Shredded Wheat Rant!!

PurpleDragon · Shredded Wheat Rant!!

So, my Mum is staying with us just now, and she likes a shredded wheat for brekkie, so I bought her some. It isn't something we eat in this house normally, so I never really looked at it before.

Did you know that they wrap two shredded wheat individually to make it easier for you in the morning?

I'm serious. The people at Shredded Wheat obviously have such little esteem for the intelligence of their clientele that they feel said clientele need their breakfast counted for them. The folk cannot possibly count their own shredded wheat for themselves in the morning.

What a stupid stupid waste!

lor138

Yes, i did notice that PD.
Obviously people that eat weetabix in the morning must be deemed more intelligent as they're cereal isn't wrapped in two's!!!!!

Villagefarm

That's Nestle for you!

wildgarlic

Ina

Julie

On the plus side, the packaging is paper and can be recycled I suppose.

Ina

Is it ordinary paper? Normally, cereals come in a kind of plasticky stuff, which you would not be able to put in recycling.

Julie

All the shredded wheat I have had has been wrapped in matt paper. They might have changed it in the last four months, but up until then it was.

Edit; I just opened the box of bite sized that I bought last week. They are in a plastic bag inside the box. It seems that the larger biscuits are the greener option after all.
Of course, I could eat toast instead

PurpleDragon

The paper Mum removed seemed to have a slimy coating on it. Almost like soap had been rubbed on it.

Ina

I continued this discussion at my friend's place today, seeing that she had a box of shredded wheat there... And she and her son (who is the one who eats it!) are adamant that there are also boxes that contain packs of THREE parcels each! And the have a big 3 on the side of the box! Now isn't that service!

Although I thought that if folk are too daft to count to three, they probably can't read the number 3 either...

My friend had the bite sized ones, btw. And they are much better, anyway - because you can adjust the portion size exactly according to your needs or appetite!

Julie

Yes, I always had them wrapped in threes when I bought them. I just assumed that the two size was a new thing.

I opened the bite size ones at breakfast time today. Once the novelty of 'ooo aren't they cute' was over (I really must get a life) I was disappointed - they don't seem to taste as nice. I also suspect that I may have eaten too large a portion as I felt fuller than I should have done.
I think it might be a good idea for greedy old me to go back to the big beasties

Ina

Do you remember the Shredded Wheat adverts from decades ago? When they said that nobody could eat more than 2 for breakfast?

Sassinak

Damned good salesmanship as all the little boys who would normally have been content with 2, had to have 3 to prove a point

Ina

Yep - and it must have been a good advert: although I never actually bought the stuff, I still remember the ad... Must have been 28 years ago at least!

misteralz

Devil's Advocate here - so, wrapping minging breakfast cereal up into portions is a waste, eh?
If you're mental enough to eat that stuff every day then yes, it is. But what about normal folk? Folk who would normally start a day with a slice or four of toast? The occasional Shredded Wheat partaker. Those who see Ian Botham on the telly and think 'actually, he looks in not bad nick for being 164 years old, and he's advocating this stuff. Maybe I should try it?' and then they do. And realise if living to 164 means eating that muck every morning, early death isn't really too bad a thing. Imagine if they weren't wrapped in threes - they'd all eventually go soft, mushy and horribler and the whole box would be chucked out. As it is, just one or two would be, and the rest could be saved - fresh - for when unsuspecting friends or relatives come to stay. Or you could just serve them the next time you have a vegetablist round for dinner - they won't come back and you can eat proper food without being whined at. So what's worse - excess use of plastic, or wasteage of food?
Something to think about, anyway...

Julie

You might be on to something there Alz, they are a bit like cardboard aren't they. How about an alternative use for them as insulating material?
Does Ian Botham look good for his age..... how old is he?
Mind you, he has spent his life out in the sun playing cricket so he is allowed to be as wrinkly as a shredded wheat biscuit I guess