make at home for PENNIES! | Quit Store Cereal NOW

it's just getting completely outrageous that boxes of your favorite cereal brands are carrying price tags that make you think you're paying for steaks not flakes that's no exaggeration for the price you pay per pound for a box of Raisin Bran you could be eating a London broil which is why I stopped buying overpriced cereals and started making them all at home for pennies and you can too that's right in this video I'm going to show you how to make your own Raisin Bran Corn Flakes grape nuts Rice Krispies and Cinnamon Toast Crunch better yet these recipes are exactly what you want high protein unprocessed organic gluten and GMO free and you don't need any fancy equipment these recipes taste better than anything you can buy in a store and stay fresh for weeks or months at a time these recipes slide at under 75 cents a pound to make so you have nothing to lose and you could be recouping an extra 20 40 or more dollars a month of your grocery budget now I know some of y'all will need extra convincing that you or your family will truly enjoy these homemade cereals which is why I'm showing side by side comparisons of each of the breakfast cereals we'll make and later on I'll give you my recipe notes for modifications you can make to suit your taste or dietary preferences other than these boxes of cereal I just bought to convince you to start making your own cereal I haven't purchased box cereal in like seven years once I realized I was putting a whole chicken in my cart for a dollar 29 a pound or eight cents an ounce or a chuck roast for 12 cents an ounce but realize that the per ounce price I was paying for a box of cereal was nearly twice that I quit commercial cereal first up let me show you how easy it is to make your own Raisin Bran Raisin Bran a cold cereal staple made with brown Flakes and raisins has shrunk from a 25.5 ounce box to under 17 ounces in recent years but I'll show you how to make over a pound for just a few cents in a large bowl combine equal portions of whole wheat flour or almond flour if you need a gluten-free option and bran substitute rice or oat bran if you're avoiding gluten next add ground flax a pinch of salt and stir to combine fine [Music] in a separate Bowl mix your wet ingredients which include a few tablespoons of molasses maple syrup or honey also work a bit of avocado oil and water give things a good stir to combine then slowly strain the liquid into your dry ingredients holding back some initially you'll want to mix until a sticky dough begins to form it should look like this but add more liquid if you need to on a large flat surface lay a dish towel underneath of your greased baking tray which will keep your tray from sliding once we use the roller in a bit spoon the sticky brand mix onto the tray and start to spread it out around with the back of your spoon and then cover it with a large sheet of non-bleached parchment paper and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough now if you want a very thin bran flake you'll need to roll out the dough very very thin if you have some bare spots that's okay but the thinner you spread it out the more it'll look like box cereal flakes I actually prefer mine to be a bit thicker and have a cluster granola type of shape it's really up to you once it's rolled out to your preference remove the parchment paper and then bake the bran flakes for 45 to 50 minutes or until completely dried out and crisp remove the pan from the oven and let it cool here's what our brand flake sheet looks like when you can handle the Brand break it into small bite size flakes here's the thicker version that I prefer and here's a brand sheet that I rolled out very very thinly using less batter you'll want to go this route if you want a much lighter crispier flake listen to that crunch see how minimal that prep was you made a simple hands-free dough using a recipe that doesn't require a Litany of ingredients or much cleanup here's what your final bran flake will look like look at all that pack goodness and beautiful flax flakes store your cereal in an airtight container and scoop in as many raisins as you want sometimes I'll use Craisins or golden raisins give things a good shake and voila you've just made Raisin Bran you'll love being able to compare how your homemade version gives you a more nutrient dense bran flake than the translucent store-bought flake that doesn't include flax and much less actual bran making your own bran flakes will make you realize that you can create healthy convenience Foods at home that use higher amounts of quality ingredients you actually want and none of the stuff you don't now let's taste test so here's one of my homemade bran flakes crunching and very chewy foreign and here is let me get a flake that's actually big enough here's one of the flakes from the store-bought wow there's like nothing there there's like there's like no texture there the homemade Brown it is there's this natural sweetness that is just oh my goodness so Savory the flavor is in the homemade one versus the Raisin Bran is just I mean it's it's nothing I mean you're not even missing the raisins not having sugar on them because I don't know I think it's just a cheap little add in there but having like the Molasses mixed in with the Bram is so good yeah you're