Thank You!!!

This has been a very successful year for us here at General Mills and we owe it all to you! We want to thank you for following us through this exciting new process and really appreciate all of your support. If it wasn’t for you guys out there, Candy Cereal would not have gotten off the ground!

Every time that we asked questions you all responded with the answers that we needed. This was really a group effort. I urge you all to stay with us and keep following the General Mills blog! There will be more in store in the future and we want to make sure that you all are the first ones to know about it. In fact we had so much success with the blog, we want to make it even better for next time around. Below is a survey asking some questions about our blog. Tell us your likes and dislikes and we will take them into consideration in making the General Mills blog the best way for you all to know about what is happening. It is also a way for us to learn more about you as our best consumers! Tell us what you think!

How easy was it for you to access this blog?

Did you learn a lot about General Mills from this blog?

Was the blog appealing to look at?

How did you first find out about this blog?

Have you read blogs before, if so which ones?

What was your favorite part about the blog?

What did you not like about the blog?

If you could change add or take away something about the blog what would it be?

Thank you all so much!

It Has Been a Sweet Year

Our annual numbers have come in and it looks like General Mills has had a record-breaking year. It has been a long and exciting year and General Mills has brought a lot of new things to the table, literally. Perhaps the most exciting and successful, our latest launch of Candy Cereal.

Teaming up with America’s favorite candy turned out to be the recipe for success in the General Mills factory. We kept you all smiling with our Milky Way, Twix, Three Musketeer and Snickers inspired creations. Who doesn’t love candy for breakfast? By the looks of things, it is safe to say that you will be hard pressed to find an American who doesn’t.

Supermarkets nationwide were shocked when Candy Cereal nearly disappeared off the shelves. The day it was first introduced, supermarkets all over the country were running out of General Mills cereal so fast that there were on the phone calling in for more by noon! People couldn’t get enough of the sweet taste of candy in morning.

In celebration of the success of Candy Cereal, General Mills will be generously giving away free recipe books with every general Mills purchase. With the holiday coming up, there will be plenty of people to cook for and General Mills is glad to give some inspiration to your kitchen.

These recipes include great dessert and appetizer options that are perfect for entertaining guest around the holidays. They also include some great meals on the go for you and your family in this busy time of the year.

We at General Mills just want to thank you and your families for always choosing us first when it comes to nourishing your families. Now we want to help enrich them some more. So go out and enjoy Candy Cereal with a early Christmas present from us!

Can you feel it in the air? Christmas is just around the corner. For most, this is the busiest time of the year. Work gets hectic and there is so much to do for the holidays. All the shopping, preparations, cooking and cleaning for entertaining holiday guests; it can be exhausting. It is easy to get caught up in your own world at times like this.

Here at General Mills, we are asking you to take a second and think about those less fortunate this holiday season. Think about people who don’t have the luxury of a steady job or paycheck. Those who can’t afford to buy presents for their loved ones, or people who don’t have much family to turn to for the holidays.

With your help, General Mills wants to make Christmas brighter for those less fortunate. We also know that in these hard economic times it may seem more difficult to give to charities. We understand you if you can’t give a ton, but we aren’t asking for much. It doesn’t take a whole lot to make a difference in some people’s lives.

In the next few weeks, representatives from General Mills will be visiting your local supermarkets collecting donations for your own local charities. In exchange for your kindness, we will reward your donations with free boxes of our Christmas Cereal.

“It feels really good to give back, especially around the holidays,” says Carol Smith of Pleasantville, NY. “I have to admit, I get a little caught up in my own stuff around Christmas time with all the shopping and the parties, but I’m fortunate to have what I do have and really enjoy making someone else’s Christmas better.”

There is no better time to help out those who really need it than the holidays. The holidays are all about being together with family and loved ones. Some don’t have that, so General Mills wants to be part of their family and we need your help. We can make a lot of people’s holiday better by coming together and donating a little time and a little money.

