Save money in the cereal aisle

When you’re walking down the cereal aisle, there’s a way you can save big bucks by looking at one particular off-brand of cold cereal.

MOM Brands Co., formerly known as Malt-O-Meal, makes giant bags of cereals that are essentially knockoffs of popular brands. Their Tootie Fruities brand is similar to Froot Loops and their Honey Nut Scooters brand is a Cheerios impostor, to name just two examples.

Buying these cereals will save you between 20% and 25% off the national brands. And buying them people are. Sales of MOM products are now booming with revenue closing in on $750 million, according to The Los Angeles Times.

So much in the world of cereal sales is driven by colorful advertising and cute characters on the boxes. If you or your kids are particularly brand driven, just save the box of your favorite national brand and put the MOM bag inside of it. Your kids will survive, I promise!

Editor’s note: This segment originally aired July 19, 2012.