Kellogg's Wants You to Add Water to Your Cereal

Powdered milk has existed for generations. So why did this “revolutionary” product take so long?

Kellogg Instabowls
Photo: Courtesy of Kellogg

It's an age old conundrum: You wake up and lazily pour yourself a bowl of cereal. You plod over to the fridge, and then you realize: You're out of milk. You definitely aren't going to the store; the inability to do anything productive is why you're eating cereal to begin with. So what do you do? Add orange juice? Add beer? Eat it dry?!

The latest innovation from Kellogg's purports to have the answer: Just pour in water. And not only because it's wet. Kellogg's new Instabowls will magically turn your water into milk.

Billed by the brand as "revolutionary," Kellogg's Instabowls — prepackaged, disposable bowls available with Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, or Raisin Bran Crunch — allow cereal fans in a pinch to simply add cold water and give the bowl a stir "to get real milk instantly." Beyond offering a backup when you've run out of dairy, Kellogg's also suggests the new product is a "convenient way to enjoy fan-favorite Kellogg's cereals outside of the kitchen."

"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," Chris Stolsky, marketing director at the Kellogg Company, stated. "We created Kellogg's Instabowls as an easy solution for the 'anytime cereal break' so you can now bring your favorite Kellogg's cereals with you wherever life takes you and not have to worry about milk, dishes, or clean-up."

As should probably be expected, according to the ingredients list, the "magic" milk simply comes from a healthy dose of milk powder — a dehydrated milk product that has been around since at least the 19th century — which may leave you wondering what took so long for this idea to materialize. Stolsky told CNN the product has been in development for two years; the biggest hurdle was getting the powder to turn to milk quickly, eventually resulting in the company creating "a proprietary process."

Also worth noting is that, yes, each individual bowl has a fill line to assure your rehydrated milk isn't too thick or watery.

Kellogg's Instabowls are currently available in the cereal aisle at Walmart with a suggested retail price of $1.98 per bowl — and from there, they'll eventually get a nationwide rollout.

Was this page helpful?

Related Articles