gonna prefer your homemade in the morning pouring yourself a bowl of homemade Raisin Bran doesn't get any better than when you make it yourself that sweet molasses flavor combined with fresh fruit is a treat you'll feel good about enjoying and it didn't break the bank I mean would you look at this beautiful spoon of homemade cereal would you think this is homemade if I didn't tell you I'll take my homemade version over store-bought any day here are the thinly rolled Flakes and these are the chunkier ones that I originally made I just wanted to show you that you have options when it comes to creating the bran flake size and texture you prefer now to get the chunks into smaller granules I usually transfer them to a food safe bag then cover it with a towel and give it a few whacks with my cast iron skillet so that it'll crumble if you're a grape nut cereal fan you're going to love how simple and delicious this recipe is to make it home grape nuts are delicious but yikes look at how teeny tiny this package is and this cereal always has a markup I'm not sure why because grape nuts are made from wheat and barley in this recipe we're going to use steel cut oats which are also referred to as oat Groats and are the least processed form of Oats that lend a robust flavor more than your other oats first place the oats in a bowl and cover with water because we'll need to soak them allow the bowl to stand at room temperature overnight or at least six to seven hours the following day preheat the oven to 300 degrees and drain off any residual water most of it will have been absorbed and it'll look and smell like cooked oatmeal I like to use a colander fitted with a bowl to catch off the water as I rinse the oats once thoroughly rinsed your oats will look something like this [Music] transfer your oats to a bowl then take unrefined coconut oil melt it and pour it over the oats next sprinkle a few tablespoons of coconut sugar which is a plant-based sweetener that has a super low glycemic index so it won't spike your blood sugar but you can substitute brown sugar or maple syrup then you'll sprinkle in a bit of salt and stir everything to combine then spread the oats in an even layer over a greased baking sheet and stick it in the oven to bake for 15 minutes foreign after 15 minutes remove from the oven and Fork through it to rotate the oats of it repeat every 20 minutes until the oats are dried out after about 45 minutes if the oats are sufficiently browned but still have some moisture in them reduce the oven temperature to 250 degrees and continue checking and stirring every 5 to 10 minutes once the oats are finished remove them from the oven see you've got a crunchy grape nut shape that tastes so good when it's completely cold transfer your cereal to an airtight container [Music] let's compare our homemade cereal to store-bought grape nuts I'll pour a cup of each into a bowl [Music] in terms of appearance this first bowl is our homemade which looks comparable to store-bought especially if you haven't eaten a bowl of the store brand in years like I have now in terms of texture they both have that dry pebbley feel all right let's do our taste test foreign yeah really good crunch really good crunch and chew to it and I love the coconut Essence it's very light because I'm not a big coconut fan but it does add a bit of sweetness okay now let's try the grape nuts um okay this one is crunchier for sure but I also could have just baked this a little bit more but that's the thing about when you make it yourself right like I still have that option to get it to this level of crunchiness but you know what I mean I do enjoy grape nuts but this this is such a like a no-brainer swap oh my goodness heck yeah and for the price oh my goodness like once I add some milk and have some fresh berries in here I mean um I'm definitely gonna go homemade now you be the judge I'd say our copycat version looks just as good if not better when you reach for a bowl of your homemade grape nut cereal and top it with a few mixed berries you'll realize that you've given yourself a healthy homemade option that tastes just as good to what you are forking over six dollars a box for this is another low prep recipe that doesn't require a lot of active cooking time and I know you're sure to love it if this is our first time meeting hi I'm Cassandra from the blog becoming a farmgirl.com I'm here to help you start cooking from scratch and live a farm fresh life without land or livestock better yet I show you how to do that in a small space and in your spare time click on the link below to get my Canyon and food preservation recipes delivered straight to your inbox once you see how easy it is to make Rice Krispies or puffed rice you will never buy that stuff again you'll need parboiled rice for this recipe you can use any parboiled rice as long as it's not wild rice in place of the oil this recipe uses salt to Puff the rice so you'll need to measure out twice the amount of salt as the quantity of rice you're using transfer the salt to a heavy bottom pot and fry it until it gets super hot be sure to continuously move the salt around with your spoon once it's hot pour in your rice continuously stirring you'll hear the rice pop into puff rice almost immediately look closely and you can see it foreign [Music] [Music] from the