MINNEALOPIS – General Mills has found that Americans love convenience and that they increasingly dislike cooking. Oh, and Americans probably are already eating as much cereal as they ever will, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. “Everyone who is going to eat cereal is already eating as much as they can,” said Jean Kinsey, co-director of the Food Industry Center at the University of Minnesota.

While breakfast cereals are still a big part of General Mills, the company's Big G cereal division was nearly overtaken by the meals division as the largest sources of domestic income. The meals division makes packaged foods designed to cut meal preparation time, such as Hamburger Helper, Progresso soups, Green Giant vegetables and Old El Paso taco shells.

For the year ended May 27, the Big G division realized a 2 percent sales advance, while meals jumped 5 percent. According to estimates, the cereal division will reach an estimated $1.89 billion in sales this year, and leads the meals division by approximately $7 million – but three years ago, that lead was $300 million.

Instead of cereal, people are opting for portable breakfast foods, such as breakfast bars, or are dining out for breakfast more than they did previously. Fast-food restaurants sell 50 percent more breakfasts in 2006 than they did five years earlier, Forbes magazine reported.

People also are seeking out breakfast meals throughout the course of the day, as note din the June NACS Magazine. Or witness Cereality, the all-cereal café that began in Philadelphia.

“I think convenience is a very big factor, and particularly for a meal like breakfast, where everybody is in a hurry,” Kinsey told the newspaper.