These Single-Serve Kellogg's Cereals Just Need Water to Make a Bowl of Portable Comfort Food

Snacking on cereal has always come at a cost. Unlike with chips or fast food, you need to be within proximity of a refrigerator and some milk. But Kellogg’s believes it’s solved the portability problem of cold cereals by introducing a product that just needs a splash of water.

The company has launched Instabowls (or, as the company inconsistently styles it, insta-bowls), a single-serve container with cereal and instantized (powdered) milk. Add water to the fill line and the powder is activated, turning it into an approximation of the bowl you’d make if you were at home instead of stuck in traffic.

Kellogg's marketing director Chris Stolsky told CNN that Kellogg’s has been working on the innovation for years. Shelf-stable powdered milk that can be rehydrated has been around for decades, of course, but Kellogg’s needed a concoction that would liquify quickly. If it takes too long, the cereal would get soggy.

“[It’s] a proprietary process that essentially evaporates the water off but leaves the milk components there,” Stolsky said. “So when you add the water back, it's the same great taste, same great nutrition that you get with a regular amount of milk.”

Dubious? CNN reporter Danielle Wiener-Bronner testified that while she felt her Instabowl (or insta-bowl) tasted a little “off,” her husband detected little difference between the instantized milk and refrigerated milk.

Kellogg’s is launching the product line with four varieties, including Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, and Raisin Bran Crunch. Currently, they’re only available at Walmart, but Kellogg’s plans a wider rollout. You’ll be paying for convenience, though: The single bowls are $1.98, while an entire 20-ounce box of Froot Loops runs about $5.

[h/t Food & Wine]