Kellogg's Wants To Revolutionize How You Eat Cereal With Milk

Cereal and milk have a long history together. According to Britannica, the first instance of this historic pairing occurred sometime during the 1860s, as the result of a breakfast cereal known as granula. The invention of a New York sanitarium owner named James Caleb Jackson, granula was reportedly so tough to chew, The New York Times notes that it had to be softened overnight in milk.

Granula as a name isn't quite as good as granola, of course. The latter was invented soon after by a Michigan man named John Harvey Kellogg, who also owned a sanitarium. (Yes, that Kellogg.) It was in collaboration with his brother, Will Keith Kellogg, The New York Times observes, that Corn Flakes were created. The iconic breakfast cereal was patented in 1896, per Gambero Rosso, and with its now-traditional partner of milk, was intended as a low-calorie staple of a healthy diet. Today, 126 years later, Kellogg's has grown to become a multinational food company, but the company's headquarters are still in Battle Creek, Michigan, the former site of John Harvey Kellogg's sanitarium.

So it makes sense that if anyone is going to revolutionize the time-honored arrangement of cereal and milk, it should be Kellogg's.

No milk is required to enjoy Kellogg's new cereal product: Instabowls. All you have to do, according to the company's recent PR Newswire press release, is add water. That's because, per Food & Wine, Instabowls contain a dehydrated milk powder solution that transforms, with the addition of water, into actual milk. So why not just pour in regular old milk? Because, as the press release notes, Instabowls were designed to be eaten on the go. For example, while kids are being driven to school, or during a workday commute.

"In recent years, there has been a huge trend toward portability for food, especially as busy schedules and life's everyday curve balls prevent traditional sit-down meals," notes Chris Stolsky, Kellogg Company Marketing Director, in the press release. "We created Kellogg's Instabowls as an easy solution for the 'anytime cereal break'," noting that people won't "have to worry about milk, dishes, or clean-up."

Kellogg's has announced Instabowl versions of four of its most popular cereals, per the press release: Apple Jacks, Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, and Raisin Bran Crunch. The portable cereals are single serving size. All you need is a bottle of water (preferably cold), and of course a spoon. Walmart is the first retailer to carry the innovative Instabowls, which sell for a suggested price of $1.98 each.