10mo ago

Let them eat cereal rule

156 comments

a boring dystopia
late stage capitalism
Anyway poor people don't buy Kellogg's, it's overpriced. Poor people buy the generic cereals that come in those huge plastic ziplock resealable bags. Not only do they cost less but they have more intelligent useful packaging and the quality is fine too.
- Almost every MaltOMeal cereal is better than the name brand version.
- True. The really poor people buy the off brand Malt-O-Meal cereals.
  
  Maybe the true cereals are the poor people we made along the way.
  
  I buy malt-o-meal raisin bran. I like the large quantity yet minimal packaging, and I really like that it has the right amount of raisins. Kellogg's puts too much raisins in theirs.

Don't do this, you'll be malnourished. Grains aren't a particularly good food group.
Potatoes don't require much prep, are generally cheap and filling, and will be much better nutrient wise. I'd still recommend rice and beans though. Canned beans work if you have no means to cook.
- I seem to remember there being issues historically with poor people relying on potatoes as their food source
  
  A lot of that was also the British taking Irish food supplies.
  
  Yeah being on the genocide list of the English had more to do with that than the taters
- Potatoes are also really easy to grow. If you ever forget about your potatoes and they sprout or you leave them in the sun and they get green, you can put them in a pot and grow fresh potatoes.
  Fava beans are also extremely easy to grow.
  
  "Fava beans are also extremely easy to grow"
  They also pair nicely with liver and a nice chianti.
  
  can they grow in an apartment?
- Beans are cheaper dry than canned though. If you have the patience you can start them in a slow cooker before you go to work.
  Garlic, onion, and peppers go miles in making beans taste good while also being cheaper.
  
  I'm wondering now though whether the cost balances out because dry beans require a lot more energy to cook? I know they need at least an hour on the stove, whereas canned beans you can just add to a chilli etc straight away
  
  I think time to cook food has become a luxry in the eyes of the so-called "invisible hand". It'd be rad to find someone in the community with the time to cook huge pots of the stuff and pay them for the rice 'n beans.
  Cereal is expensive, people arent buying it because its cheap, theyre buying it because the invisible hand demands their cooking time.
- Rice often contains too much heavy mettals. Canned food contains too much BPA.
  
  that's probably why most recipes ask to wash rice before boiling... im certain this works great... if your house's water-pipes were not made of lead hahaha.....haha.... sigh ._.
  
  My understanding is that this is related to whether it's American grown in fields previously used for cotton and other non-food crops due to pesticides.. foreign rice should be ok?
- Potatoes don’t require much prep
  You have to peel and cook them, though. That's a pretty big hurdle for people who would consider regularly eating cereal for dinner.
  I do like instant mashed potatos, though, and they're fairly cheap.
  
  I'm talking people on survival mode, as I mentioned at the end of my very short comment just eat canned beans from the tin with no facilities to cook. Also you don't need to peel potatoes, you can microwave them also, or bury in a fire if you don't have electricity and are using one for heat.
  Cereal is a scam, it's expensive and nutritionally pointless.
  
  You don't have to peel them. Just slice them and fry them or bake them in an oven.

A lot of people here are missing the fact that cereal doesn't require any additional cost, time, and/or effort to store and prepare (in a desperate situation you might even have it with water or dry if you can't access milk).
So while rice or potatoes might be a better meal, and the ingredients cheaper to buy (but not when you factor in cost and time of cooking), they may still not be an option for some.
For those who have never really been it - it'd blow your mind how expensive it is to be poor in so many different ways (a feature of capitalism, of course, not a bug).
- Yeah, that is an excellent point. The time to actually prepare rice and beans comes at a premium when you're working multiple jobs to make ends meet.
  
  Right, that's why fast food is thriving despite everyone knowing what shit it is - it fills a hole fast and cheap enough, and you're not using any of your own energy - physically from the utility, but also physically, and mentally, from yourself to prepare it (and before that you have to refrigerate ingredients or keep them frozen so you have to own and pay to run a fridge/freezer as well as an oven or toaster or hob, and before that you have to shop for ingredients, it all takes money, time, and energy of every kind).
  The problem isn't how people go about trying to survive (like eating cereal for dinner), it's the people making billions off of the industries and institutions that require workers be in such a desperate state in the first place.
  
