Cram The Crunch Back Into Stale Cereal With One Easy Step

Breakfast cereal is widely considered an essential in many households. This is due to its easy shelf-to-dish accessibility, affordability, and being a family-friendly way to provide a filling start to the day. Additionally, cereal has an exceptional shelf life, as it can stay good for up to a year when unopened, and will maintain its freshness for three months when opened. It's around that mark that cereal turns stale, thereby losing its texture and some of its flavor. While this may prompt you to throw it out, hold onto that box! Hope remains in the form of your kitchen oven, and revitalizing that box of cereal takes minimal effort and is quick and easy.

The usual reasons for cereal going stale are that air and moisture get to it once the packaging is open. This leads to a breakdown of the cereal's profile, but can be reversed by introducing a little heat. To bring your favorite cereal back to life in the oven, preheat it to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and spread the desired amount of cereal on a cooking sheet. After being placed inside for five to 10 minutes, the high temperature should have removed most of the moisture and reinstated the cereal's crunchy texture. Additionally, while it likely won't be as vibrant as it was originally, some of the flavor may be brought back, and possibly enhanced by browning the cereal.

Using the oven isn't the only life-changing kitchen hack to bring your cereal back to life. Certainly, the most unconventional and uncommon method would be the dehydrator. While it might make sense on the surface since it removes the moisture that causes staleness, those who tried it found that it did little to fix the stale flavor. However, some have found that using the air fryer can be effective at bringing cereal back to life. This makes sense, since air fryers use a similar method to convection ovens to make food so crispy, with their smaller size typically providing faster results. The microwave could also be effective; just be sure to reheat it on high and in 30-second intervals to minimize the chance of burning the cereal.

If all else fails, and you're stuck with stale cereal, there are still ways to repurpose it. Even in its not-so-fresh state, cereal is an excellent alternative for uniquely flavored pie crusts and a great breading swap for chicken. The hardened texture of stale cereal could also provide some extra crunch and even flavor to desserts like ice cream. In the spirit of fun with food, stale cereal can also be the perfect way to bond with the family through creativity. Similar to macaroni art, cereal can be used to create crafts.