Cereal gives cost savings and health benefits, ABCMF survey claims

How much does your morning cappuccino and muffin add up to over a year? A new national Cereal Social Trends survey conducted by the Australian Breakfast Cereal Manufacturers Forum (ABCMF) has found the average cost of a bowl of cereal and milk is less than a dollar a day, compared with the average cafe and takeaway breakfast food cost of nearly $6.

Despite the cost savings and health benefits, only half of Australians eat breakfast cereal regularly, the survey found.

“There are clear benefits for Aussies to eat cereal for breakfast,” said Leigh Reeve, Director of ABCMF. “A family can enjoy an annual holiday or head to the movies almost once a week from the money saved by making simple and nutritious decisions at breakfast time.

“And waistlines are slimmer for cereal eaters too. People who eat breakfast cereal regularly are more likely to be slimmer than those who don’t eat breakfast or breakfast cereal,” said Reeve.

The study made some interesting findings:

• Nearly a third of Australians will eat breakfast cereal as a snack at any time of the day.
• Australians purchase nearly 185 million kilograms of breakfast cereal products per annum - equivalent to 493 Olympic swimming pools full or over 8 kg per capita.
• NSW residents are more likely to eat breakfast at work than any other state residents.
• Queenslanders have the highest incidence of drinking milk straight from the bowl.
• Victorians are more likely to buy gourmet toppings for their cereals, such as yoghurt and berries.
• Western Australians drink more liquid breakfast products than residents of any other state.
• South Australians are least likely of all Australians to switch from their cereal of choice.