  I don't want to sound unsympathetic, but rice takes 15-20 mins in the microwave (if done right it's perfectly fine) so it's just seconds of button pressing and then walk away to do whatever else you need to and I buy canned beans that are already cooked so all you need to do is reheat them.
  The hardest part for some is learning not to hate eating leftovers. I never had this issue so it comes easier to me, but my easy weekly meal (it's just me so it's simpler) is canned vegetables, canned beans, and a chicken breast all the the slow cooker with some basic seasoning. I can add whatever I want afterwards to change the flavors so it's not always the "same." I really don't spend any time over an oven unless I want to.
  All that said I imagine this gets 100000x harder when kids are involved, but luckily for me I'm pretty much the least desirable man on earth so I don't need to worry about procreation lol
  
  Beans from a can, champignons from a glass, bit of corn from a can. Put it on a tortilla with a bit of salsa for flavor. I add some flax seeds cause they are supposed to be good for your intestinal health. Obviously this tastes better when you take some time to prepare it in a pan, but it's cheap, very filling and takes a few minutes to prepare at most. I like to eat it cold on hot summer days.
- Yeah I know!
  Not enough money to pay your bill it will cost you 75-90$ for being broke.
  You buy small portions cause you can't afford bulk, it will cost you more in small portions.
  You are alone ! No family rebate for you. You can't buy a home, well rent will cost you more than a mortgage.
  Etc...
- You can get a rice cooker for $20. Then, you can make rice and beans (with beans from a can) with virtually no effort.
  You can also go from there if you have more time/money. Add cheese, hot sauce, salsa, avocado, make tacos, etc.
  But I've survived many a meal with just rice from a rice cooker and a can of beans, and it's far more nutritious and has left me feeling far better than eating cereal would.
  
  Cereals and milk, 20 seconds
  Rice and beans, 20 minutes
  
  You can get a rice cooker for $20
  If you need $20 dollars spare as the first step, and to continue to use electricity to power the thing as the second - it isn't accessible. Also - did it even cross your mind that if they could afford it, they would get one? It's not like rice cookers are this secret tool only a select few know about..
  Seriously, I get that it can be hard to imagine conditions we haven't personally experienced, but it can't be that hard to understand what "dirt poor" actually means, nor to accept that poor people aren't poor by choice, nor are they surviving on cereals because they have better options they're just not utilising as well as you think you would in their shoes, which you are not, and clearly have never been, in.
  
  Mine was a slow cooker with lentils and I would just refill as needed. Lentils, salt, pepper, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cilantro and if I'm feeling fancy/rich cook up some bacon to chuck in there. Minus the bacon it took like 5 minutes to chuck everything in there and leave it to cook. This was my poor college days where I just rented a room and had a part time job. Shit sucked.
- It's also depression food. If you don't find the energy to make one simple warm meal a day, and that can be as simple as melted cheese or pancakes or an omelette, you don't have a time problem you have a psychological problem.
- Related: Sam Vimes ‘Boots’ Theory of Socio-Economic Unfairness
  https://terrypratchett.com/explore-discworld/sam-vimes-boots-theory-of-socio-economic-unfairness/

Hey guys, I have an idea. Let's go punch him in the cock.
- I'll get my gloves
  
  You have cock punching gloves? Also your username is only raising more questions.
- And twist his nuts!

for cash-strapped families
Is Kellogg's cereal even cheap at all?? I'm not in the US so I could only imagine but I'd guess it's not, is it?
- Nothing here is cheap.
  
  Gasoline is comparatively
- Not really, no. I mean, it's cheaper than, like, steak, but it usually goes for twice as much or more than the store brand or bargain brand cereals.
- Cereal is actually weirdly expensive nowadays. You can do much better for less.
  
