Maybe it’s the ominous-sounding GLOBAL CEREAL CRISIS, or maybe it’s just your local C-Town price gouging, but cereal in these here parts is absurdly expensive. At the grocery store on Graham Ave. by my first apartment in Williamsburg, I forked over $6 for a box of General Mills goodness in a moment of weakness. Several hours of crying later, I realized that paying nearly $10 for a gallon of milk and a box of cereal was silly, and that it was much easier (and cheaper) at the time to outsource breakfast to the bagel cart by my office.
But I digress. As I’ve discovered over the years, the magical Interwebs is the best place to indulge in your various breakfast-y needs.
Amazon
Much like how it’s the best source on the internet for anus-themed self-help books and uranium ore, Amazon has great savings on almost every kind of cereal you could want. The various deals that the site offers are updated every few minutes, so you have to be vigilant to get the good stuff, but your patience/internet stalking will be rewarded…with GRAINS. Currently, for example, Total is on sale for what comes down to about $2.50 a box. The fancier stuff like Kashi will set you back a bit more, but currently it’s still only about $3.50, which is a helluva lot better than Whole Foods.
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The preferred grocery source of upwardly mobile white people offers you a slight discount, with boxes coming in around $4-5 a pop. Yet, you can definitely do better.
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Two Dollars a Box
If the constant Amazon stalking is a major turn off, the site Two Dollars a Box update every few minutes with the best per box deals, so it’s easy to see where you can get the most bang for your buck. As of press time, you can get Kashi Go Lean for $2.99 per box (for a six-pack) or Golden Grahams for $2.80 (for a four-pack).
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What’s the catch?
The only major drawback, unfortunately, is that you have to buy in bulk, and most brands come in either four or six packs. Are you going to go through six boxes of Puffins all by yourself in the time you have before they expire? Well, maybe, but probably not. But, if you’re buying for your family, or you go in on some with your roommates, you can still save money while not being forced to eat Froot Loops for each meal for months on end.
But I hate the internet!
For those Internet-adverse and/or single folk, the always-present Duane Reade seems to have a never ending two-for-$5 cereal deal, though you’ll be stuck with mostly General Mills and Post-brand options.
Carbo-load with Tom: @versayce.
View Comments (5)
Trader Joe's consistently has good deals on cereals & packaged goods in general. Their produce is reasonably priced but often isn't the best stuff. I stop in on my bike in Downtown Brooklyn. They do have trouble keeping the store properly stocked, though.
but i notice that TJoe's has smaller volume sizes in general. For example their bagged fresh spinach is 6 oz when normal super markets have 8 oz., or 2 lb bags of apples when normal super markets sell apples in 3lb bags. So it only seems cheaper. Yet you get less.
must be all those lazy employees they hire.
target is pretty cheap!
Funny post. But also, there is a Boycottt of Fresh Direct,
FreshDirect proposes to use $130 million in subsidies to occupy public waterfront land in the South Bronx, imposing 2,000 daily vehicle trips through a community already facing asthma rates five times the national average. This company is a parasite on the public: they use public dollars to aggravate public streets with noise, exhaust, and waste. see: http://www.boycottfreshdirect.com for more.