Breakfast on a budget
24 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized
Breakfast means different things to different people. For some, cereal and milk is plenty. Some of us had mothers and grandmothers that spoiled us with spreads of breakfast burritoes or biscuits/gravy/grits/eggs/sausage/etc. Only one thing is truly vital. DON”T SKIP BREAKFAST! It will prevent you from being tempted by the vending machine or fast food drive thru. Even if you have to get your nutrients and calories through a milk shake or smoothie, don’t miss the most important meal of the day.
Here’s how we do breakfast sometimes. We had oatmeal and fruit this morning. Now, I bought 9 lbs of oats at Sam’s for $7.44. I haven’t calculated the cost per serving there but it’s probably minuscule. At our discount grocery this past week, I found Quaker Peaches and Cream (my favorite!) for 1.50 for 12 packets of instant oatmeal. It wasn’t expired or in torn boxes. What a find!
My boys LOVE apples so I went to our local produce supplier. I bought a box of apples for 29.75. Now don’t be discouraged if your supplier has a big sign that reads “No retail to the public.” That simply means that they won’t break open a box and give you 10 apples. You buy the whole box or nothing! It was a box of 113 red apples. We have a dorm fridge that I had almost unplugged because I wasn’t buying canned drinks anymore. This little fridge and one of my crisper drawers made perfect apple storage.
A wonderful find at our discount grocery was Starbuck’s coffee for $3.99. Now I could have gotten Maxwell House for even cheaper, but I figured that all my budgeting success was worthy of a small treat. AND I get to take it to my local Starbuck’s for a free coffee when I am finished. How could I pass that up? I had also found Dominoes sugar at the discount grocery for $0.50/lb. I bought 20 lbs. Another tip on coffee. Only make as much as you need. I’m the only one that drinks it. I was blessed with a small coffee maker that only makes two coffee mugs full. This is the perfect amount for me. I don’t miss my big coffee pot at all.
Now the children have juice and milk to drink from WIC so I can’t calculate the costs there. Also, don’t get discouraged if you don’t have a discount grocery near you. You may be able to do just as well or better with coupons or watching the clearance shelves at your local grocery or supercenter.
Here’s the tally:
Oatmeal x 4 servings = $0.50
2 Apples = $0.53
2 cups Coffee + sugar + milk = $0.17
Total cost for breakfast for 4 people = $1.20
By eating frugally a few days out of the week, a big spread of biscuits/tortillas, sausage, eggs and such won’t hurt the budget at all. Sausage was also found in the freezers of my discount grocery store for $1.50. That will be enough for two meals. They have eggs for $1.50 if I recall correctly and I bought a whole stack of flour tortillas for $0.75 each. The tortillas have been frozen and defrosted without any sacrifice in taste.