  I'm pretty sure Ukraine was a big cereal exporter before the war, so it makes sense I guess
- It's cheaper than good cereal, but more expensive than the identical store brand
  
  And compared to dinner?
  I'm asking because if I was "strapped for cash" I'd always go for cooking something rice or potato based myself, rather than buying already processed and packaged food, a most likely overpriced brand no less!
- It's cheaper than a traditional dinner probably... But yeah might as well get the cheaper cereal.
  
  I'm betting it would actually be cheaper to cook something like rice and beans than it would be to eat cereal.

People are broke and broken. They don't care anymore and settle for sugar frosted cardboard for dinner. This guy is up there smiling and thinking "all this misery is great for business!"
- Lol. We should just skip straight to calorie pellets at this point
  
  They would be even more expensive than cereal because they would upcharge for the convenience of not having to pour cereal into a bowl.

I can count my lucky stars my income level never dipped below the rice-and-beans povery level, but it has dipped below cereal made by Kellogs and General Mills. They're a false product like Nestlē baby formula as sold in Africa. They are expensive by the ounce and poor nutrition.
But if you are that dirt poor and have a 60 hour job then you may not have the time or energy to make rice. You're also stuck in bonded servitude. That is a profound level of fucked.
Pilnick is celebrating selling desperation food at inflated prices to slaves.
- I'm right there with you. Beans, rice, potatoes, and the occasional pasta dish. Whatever vegetables were inexpensive, and whatever meat was on manager's special or BOGO. I did eventually figure out that inexpensive tofu could be purchased in bulk at some asian grocery stores, but by then I was on my way off the struggle diet.
  At one point, it was clear that stuff like "hamburger helper" was too expensive, and going after raw seasoning ingredients and pasta was going to save a substantial part of the shopping bill. Boxed cereal was also out of the question.
  Edit: energy costs (electricity) were bundled into my rent at the time. I don't even want to think about how to navigate that situation by paying for butane, propane, or natural gas on top of everything else.

How long until French Revolution 2: Electric Boogaloo?
- I'll ask Madame Guillotine if she is up for another round.
- I ain't playing. too many morons. I don't want a bunch of fucking morons deciding how the next constitution looks. now if it was just you and me messing with it? meh we'd probably fuck up tooooo, my lil portabello

Meanwhile Rocket Mortgage over here telling me to refinance my house so I can afford groceries . . .

I really don't get this. Cereal is very expensive right now, at least here in the Midwest it is. I've seen small boxes upwards of $9. I'll admit that I don't eat cereal all that much these days, but I like it occasionally and when I went to pickup my favorite box, I decided it wasn't worth it. What cash strapped family is eating boxes of cereal for dinner when they could be eating much cheaper and filling foods like beans and rice? Heck, a case of ramen noodles is cheaper than cereal. Or maybe my area is the expensive cereal zone 🤷
- That was my first response: who has the money for cereal in this economy? I tell you what, Mr. Kellogg, if it's breakfast for dinner it's going to be toast or porridge. I'm certainly not overpaying for glorified dried, smashed frozen corn.
  
  I would guess it's not necessarily poor people buying it but for people that were eating fast food/takeout and now the prices are too high to keep up that lifestyle. If you're lazy than cereal is a great go to and still cheaper then fastfood. If you're actually poor and lazy, you aren't buying kellogs unless you have poor money management skills. I know I'm not buying any kellogs brand, I haven't in probably 5 years.
  This news segment was frustrating though, the man shows no sympathy and only talks about making a bigger profit off of the situation.
- This is the second post about crazy expensive cereal today and I'm debating arbitraging cereal near me cuz I'm paying like $1.70 for a 14 ounce box of store brand Cheerios
- Where I am, the big cereal brands (Kelloggs, Post, General Mills) tend to go for $6-7 a box, and the bargain brands are like half that at most. I agree, rice and beans would work better if you were being frugal. Or eggs; eggs were real expensive for a bit, but they're back down to $2 a dozen.
- What kind of cereals are you looking at?
  I buy oats (for porridge) and wheatbix and they're less than half the price of any of the sugar overloaded cereals.