So please, be a part of our family this Christmas at General Mills.

Add a Little Sweetness

Tired of the same old recipes at your Christmas get together? Are you looking for a little something different to spice up your menu? General Mills has the solution to that problem.
We have been putting together special recipes with our new Candy Cereal. It is the perfect ingredient to make your Christmas even sweeter. These creations will become instant classics at your Christmas parties.
Take a look at some of the things we have been cooking up for you and your loved ones at Christmas.

Marshmallow Milky Way Bars

3
tablespoons butter or margarine
1
bag (10 1/2 oz) miniature marshmallows (6 cups)
7
cups Milky Way cereal

1.
Butter 13x9-inch pan.
2.
In large microwavable bowl, microwave butter and marshmallows uncovered on High about 2 minutes, stirring after every minute, until smooth.
3.
Immediately stir in cereal until evenly coated. Using buttered back of spoon or hands, press mixture firmly in pan; cool. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store loosely covered.
On the Stove: Butter 13x9-inch pan. In 3-quart saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows; stir until marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat. Immediately stir in cereal until evenly coated. Using buttered back of spoon or hands, press mixture firmly in pan; cool. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store loosely covered.

The Real Snickers Doodle Cookies

1 1/2
cups sugar
1/4
cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3
cup vegetable oil
1
teaspoon vanilla
2
eggs
1 1/2
cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1
cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1
teaspoon baking soda
1/2
teaspoon salt
3
cups Snickers cereal
1
cup white baking chips (6 oz)
Additional 1 cup white baking chips, if desired

1.
Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat sugar and butter on medium speed until blended. Beat in oil, vanilla and eggs. Stir in flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Stir in cereal and 1 cup white baking chips. Drop dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.
2.
Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until light brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack; cool.
3.
If desired, drizzle cookies with additional white baking chips. In small microwavable bowl, microwave 1 cup white baking chips uncovered on High 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until chips can be stirred smooth. Drizzle over tops of cookies. About 3 dozen cookies.


Double Caramel Twix Bars

6
cups Twix cereal
1
bag (14 oz) caramels
3
tablespoons water
2
cups miniature marshmallows
1/4
cup miniature semisweet candy-coated chocolate candies for baking
Chocolate Glaze
1/4
cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips
2
teaspoons shortening

1.
Butter 13x9-inch pan. Into large bowl, measure cereal. In medium microwavable bowl, microwave caramels and water uncovered on High 2 1/2 to 4 minutes, stirring after each minute, until smooth. Pour over cereal; gently stir until well coated. Add marshmallows; gently stir. Press evenly in pan, using buttered back of spoon.
2.
In small microwavable bowl, microwave glaze ingredients uncovered on Medium (50%) about 1 minute or until mixture can be stirred smooth; drizzle over bars.
3.
Sprinkle bars with candies. Refrigerate about 1 hour or until bars are firm and glaze is set. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store loosely covered.
On the Stove: Make as directed above--except in heavy 1-quart saucepan, heat caramels and water over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth.

You can't go wrong with these sweet holiday recipes!

A lot of things are going on for

the holidays here at General Mills. There is has been tons of positive feedback and much excitement focused on our new cereal that has just recently hit grocery stores across the country. This got us here at General Mills thinking of a whole bunch of fun holiday ideas.

The first thing that we were thinking is that we should do some caroling! Our new spokesperson “candy man” Lamar Odom and others will be participating in some Christmas caroling. The singers will be bringing around free boxes of cereal to each home.

With all the recent success of the cereal, we wanted to reach out and thank all of you that have been so supportive. You have really helped General Mills make this launch the best we have ever seen!

Another fun idea we had was to hold our first annual gingerbread cereal house-making contest. Using at least one box of gingerbread cereal, the person who builds the best gingerbread house will win courtside tickets for the Los Angeles Lakers. The winner will also score a meet and greet with Lamar Odom the candy man after the game.

