Before I had my little boy, I was never into cereal. I preferred to have an extra ten minutes in bed waking myself up with a strong cup of coffee, and then grab a cereal bar on the way out the door to work. An Alpen Bar was definitely my breakfast of choice - it was quick, convenient and I could convince myself that it was healthy even though it contained chocolate! On the days where I felt like treating myself, breakfast would be a chocolate muffin from Pret a Manger or Costa Coffee, or a croissant, or occasionally a baguette filled with egg and bacon. I don't want to think about what my habit of grabbing breakfast on the way into work was costing me, either in diet or financial terms, but those days are firmly in the past now.

These days, I always have breakfast before I leave the house and my breakfast food of choice is virtually always cereal. These are my favourites;

**Kellogg's Special K**
For the days when I'm being 'good' and sticking to my diet. I like the traditional Special K best, especially when served with a handful of berries to make it a bit more exciting. Blueberries and raspberries are my breakfast fruits of choice, although at the moment I am loving it with fresh strawberries as well. I only have a small amount of milk on my cereal so that I can enjoy the crunchiness of the cornflakes - I hate it when they go really soggy.

**Oats So Simple Golden Syrup**
This is my favourite breakfast on days where it's cold and grey outside, and I feel that I need a little bit sustenance in the mornings. I've reviewed this product individually, but suffice to say I find it warm, comforting and delicious. Sometimes I eat it on it's own, sometimes I slice in a banana which I think really complements the flavour.

**Tesco Maple and Pecan Crisp**
My current favourite - this is not diet friendly at all, but I'm choosing to believe that nuts are good for me so I'm eating it anyway. This contains oat clusters with maple syrup and pecan nuts and is very similar to the more expensive Jordan's cereals. The crunchy, sweet, nutty texture of this cereal is simply delicious and I love it. I'm currently enjoying it mostly with a couple of tablespoons of fat-free natural probiotic yogurt instead of milk, and a handful of strawberries or blueberries. If you haven't tried this one, I really do recommend it.

**Weetabix**
A childhood favourite - I've always eaten Weetabix. It was the cereal of choice in our house when I was growing up and I still eat it in the same way as I did as a child. I like to crumble the biscuits into my bowl, soak them in semi-skimmed milk, sprinkle liberally with sugar and them mash it all together... one of these days I'll grow up and eat it properly.

**Cornflakes**
Cornflakes only make it into my list of favourite cereals because I love to cook with them. I'll eat them quite happily if there's nothing else around, but basically I use them for cooking. My favourite thing to make with them is the classic chocolate cornflake cake - something that I find extremely addictive, but I also crush them up to coat thin strips of chicken as a children's party snack, mix them with fish in a surprisingly tasty baby food recipe and use them instead of breadcrumbs to coat homemade fishcakes.

Honorarable mentions go to...
Sainsbury's Triple Chocolate Crunch cereal (which I can't find on their website so might have been discontinued) - this was basically a Jordan's style clyster cereal with white, dark and milk chocolate shavings.
Cocoa Pops - just because 'they're so chocolatey they even turn the milk brown', and for being the cereal that I desired most as a child.
Jordan's Country Crisp Honey Cluster - because it's simply delicious.

So, these are my favourite cereals. To be honest, I'll eat virtually any cereal apart from Shredded Wheat which I hated as a child and still hate now (it doesn't even do it for me coated in chocolate as an Easter nest), and Sugar Puffs which I find too sticky. I am a big fan of adding fruit to my cereal to create variation in the texture of my meal and ensure that I have a couple of my five portions of fruit and vegetables a day early on, but I'll happily eat it plain as well. I do appear to have a tendency to prefer sweetened cereals, although the need for chocolate first thing in the morning is reducing as I get older. Cereal is just one of those foods that is quick, convenient and tasty. We all love it in our house - you can tell by the way the kitchen shelf resembles the cereal aisle of our local Tesco!