AIBU to bag up cereal with pre-portioned sugar to stop the kids wasting it?

[TheOnlyColditz]

I mean a sandwich bag of cereal with another little bag of sugar inside? Currently I'm scraping glued on cereal and sugar off the bottoms of bowls every day! Kids are 7, 10 and 14

Buying a dishwasher or making them wash the dishes themselves won't really solve the admittedly very petty issue of having to throw away a pile of soggy, sugary cereal.

Hence the portioning plan.

However some very good points have been raised - they actually ARE old enough to wash their own pots, and they are going to start doing this.

FanciedANameChangeThey have made suggestions out of kindness and/or interest in the subject.

Hahaha. 😂 That's funny!

colditz Yanbu for bagging up cereal, I did this for dc when they were younger and fancied a change from weetabix, egg on toast Etc.

Dc are now old enough to measure out balanced portions but still seem incapable on placing used bowl and spoon in dishwasher...I blame the parents...

For the sugar I would be tempted to buy the catering sachets from Costco or similar or pick up when in Costa etc. Sugar isn't the enemy and in a balanced diet it is fine in small quantities. Carbohydrates such as weetabix, oats, whole grains are recommended as healthy sources of slow release energy.

If there is a concern for the environment use paper bags and place back in the cereal bag to maintain freshness.

This woman literally dropped into an ordinary family's life with absolutely no background checks and was soon encouraging their children to attract vermin by littering and introduced them to a strange man who concealed his identity with an obviously fake accent.

And then she pushed .

Hunt her down, I say

Do they ALL leave cereal in the bowls?
I've got a 14yo who eats immense amounts and a just 11yo who until last week ate tiny portions.
But neither leave have left cereal in the bowl for years, they just portion what they want.
11yo used to, I spent a long time ensuring he took a smaller potion then seconds if he wanted it.
(They do leave other food if it's been portioned up and they don't want it- but cereal is something they are serving themselves, they should know how much they fancy).
14yo hovers up an overflowing bowl.
Both have been getting their own breakfast for years, I'm not good in the mornings and am not getting up earlier. When they were younger dc1 used to get dc2's breakfast for him as well. Some people will judge me on that - ah well, I judge others on other things.

Anyway...

Portioning up sounds a MASSIVE faff for you, and how do you know how much each might want on any given day?

Sugar sachets while addressing the issue, are very expensive, that link was 1000 x 2.5g sachets for £8.95, so £3.60/kg. A kg bag is about 70p. While buying them might cut down on overall waste, the cost will probably be more.

I'd think a better idea would be to let them each have their own boxes of cereal and maybe a small pot of sugar, and tell them how long they should last.
Discuss waste and how much it costs.
Make them empty and wash up their own bowls rather than leaving them for you (tbh that one screamed at me! We have a dishwasher so no one washes up, but there is no fucking magic fairy who loads the bloody thing, PUT YOUR OWN THINGS IN IT, and breathe . To be fair to my children I haven't felt like that for some time).

Portioning out as a solution just seems so controlled. You mention 14 is quite big. I agree - and unless we are talking eating disorders - is of an age where portion control in this way seems a very backwards step.
Whereas understanding food availability, household budgeting and management and helping with household tasks are something they should be doing.
The 10yo as well I think.
The 7yo is younger, but not a toddler and perfectly old enough to hear these things alongside their older siblings.

Let us know what you decide to do and how it pans out Colditz.

Oh and cross posted about the washing their own pots...

I do hear you on the soggy cereal, most of our leftovers go to the hens, but I still dislike waste intensely.
But, especially for the 14 & 10yo's is this type of control the way to do it?

Limited

Boxed cereals are already very high in sugar, not just those with extra such as Frosties. Even normal corn flakes and bran flakes have very high sugar contents. Not to mention preservatives and colourings. Large portions aren't good for you, even before you heap extra sugar onto them. When I was diagnosed as diabetic, boxed cereals were the first things to go - my sugar levels rose through the roof after even small portions of them.

Bran flakes has loads of sugar actually!

I read the first five pages of this, I will just add that I wish everyone would actually know what sugar does to the body and how type 2 diabetes starts. If you did, you would really reduce the amount you eat. Yes, I should rtwft but can't be arsed.

Idefix. So much wrong with the statement 'sugar isn't the enemy' - SO much. Please find out why its absolutely the enemy.

Sorry Op...sugar actually is the enemy, research the effects and you will see.

Just because so much food has lots of added sugar does not make it good for us, it is responsible for many serious illnesses.