We really want to thank all of you out there for helping this cereal become an instant favorite. We couldn’t have done it without you guys. And this Christmas we want to give back to you and your families as much as you have helped our family here at General Mills.

So be on the lookout for carolers and get your box of gingerbread cereal and get cracking on the gingerbread house! The candy man will judge the gingerbread houses. So make sure there is plenty of candy and it is totally edible because he is probably going to eat it!

It's Christmas Time in the Cereal Isle

Can you feel it in the air? The air is getting colder and the snow is on the way. Lights are going up on every house on the street and smoke is coming from the chimneys. The smell of pine and gingerbread fills the air and you know what is around the corner. It’s Christmas time!

Here at General Mills we are getting into the holiday spirit a little differently this year.

With the recent launch of our candy inspired cereal, we were trying to think what kind of Christmas spin we could put on it. And then it just clicked. Gingerbread cereal! As a special Christmas edition of our new cereal, we will be flavoring our cereal with a Christmas flare.

Who doesn’t love gingerbread cookies around the holidays? You can find our special holiday edition on the shelves starting December 5^th.

Come check out your local grocery stores on Saturday December 5^th to come and try the new gingerbread cereal for yourself for free! That’s right, General Mills will be giving out free samples of the cereal outside the stores all day.

So bring the family down to your local grocery and taste the holiday goodness for yourself.

Tis’ the season of giving everyone! With every box of gingerbread cereal sold, General Mills will be donating 75% of the proceeds to your local soup kitchen. Christmas time is the best time to give to those less fortunate and we hope to spread come Christmas cheer with our new cereal!

The "Candy Man" Lamar Odom Loves Candy for Breakfast

Lakers power forward Lamar Odom has teamed up with General Mills to show America a new take on the breakfast of champions. As most of you probably already know, Lamar Odom is known as the Candy Man. The man loves his candy and that is not an exaggeration. Everything from candy bars to Skittles, he has got to have it.
Perhaps the most alarming thing about his so called “candy addiction” is that he is a professional athlete competing on the highest level day in and day out. He has people wondering how on earth he could be performing like he does running on just sugar. This information had doctors and dentists up in arms. Hearing that a professional athlete fuels his body on mini candy bars and gummy bears, they had plenty to say about it. They connected his candy addiction to his erratic performances on the court.
When confronted about his sugar intake Lamar couldn’t help but laugh and say, "The games I played well (against the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals) were the games where I ate candy for breakfast.”
Candy for breakfast? What a novel idea Lamar! General Mills has got you covered. With our help you can get all those health care physicians off your back about your increased sugar intake.
Lamar is now the official spokesperson for General Mills Candy inspired cereal campaign. When he found out there was going to be a cereal that incorporated all his favorite candy flavors into a complete breakfast, he couldn’t help but take to the idea. I mean the man loves his candy, but I bet he loves his tooth enamel as well. Now he can have his candy and he can eat it too. Who needs Wheaties? Candy cereal is the new breakfast of champions!

America...We Hear You Loud & Clear

It looks like America has made up their mind about General Mills newest candy inspired cereal product. After a nationwide taste testing of the new product, the results are unanimous. They love it!
This past weekend the General Mills team set out to show people what they have been working on for their new product launch. They sent representatives from communities across the country to local supermarkets to give shoppers a taste of the new sweet tooth pleasing cereal.
They set up camp in the cereal isle, right under the other General Mills favorites and offered people passing by a sample of the cereal. The flavors that they featured for the sample testing were Milky Way, Twix, Three Musketeers and Snickers. People were both shocked and pleased to see that their favorite candy bars were being translated into cereals that they could have everyday for breakfast.
People loved the Milky Way and Snickers cereal. They almost ran out of samples for everyone by the end of the day. Both the Twix and Three Musketeers cereals were not as popular as the other two flavors, but the people that loved the taste of Twix and Three Musketeers really loved it in their cereal.
At first there were a lot of kids sampling the cereal. But once the parents realized what kind of cereal it was they couldn’t help but be curious as well. By the end of the testing, we had more adults that tested the cereal than children. It goes to show that a sweet tooth does not reduce with age.
After people had the chance to taste the new product we asked them to fill out a survey with a few questions. This survey also gave shoppers the chance to make suggestions about the cereal. A lot of people put their favorite candies down and suggested that General Mills make a cereal that features their favorite candy.
We are absolutely ecstatic that the taste test went well and are even more excited to release this new product!

