Never Underestimate Closeout Prices!

Some of us are born to spot good deals.  We are automatically diverted in a store by a yellow tag, we know codes, and we aren't afraid to sift through piles of items just in case something is hidden in a bin.

Never underestimate closeout prices.

Especially when it comes to cereal!

I found these two notions at a Walmart store, sitting lazily on the endcap under "closeout".  Don't get me wrong, love a closeout, but it had been a while since I had seen a cereal closeout less than a dollar from its original price.

These were both marked down to JUST 1$US at the store I was visiting.  For a cereal that usually runs around 5$US a box, that was a steal -- as long as they tasted good.

I was hoping they tasted good.

I was skeptical, but I went from an analytical approach (as always) and this is my take:

Cinnamon Toast Crunch is already one of my favorites.  I finished the box of "Root Beer Float" in a few days, but not because it was an "OMG I LOVE THIS STUFF" moment, but because it was an open box of cereal and I had to use my opened container of shelf stable coconut milk within a week after popping the seal.

Is it worth it?  For a dollar, certainly.  It isn't the same as the norm CTC where I can sit there and consume it dry as a snack (just ...the flavor profile isn't there), but it isn't bad when activated with liquid (i.e.: coconut milk) -- very faint root beer barrel notes.  The more I ate it, the more I liked it.

Which is weird.  ANYWAY!

Now.  The "Birthday Cake" Cheerios tell me a completely different story.  To me, they're good both dry and wet (yay, I have snack food!), and I feel like the marketing ploy was to get kids to eat Cheerios.  Fair.  The flavor profile isn't tweaked enough to disassociate the packaged product away from the main, and ...yeah, they taste like Cheerios.  I like Cheerios.  I ate my Cheerios.

You don't get a picture of wet Cheerios.

I forgot to take a picture until my bowl was empty.

You get to see a picture of my empty bowl, little birthday cake bits still clinging to the sides of the interior.  Mocking both of us.  Because it was that good.  Ish.  Flavors are in the buds of the taster.

Have fun, make choices, check the dates
....and be brave enough to taste things you would not have purchased at full price.

-- Mathie Tremas.