So l have to say YABU to add any sugar to an already sugary breakfast.

yanbu to portion the cereal.
maybe offer fruit puree instead of sugar? but tbh I rather dc have breakfast with added sugar and teeth brushed afterwards than no breakfast at all

Saw this on a bargain buys page this morning and thought of you op @theonlycolditz

Double Plastic Classic Dry Food Cereal Dispenser Double Canister, White Transparent (Black) by TIPS© https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01H2T017I/ref=cmswwrcppapi_-EVNybW486GAT

Nope in small amounts as part of a diet that provides all nutritional needs sugar is really not the enemy. Far better to embrace a diet that is balanced and enables children to recognise what is an acceptable amount of all nutrients, food stuffs.

Sugar in processed foods such as chocolate puffed rice etc is not going to go away any time soon possibly ever the manufacturers will fight this. Yes a life long diet of eating too many calories and high levels of sugar and fat will contribute to bad health and possibly diabetes.

But teaspoon (1/2tsp depending on age) over a bowl of porridge, weetabix, plain puffed barley, shredded wheat will not cause anyone to develop type 2 diabetes. Really would be scaremongering to say so. Yes it would lovely and beneficial if it was a handful of chopped strawberries, sliced banana and so on but it doesn't have to be.

Fruit puree? Doesn't that have sugar in it anyway? All OP wanted was views on portioning the cereal!

Would add that in my work I care for individuals living with a diagnosis of type two diabetes and really is very clear that their problem didn't happen as result of a sprinkling of sugar on their weetabix. For most the disease has happened as a result of prolonged poor choices in nutrition, obesity, poor health style choices such as never/rarely exercising and smoking.

And the advice for type 2 diabetics, pre diabetics and those with insulin resistant conditions is no longer to completely avoid sugar or to use substitutes, but to use sparingly. So the OP is following the latest advice really.

I think there has been so much research done into how bad sugar is for us that it's scaremongering to say it isn't the enemy. But do what you like, it's your body.

And you really are so wrong about eating too much fat, please re-educate yourself. You are aware that those cereals you think are so good are actually turning to glucose in the body? That glucose has to be processed. Too much sugar, pancreas conks out, diabetes. But you know all that.

Idefix Surely a contradiction in your post? Sprinkling extra sugar over cereal IS a poor prolonged choice of nutrition. All these little decisions do add up.

No not as part of a balance diet, if you eat a bowl of porridge with no added sugar you are not making a poor decision to sprinkle 2-4 grams of sugar on it if it means you eat it over another choices such as sugar puffs etc.

I am not sure what cereal the op is referring to but there are plenty of whole grain cereals that are slow release good sources of energy.

Really feel people have lost sight of what is balanced when it comes to diet. As Bill says what pp on this thread have waxed lyrical on is not even what is recommended to people with diabetes.

I would far rather parents instilled in children from a young age the importance on balance and portion control in their diets, so that they become healthy eating adults, than demonise a food source.

Someone up thread suggested fruit purée and honey as an alternative, to the sugar but this is still a spike of rapidly digested sugar.

Should add for normal healthy children and adults a quick spike of sugar in the form of sugar, raisins, fruit bars, honey etc are not terrible as a part of a balance diet...the key is balanced.

I think the problem with this thread is this ;

To many sanctimonious know-it-alls feel an overwhelming need to impart, what they are sure is their superior knowledge about food and nutrition.

This is a clear mistake as OP couldn't be more clear that she ISNT INTERESTED IN HOW/WHAT YOU FEED OR DONT FEED YOUR CHILDREN OR HOW YOU PARENT THEM !!!

If she was, then perhaps she would of posted. 'AIBU to allow my dcs to add sugar to their breakfast cereal. ?' But she didn't ! Why is it that so many people are so desperate to force their views on someone who clearly doesn't want or need the advice.

I am with OP all the way. My dcs have always helped themselves to breakfast. I haven't supervised since eldest was at primary. 22/19/19/17/ 14 now. All slim healthy youths with no obvious disorders from putting sugar on their weetabix. It's the fags that concern me more - especially the 14 yr old .. 😱

With all working full time/at school we are not ever going to be sitting down to a naice breakfast chat . Really does that happen outside the Waltons in working household set up ?

OP. Personally I would just tell them to knock it on the head and if you find anymore sugary scum in the bowls they will be chipping it off !! It'll soon stop.

Everyone should demonise sugar. There is literally NOTHING good about it. At all. Full stop.