Breakfast Sweet Tooth

All this time General Mills has been seeking answers to find the best possible flavors to use to introduce its newest cereal. They’ve asked cereal lovers everywhere to chime in and give their best suggestions so that this next cereal launch will be successful. They have been searching everywhere but what they didn’t realize is that they had the answer right beneath their nose.

It all started when they introduced Hershey’s Cocoa Puffs; the great taste of a Hershey’s Chocolate bar in the form of a cereal. It’s genius. And then, they took it a step even further and gave us Reese’s Puffs! Now the infamous combination of peanut butter and chocolate has made its way into a cereal. It’s fantastic.

Why stop there General Mills? Everyone loves to eat candy bars but can’t eat them all the time. But one thing that people don’t feel bad about eating is cereal. So why not turn candy favorites into cereal favorites. The formula has worked before and now with even more flavors to work with, this could become a hit all over again.

The General Mills team set out to find out what people thought of the new idea and the results were unanimous. Let’s do it!

Now you would think that this would seem like something that only kids would be into, but after some asking around, we found out that it is not the case.

Alexis Alan, a 35 year old school teacher from Briarcliff Manor, New York says, “I would love to taste my favorite candy in my cereal.” This proves you don’t have to be a kid to enjoy candy or cereal.

General Mills also set out to discover what people’s favorite candies were. The most popular answers we got were Milky Way, Twix, Three Musketeers, Heath, and Snickers.

Be on the lookout for your favorite sweets in cereal boxes soon!

You Want S' More?

I don't know about you, but I am yet to come across someone that doesn't like a smore. Who can seriously resist the classic combination of marshmallow, chocolate, and gram cracker? There is nothing like sitting around the campfire with all your friends and family and roasting marshmallows on a stick. Then putting the toasty marshmallow in between two delicious gram crackers and that rich chocolate. There has yet to be a combination of flavors that can match the undeniable brilliance of a smore.

That is why General Mills has decided to take the magical ingredients that make up the best snack on earth and turn it into the newest addition to their collection of cereals.

You know what they say, if it ain’t broke…don’t fix it. Since the ingredients of a smore are perfect on their own, this cereal will include bits of gram cracker, real marshmallow, and of course rich chocolate. The flavors will combine in your spoon to create the traditional taste of smores around the campfire.

Smores cereal will hold you over until you can get yourself around a campfire yourself. But in the meantime, enjoy smores cereal year round without the hassle. No sticks, no fire, just bowl and a spoon and milk of course.

This is not all General Mills has in stored. They are looking to take peoples favorite sweet treats and translate them into breakfast favorites that you can enjoy every morning.

They are saving you the hassle of digging up all those ingredients yourself or having to go out and buy it. With all your favorite flavors in one box, who needs anything else. Visit the General Mills site to learn more about smores cereal and if you have a favorite sweet treat that you wish were a cereal, send it to us!

Name That Cereal!

That’s right. General Mills is leaving it up to you to come up with the name of the newest cereal to be launched in the coming months. For those of you with suggestions should visit GeneralMills.com and submit your cereal name. After two weeks, we will narrow it down to a select few and then we will have a national vote. The person that comes up with the winning name will win a lifetime supply of General Mill’s cereal and on top of that, they will be featured on the first batch of boxes that reach stores when the product launches.

General Mills is asking for your help! We have been hard at work creating the newest addition to our line of cereals. It won’t be long until you will be seeing it on the shelves. But not until you have the final say. That’s right, General Mills is asking you for ideas and suggestions to make this product launch the best we’ve ever seen.