Heat and use a colander with a bowl underneath to separate the salt from the rice this will leave you with the salt that you can reuse for your next batch in one bowl and your puffed rice in the other look at that beautiful puffed rice in case you were wondering you use salt to conduct heat across the rice instead of oil it flavors it a bit too but let me assure you this does not come out salty or tasting like salt at all the flavor is still very neutral and plain [Music] now let's do the crunch test I have a few freeze-dried apples on hand that I'm going to add to this container if you aren't used to using freeze-dried foods here's a close look this Apple has excellent sweet flavor and a crunch that'll pair nicely with this cereal store-bought Rice Krispies have tons of sugar and I like that I completely avoid that in my homemade I plan to pack this container in my work bag to have as a snack more cereal recipes are coming but I wanted to quickly jump in and share a few of my recipe notes but first I want to address why cereal is so expensive which is something that I used to think about when I was going down the cereal aisle I'm gonna link several articles below because you can really do a deep dive on this topic but there was an article from the Casual kitchen that sums it up nicely and I'm going to read it verbatim first just a few large stereo manufacturers control the distribution channels to your grocery store limiting competition and giving them Price Power second cereal is a particularly egregious example of second order food lard it up with an enormous stack of processing cost advertising cost and packing costs that get passed on to you the consumer the sneakiest trick used is the Stealth price hike where manufacturers keep the price of the cereal the same but reduce the amount of products sold in the box and both you and I have seen that but hey they're not full and you and I anymore okay so I'm just gonna look down at my notes and here is my first recipe tip I want you to be sure to store these ingredients in an airtight container out of direct sunlight and preferably in a cool place that way they'll stay crunchy and fresh for a minimum of three to four weeks but up to two months and also when making the Corn Flakes you do not need a tortilla press you can actually just use the bottom of a cast iron skillet or a flat bottom casserole dish to just go ahead and squish them also if you're using store-bought tortillas go ahead and go for organic non-organic corn is usually GMO although it's harder to find consider using sprouted corn flour tortillas which will be more nutritious now when making any of the brand flake cereals especially if I know I'm going to eat them pretty quickly I love to sneak in cooked quinoa or any of my homemade kale or beet powders or anything else I can speak you have seen that these recipes are so easy to make but if you do want to make a larger quantity just be sure to give yourself more time to batch cook so for example depending on the size of your family you may want to consider using multiple uh baking trays for the bran flakes or having multiple burners going or stacking several dehydrator trays that way you're able to produce more quantity in the same amount of time now during the week we actually stick to eating oatmeal because I am an oatmeal connoisseur as some of you know so we are mostly just reaching for cereal as a snack I'm actually going to go ahead and Link a video I did sharing 10 of my make-ahead breakfast recipes some of them are freezer meals that so many of y'all loved you are going to really enjoy those recipes that I included there for any kind of diet any age group and so yeah go ahead and check that out after this oh you should absolutely feel free to add in any kind of Raisin dried fruit nuts seeds or whatever topping combinations that you like if you dehydrate your own fruits you will love adding them as a topping to your homemade cereal or if you use freeze-dried that's a great option too now this next tip is common sense but the precise cooking time that I am giving you you may have to adjust it depending on your oven so just check in on things for the time and temperature because you may have to you know add a few more minutes or attempt time or reduce it so I decant a lot of the ingredients that come into our house into glass jars and so the first time that I made this cereal like the homemade version I just told my husband that it was the health brand of the cereal that I was trying to replace honey I share this because you might have to be a little creative with how you initially sell this too don't worry after confirm that it wasn't good I told him that I was the health brand now you're probably gonna find that you're pouring yourself a smaller bowl over time and that's because we are using hearty nutrient dense ingredients that you know the manufacturer stuff isn't and that's what I love about making my own homemade cereal because don't get me wrong while I didn't prefer the ingredients and the price tag of cereal I did enjoy having it as a convenience but a box of cereal or at least this is how we would eat it in our house so they have here that a serving size is one cup Southern serving seven servings per container but this is not how we eat cereal so this might actually be three to four bowls