Hear Us Out On This One: Try Pouring The Milk Before The Cereal

When it comes to making a bowl of cereal, people are certainly divided on when to pour the milk. Some may argue that pouring the cereal first allows an even coating of milk over every bite of cereal, ensuring that you don't wind up with dry cereal for your first few bites, and that you'll get the exact amount of cereal that you want in the bowl first.

But as it turns out, it might actually be better to pour the milk into the bowl first. If you crave an extra crunchy bite when you dig into your breakfast, pouring milk first might just be the key to preventing your cereal from getting soggy.

Most cereal is pretty light and airy. If you pour your cereal into the bowl first, and then add milk, the cereal will rise to float on top of the milk. Because the milk won't be visible through the top coating of cereal, the bowl might deceive you about how much milk is actually in it — creating an undesirable ratio of the two.

Pouring milk into that floating cereal could cause you to add more milk than is necessary while trying to achieve your perfect milk-to-cereal ratio. And, because there's too much milk in the bowl, the cereal on the bottom of the bowl will then absorb it.

Fortunately, the opposite problem of measuring out the correct amount of cereal likely won't occur when pouring milk first. Since the cereal pieces will float on top of the milk, it'll be easy to see exactly how much cereal you're pouring in.

Too much milk in the bowl could leave you with a mouth full of soggy cereal while you're eating, since the bottom cereal will be coated in milk for a much longer time than the cereal towards the top. If the cereal is poured second, it will all be in the milk for relatively the same amount of time. And, if you pour just before eating, it won't have enough time to soak through the pieces on the bottom.

Additionally, milk can draw out the flavors from your cereal when left to soak, leaving those bites just a little more bland, or tasting more milky. And, unless you like to drink the leftover cereal milk after breakfast, you'll be completely missing out on the flavors that were pulled out.

Some may be concerned that because the milk is in the bowl first, pouring cereal on top will cause a splash, creating a mess of spilled milk to clean up in the kitchen. Fortunately, because most cereals are pretty lightweight, it's unlikely that the pieces will actually cause that much of a mess.

At the end of the day, there's no "right" or "wrong" way to enjoy a bowl of cereal. While the decision to pour one before the other is up to each person's breakfast preferences, pouring milk into the bowl first may just be the best way to keep your cereal perfectly fluffy and flavorful.