THE morning rush hour finds us with little time for breakfast. While cereals are the most common breakfast solution since they need no cooking, eating the same cereal every day can be boring. Here?s a way to add pizzazz to breakfast cereals: Make a mixture of your favorite cereals, add raisins and dried fruits for sweetness and put in nuts too, for added crunch.

With a variety of flavors and textures in every spoonful, this breakfast mix is lots of fun.

Moreover, it makes a good baon, too. Just spoon a cup of it into a resealable plastic bag, tuck in a teaspoon, seal tightly and your kid is ready to go.

Mixed Cereals and Fruits

1 c cornflakes cereal
1 c crispy rice cereal
1 c crunchy cocoa cereal
1 c raisins
1 c diced dried mangoes
1 c chopped walnuts or almonds or cashews

Spoon all ingredients into a large bowl and toss to combine. Makes 6 cups. Serve in cereal bowls as breakfast. Or to pack as baon: Spoon 1 cup servings into a resealable food grade plastic bag. If desired, add a teaspoon to the bag for convenience. Seal tightly and tuck into lunch bags.

Tips

You can prepare this ahead. After tossing all the ingredients to combine, spoon equal measures of the mixture into individual plastic bags and seal bags tightly. Store in an airtight container. Each morning, each kid just has to grab a bag before leaving for school. (No fuss, no mess.)

If you?re feeling antsy about your kids forgetting to bring back the teaspoons, use disposable teaspoons.

A sealable plastic sandwich bag makes an ideal baon container.

This is also a great way to use leftover cereals that may just be lying around on the kitchen counter.

Other ingredients you may want to add to the mix: sesame seeds, dried apricot, mini marshmallows and chocolate chips.