The goal for this cereal like we said before, is to capture the great taste of the so called “kids” cereal, and infuse it with all the health benefits that are essential for adults who still love their cereal. The cereal has already been created with all the nutritional attributes in mind, but now we want the imagination of all those who enjoy cereal to create the taste and flare that General Mills is looking for.

We want you to send your taste suggestions to us! You tell us what your favorite flavor combinations and General Mills will answer. This is all about you and what kind of cereal you want this to be.

The people at General Mills are ready to make cereal dreams come true.

Breakfast Really Is The Most Important Meal of the Day

For one reason or another, people are perpetually skipping breakfast. It’s a trend that tends to begin when people can no longer depend on someone else to prepare their breakfast for them. There is so much emphasis on how breakfast is the most important meal of the day and after a while it just seems like background noise. But what people need to realize is that the first meal of your day is actually more important than you think.

Would you start your car without gas in your tank? The answer to that is hopefully no. Well the same rule applies to meals. Food is the body’s fuel and without fuel, how can you expect everything else to operate properly. Furthermore, if you put crappy fuel in your tank, is everything going to work to the best of its ability? Probably not. So picking the right kind of fuel is even more important.

Don’t worry; it is not too late to start eating breakfast again. And cereal is the best way to start your morning. Eating cereal will start your day off right and will do even more things to benefit your health.

You know at the end of cereal advertisements when they say that it is “part of this complete breakfast?” Well they aren’t kidding you. Studies have shown that eating cereal has a lot of benefits that people may not know about. For those of you that may have turned your back on cereal, this information may change your mind.

Research has shown that adults who eat cereal frequently are better off nutritionally than those who rarely eat cereal. They are both rich in nutrients and serve as a primary source of whole grains. Another study showed that adults that skipped breakfast tended to weigh more than those who ate breakfast.

The best thing about cereal is that it is that you are consuming the least amount calories of all the other breakfast options. Plus it has lower amount of fat than other breakfast options. So you don’t have to eat a breakfast with eggs, bacon, home fries and toast to feel like you ate something of substance. You can enjoy about five bowls of cereal before you could equal the calorie amount you would be consuming with that breakfast.

So don’t skip breakfast anymore! Breakfast can do a lot of things for you!

Look here for more information!!!

Ø http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/health_wellness/cereal_health.aspx

These Trix Are Not For Kids

You know what I think? I think that its about time I stopped getting dirty looks every time I poor myself a bowl of Lucky Charms with milk for breakfast. So what if there is leprechaun prancing around under the rainbow on the front of the box. That does not mean it can’t be part of my complete breakfast. And furthermore, I don’t think that fun breakfast cereals should just be limited to the 12 and under crowd. In a perfect world, a respectable 50-year-old CEO and father of three should be able to enjoy any of the wonderful cereals that General Mills has to offer. They shouldn’t have to sacrifice good taste to save them from being embarrassed.

Fear not adult cereal lovers, because the General has your back. It’s about time adults had a cereal to call their own. Not only that, but it is about time that adults could eat cereal that is both delicious and nutritious at the same time. That is exactly what is on the horizon for General Mills, new cereal specifically feeding the needs of adults who still love their cereal with milk every morning.

The new cereal that General Mills is cooking up is going to combine the vital nutritional value that adults need in cereal with the great taste that they love. You will be able to shop for cereal without compromising on the taste or the health benefits. This new line of cereals will have people running back to great taste of cereal and milk every morning.

This cereal will change people’s mind about who should be eating cereal. No longer will fun, tasty cereal be simply for kids. Now adults will shamelessly purchase cereal not only for their kids but also for themselves. General Mills has always been on top of creating new and exciting food products that are still smart choices. This will be no different.

So kids, we don’t need your cereal anymore. Soon we will have our own, and it will be way better for you, and it’ll taste better too.