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Many people might be surprised to learn that making your own homemade cereal is well worth your time! The reason is that boxed breakfast cereals are some of the most toxic, unhealthy foods you can possibly buy!
What’s more – believe it or not – organic cereal brands and whole grain cereals are the absolute worst!
The reason is that the violent processing required to make boxed cereal (called extrusion) is so high in temperature and pressure that the proteins in the grains are completely denatured and rendered toxic from the ordeal. Organic boxed cereal is the worst of all because it is whole grain and therefore higher in protein. (source)
Ever wondered how all those shapes and flakes are made? The cereal grains are actually liquefied in order to create the slurry necessary to create the desired form. This destroys the integrity of the grains making them difficult to digest and toxic for the body too.
So don’t be fooled by boxed cereals that only have a few ingredients. The ingredients label tells you nothing about the dangerous processing that occurred to produce the cereal!
Toxic foods are frequently the most addictive (think MSG and aspartame/nutrasweet), so even though it is difficult, you simply must eliminate these foods from your pantry for good! Cold breakfast cereals are some of the most addicting processed foods on the market in fact.
I just cringe when I see parents giving their toddlers Cheerios and other boxed cereals as finger foods. If these parents only knew how toxic these foods are, perhaps they would think twice about handing it out so freely to their children.
The good news is that you can make a very delicious, healthy alternative yourself at home!
How to Make Breakfast Cereal (How-to Videos)
The first video below demonstrates how to make and bake the breakfast cereal batter. The second video shows you how to crumble it into bite size pieces and gently dehydrate for the satisfying crunch in a bowl with milk!
The written recipe follows 🙂
If you would like to know how to make this cereal Paleo, here is a homemade grain free cereal recipe to try instead.
Homemade Breakfast Cereal Recipe
Recipe for how to make cold breakfast cereal so that you can avoid the toxic, overly processed boxed versions at the store. Organic cereal isn’t any better!
Ingredients
- 6 cups flour preferably freshly ground for optimal nutrition
- 3 cups whole yogurt plain
- 3/4 cup coconut oil
- 1 cup maple syrup dark, preferably organic
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp sea salt
Instructions
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Mix fresh flour and soaking medium of choice in a large, glass bowl. Cover with a clean cloth and rubber band and leave on the counter for 24 hours.
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Mix all the remaining ingredients including fresh cinnamon into the batter after soaking is complete.
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Pour into 2 – 9×13 pans and bake at 350 F/ 177 C for about 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Do not overbake!
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Let cool and crumble the coffee cake into small pieces (see second video above for ideal size) and dehydrate on cookie sheets at 200 F/ 93 C for about 12-18 hours. Turn cereal pieces every few hours to dry evenly.
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Store in airtight containers in the refrigerator.
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Serve alone as a finger food snack or in a bowl with either dairy or nondairy milk.
Recipe Notes
Substitute whole milk kefir, buttermilk, or clabbered milk for yogurt if desired.
For dairy free cereal, use 3 cups water plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice or store bought or homemade apple cider vinegar.
Substitute date syrup for the maple syrup if you wish to sweeten only with fruit. Do not substitute honey as cooking honey is not healthy.
More healthy breakfast cereal ideas
Just one question, Sarah, do you ever use that microwave in the background?
Sarah, thank you for this easy to follow video on such an important topic. I have missed breakfast cereal. Sally Fallon mentioned that people were making their own but I never new how. I am looking forward to trying this as soon as I find some whole spelt that I can grind fresh.
What a great idea!!! I will have to try this for my hubby. Thanks!
That is fantastic that you soak porridge for your child instead of using boxed store bought cereal! BRAVO!
Even if store kefir is made from pasteurized milk, it would have been cultured with good bacteria and would contain live cultures like raw milk, so soaking on the counter would be best. The bacteria are slowed down considerably by the coldness of the fridge and cannot break much down in this environment, so the counter would be the best choice for sure.
Sarah, I make a hearty porridge for my preschooler that I've been making since she was a baby – getting the idea from Super Baby Food. So I grind the grains I use and know soaking is important as well, I started that years ago. I soak with store bought keifer and in the fridge. I'd like to gravitate to raw milk and make home made keifer as I've been learning off your site… it just isn't happening today. 2 questions… should I continue to soak the ground up grains in the keifer (knowing it's store bought & I believe organic) and 2 – if I am soaking… should I soak on the counter vs in the fridge?
Thank you so much for posting this. I have been learning so much from your blogs over the last few months – you have gotten me started on my way back to health. I am absorbing as much information as I can so that I can share it with my family and really nourish them. Just wanted to say thank you! I look forward to part two of this blog.
I cannot wait to see part two! My children really like cold box cereal so I hope they will choose to eat this healthy cereal instead.
(Wouldn't have much of a choice if I'd stop buying it!)
Anita
Hi Linda, yogurt is alive – it has beneficial bacterial cultures in it the same as raw milk, clabbered milk, kefir, or buttermilk. Anything that is alive can be used to break down the gluten, phytic acid etc and be used as a soaking medium. Pasteurized milk is dead and has no beneficial cultures in it whatsoever and as a result would go putrid if you used it as a soaking medium and would not work at all.
One other question. Can you explain to me why it is ok to leave a dairy product(like yogurt) out of the refrigerator for so long? I've seen other things that have said to do that and have been wondering.
Thanks
Linda
Hi Kate, yes you can reduce the maple syrup to 1/2 cup and add 5 drops liquid stevia.