of cereal meaning that it could last an adult you know you're going to go through this box in two maybe three days and you know for the price you're paid we this is not going to cut it I really do love having the convenience of cereal back with a price that I hardly notice because the ingredients that I'm using I'm also using them another things now let me show you how easy it is to make the most delicious authentic Corn Flakes you've ever tasted Corn Flakes have been in production for over 100 years but the once plain flakes are now flavored with salt sugar and malt with amount so high it's hard to consider the health food again look how little comes in a standard box while Corn Flakes can be made with the batter I like to take a heavy bottom pan and warm avocado oil to medium heat and use corn flour tortillas which you can get organic or gluten free and in a bit I'll show you how to make your own I'm using my microwave rack as a tray to drain my tortillas we'll fry just be sure to put a towel underneath once your oil is heated to 300 to 325 degrees Place several tortillas into the heated oil you'll want to keep the tortillas to a light Sizzle as they're frying to be in the safe range fry until light brown which will happen very quickly then remove the tortillas from the oil and sprinkle lightly with salt continue the process until all of your tortillas are finished when the tortillas are cool to the touch break each of them into small bite-sized pieces and store in an airtight container [Music] foreign [Music] the best option is to make your own tortillas which is simple and doesn't need to be perfect because you're going to break them up you just combine two cups of organic corn flour with half a teaspoon of salt and one and a half cups of warm water you'll stir everything up into the flour melt into a dough and use your hands to knead the dough into cohesive ball next you'll separate the dough into golf ball sized chunks [Music] oh [Music] I thrifted this authentic vintage made in Mexico tortilla press a few years ago and because it stores so easily in my small kitchen and is simple to use I love how quick it makes shaping all of my tortillas to the perfect size after that you fry them up being sure to initially flip it after one second then cook on each side for about a minute or until light brown spots are forming on the underside foreign [Music] [Music] nothing I mean nothing beats the taste of a homemade tortilla it's night and day from anything you can buy in a package now since these have already been fried I'll just place them on my dehydrator racks to dry them out and get nice and crispy several hours later you'll have crunchy corn chips [Music] now we'll measure out one cup of our homemade and store-bought to compare the results so let's go ahead and do our homemade crunch test um perfect crunch and I love the real corn flavor hmm this is really good okay now let's go ahead and do the store-bought really good crunch too it's more of like a sweet flake but store-bought Corn Flakes like there's that taste on the end but it's not like corn isn't the first taste that comes to mine yeah it's more of like a sweetness but not like authentic corn flavor I mean it's good but it's definitely kind of flat compared to like more of this um layered flavor that you get in your homemade version I like to eat my corn flakes with very ripe bananas so I'm adding a few slices to my bowl the sweetness from the bananas is all the sugar I need and I'm so happy my homemade version doesn't contain any ditch the sugary plain tasting Corn Flakes and make your own Savory flakes right at home all right so here's a little cheat cereal cinnamon toast crunch but at least it's not full of empty calories sometimes I'll stick a loaf of clearance bread in the freezer and save it to make this recipe you can also use stale bread too start by cutting off the crust and cut the bread into small cubes oh grab a bowl and save those crusts because we're going to use them [Music] then combine equal parts sugar and cinnamon into a small bowl [Music] in a non-stick pan and toast the bread then sprinkle the bread with the sugar cinnamon mix and cook until toasty let it cool on a wire rack to get even more crisp while that's cooling let's go back to our bread ends these are going to make delicious croutons for salad or breaded chicken that I'll make later on this week all you do is cut the ends into cubes and pour over some olive oil and Italian seasoned blend then bake in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes until the bread is dry I'm going to store these in a bag I just love how there's no waste for all of these recipes [Music] when your toast cubes have cooled you can re-dunk them in your sugar cinnamon mix or leave them plain this Cinnamon Toast Crunch really does taste like a homemade meal and has none of the questionable sugars like fructose maltodextrin and dextrose that the store-bought versions have if you're looking for more breakfast or a meal inspiration click on the video on your screen I'll see you in my kitchen or garden soon take care friends [Music] thank you

Channel: Becoming a Farm Girl

Views: 822,042

Keywords: how to, healthy breakfast, healthy cereal

Id: nA9772I3FOc

Length: 24min 16sec (1456 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 21 2023