Weren't corn flakes invented to suppress the urge to masturbate with their blandness or something?
- I miss the days when psychologists thought everyone was obsessed with banging their parents and cocaine basically solves all your problems.
  
  That or a yogurt enema and some chaste thoughts, too bad for Kellogg that's what I'm into.
  
  Also prescribing orgasms!
- Yeah, there was like a whole movement of "doctors" who recommended bland food to suppress masturbation, which would supposedly make you healthier.
  That's also how we got Graham crackers.
- Yes. That's right, but only in a clinical context when they were first invented.
- huh what?
  
  Look up John Harvey Kellogg sometime. Dude was the Gwyneth Paltrow of his day.
  
  You read that right
  
  Dr Kellogg's whole thing was trying to prevent masturbation for health reasons. Advocated a super bland diet to avoid anything at all stimulating. Corn flakes were invented as part of that.
  Graham crackers were invented by one of his contemporaries for the same reason.
  Kellogg is also the reason why routine circumcision became a thing in the US to start with (circumcision reduces sensation, he thought the reduced sensation would prevent masturbation while not reducing it so far that it prevented reproduction), and tradition and the uses of human foreskin in the biotech and cosmetic industries help keep it going.
  Just be glad his treatment for girls meant to be akin to circumcising boys never took off. Which was burning the clitoris with acid to scar it and reduce sensation.
- that's not what i use it for 👀

In what country is Kellog's cereal affordable to cash strapped families
- I assume they also own a bunch of the budget brands.

I remembered being poor early in my life and eating cereal with water. Reading this shit makes me hate this man even more than I thought I could.

The thing that everyone ITT seems to be forgetting is that while yes making rice or beans or something similar can be cheap and also very filling. When someone is working 40+ hours a week at multiple jobs to keep a roof over their heads, depression is inevitable. Living paycheck to paycheck is stressful, anxiety inducing, and depressing. So when someone is exhausted and depressed, sometimes all they have the energy for is to pour a bowl of cereal, because anything beyond that is just too much.
- I'm more or less in the situation you describe, but I don't find rice and beans to be particularly stressful.
  Part of that is that I do cheat with canned beans instead of making them from dry.
  But rice is pretty much get home, start rice, go pee, get out of work clothes, curse my existence, and boom, rice is done.
  I'm not in the financial situation you describe. I can afford better food. But better food does take effort that I don't want to put in after twelve to fourteen hour days. I'm way too tired to be bothered with chopping and prepping. In slower times of the year, I'll do that in Sunday for the whole week, but in these busier times, I can't even get to that.

Yes, cereal is bad. Yes, it's expensive. Yes, it's unhealthy. But what many people here are forgetting: There is a whole industry advertising cereal as a healthy breakfast (and now apparently dinner). You go into a supermarket and it is full of colourful boxes telling you what an awesome meal cereal is. Potatoes don't have that. There is no TV ad for potatoes. And yes, cereal tastes great, because of the sugar.

Every time I've eaten cereal for dinner, it was never because it was cheap. I've always had cheaper and healthier alternatives. Cereal for dinner isn't a poverty meal, it's a poor mental health meal.
- Yeah, but being poor and overworked will also kill your mental health, so...
- Bruh

Video
- Oh god...the video is so much worse.
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  Video
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

I would eat vanilla-flavored sugar for every meal if my body’d be down for it

Okay, add him to one of the lists... which one? I dunno. The group guillotine assembly line? The obstacle course of razor sharp objects? The Wu-Tang reverse speed feeding bonanza? The volcano catapult layup competition? O, I know. The scarecrow harvester mowdown. We'll put him next to former Monsanto executives.

i’ll buy it when kellogs box isn’t $40
- I have never bought Kellogs I get the no name brand that looks and tastes like Kellogs, probably made in the same factory on a different day.

you may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like!

ok but i unironically eat cereal for dinner because cinnamon toast crunch is delicious
- ok but I unironically eat kellogg's for dinner because crunchy

@HaruEb@transfem.social

156 comments