Clear Contents in Sight

• What: Clear cereal containers
• When: Age six months and up
• Why: Avoid false advertising, limit messes, encourage self reliance
• Where: Amazon

My three kids can go through a lot of cereal. Since I can easily toss cereal at them in the morning before I can fully function, they eat it at least five times a week. That adds up to a lot of cereal. I’m not one to visit the grocery store daily, and they can empty roughly one regular cereal box (and I don’t even let them pick the sugary overload stuff) a day between the three of them.

OXO Good Grips Airtight POP Cereal Dispenser

Once we wised up and upgraded to Costco sized cereal containers, we ran into a new problem. The giant boxes, which typically (thankfully) come in packs of two, wouldn’t fit in the cabinet. Rather than redoing the entire cabinet itself or the arrangement of stuff inside, I invested in a couple of clear cereal containers. We got the OXO brand in the medium, 10.5 inch height because that’s what our shelves could accommodate, but they come in both smaller and larger sizes as well.

The medium size containers fit into my vintage kitchen cabinets.

As an unexpected added bonus, my kids could clearly see the cereal inside when making their morning choice. Instead of a Cheerios box with a strawberry beguilingly added to the bowl for photogenic flair, my kids knew that no strawberries lurked inside because they could see only o’s.

It also means that as long as I leave the containers in reach (and at this point, even if I don’t, thanks to their forbidden counter climbing skills), they can feed themselves in the morning. The pop up lids help prevent (but sadly don’t eliminate) over pouring, and they can see when the cereal threatens to dump into their bowl and act accordingly.

No dried fruit or marshmallows lurking inside this cereal.

If you’ve grown tired of explaining to your toddler or preschooler that this cereal does not come with fruit or other items shown on the box, clear cereal containers are totally the way to go.can be a conversation saver if not a downlight life saver. We’ve never had the problem of cereal going stale, but I suppose it prevents that issue, too.  Our medium size easily hold a regular box of cereal with room to spare, and can accommodate almost all of the giant bags from warehouse stores, as well as little hands and literal minds.