A bowl of cereal as part of a balanced breakfast is a great way to start the day, but how much cereal you consume should depend on your energy needs. When it comes to cereal, we have found that a 30 gram portion fits well with the energy needs of a child between 6 and 8 years old as part of a balanced breakfast. In fact, this is the standard portion reference that we use on most of our cereal packs. This reference value makes it easy to compare the nutritional values of one cereal to another.
However, energy needs are variable. Some of the main factors to determine energy needs are age, size and activity level. Many adults and teenagers have higher energy needs than children simply because they are bigger. As a result, teens and adults are likely to consume more than children, and so we would recommend larger cereal portions.
Keep things simple by remembering the following approximate cereal portion guidance: 25 to 30 grams for children and 30 to 45 grams for adults.
So what does that mean for my favourite cereal?
Every cereal has a different shape, volume and thus density, so the same portion may look different.
3 WAYS TO GET THE IDEAL CEREAL PORTION
#1: WEIGH
Of course, the most accurate way to get 30 or 45 grams of cereal in a bowl is to weigh it! When you've done it once, you'll know what the portion looks like in your favourite cereal bowl, and you probably won't need to do it again. But to save you time hunting for your kitchen scale, we have some other methods which can help you get a similar result, with the help of our cereal portion guidance chart at the bottom of this page.
THE SPOON STANDARD
#2: MEASURE
An easy way to measure your cereal is to spoon out a certain number of tablespoons. Well, it sounds easy until you remember that spoons come in different sizes! Our tablespoon measures 11.2 ml (and not 15 ml, as often used as a tablespoon cooking measurement), to be as close as possible to the tablespoons you normally use to eat. Here are the dimensions of the spoon we used, so you can decide which spoon from your drawer should be used for measuring. Once you get the right spoon, refer to your cereal pack or the chart at the bottom of this page to check how many spoonfuls are in a portion.
THE PORTION NUMBERS
#3: COUNT
Counting is fun and kids like it. We’ve found the number of pieces it takes to get the desired weight in the bowl. Of course, this method only works for cereals made of regular pieces that are all about the same weight. You may not have the time to do it every day, but why not try it on the weekend?
