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The topic of breakfast is an important one to tackle here, because I think it is so hard to balance the health/time/cost ratios.

You may happily eat a bowl of cereal every morning and have no need for this topic. But for those of us who prefer slightly heartier options, it is a challenge to keep it cheap, healthy, and quick!

My kids are extremely active, so I can’t feed them a snack bar for breakfast and call it good. They need some serious fuel or they are going to come asking for a snack 15 minutes later. But I also don’t have time to make a gourmet breakfast from scratch every day, nor do I have the budget to provide daily bacon and eggs. I’m always on the lookout for ideas to simplify a healthy, budget-friendly breakfast. Here are some of my favorite healthy and cheap breakfast hacks.

Side note: I have four kids. When I make things in bulk, I make them in BULK. And while some things may be quick and cheap for one or two people, they become not quick and not cheap for six people. My perspective in evaluating breakfast possibilities is definitely colored by the size of our household.

Baked goods

Many baked goods freeze wonderfully. Some of my favorites are biscuits (freeze uncooked biscuits, then bake from frozen) and pancakes (freeze already cooked, then thaw).

I like to make good, hearty, healthy, homemade pancakes. It’s not like an instant pancake will never touch our lips, but if pancakes are going to be a regular breakfast, I like them to be more nutritious. More flavorful, too, since we only use maple syrup on special occasions. I don’t want to clean up syrup from sticky surfaces/faces/hair or buy expensive maple syrup in bulk. We really like eating plain pancakes as a quick grab-and-go breakfast.

When I make pancakes for the freezer, I usually quintuple my favorite recipe (it helps to have a large griddle). I make mine about 4-5 inches across so that they thaw well and are easy to handle, since we usually pick them up and eat them with our hands. Once cool, I lay them in a single layer on a couple of plastic cutting boards and set them in the freezer. Once frozen, I put them in freezer bags that I reuse. My kids can grab them on their own. Just pop them in the microwave or toaster to warm (unless you are my eldest and prefer them frozen).

Baked oatmeal is another hearty option that can easily be made healthy. Double the recipe and eat it for days, or freeze individual servings for later.

Cereal

You can’t beat the speed or cost of cereal for breakfast, especially since my two oldest can make it themselves. We try not to rely on cereal or eat it too frequently, though, because it never seems to last my kids until lunch. We are not morning snackers, and I always tell my kids to eat enough breakfast to get them to lunch. Unfortunately, cereal just doesn’t seem to have the “staying power” of some other foods (unless it is a hearty granola or oatmeal). But it is cheap and quick, and they do still eat it a couple times a week, usually accompanied by fruit.

We usually have two or three options on hand (some combination of plain rice Chex, plain corn Chex, plain Cheerios, Raisin Bran, or my cheap homemade granola). They often add a handful of raisins or frozen blueberries.

Oatmeal is also on heavy rotation in our house. Sometimes we do individual bowls of quick oats in the microwave to customize everyone’s bowl. More often I make a stovetop batch of everybody’s favorite vanilla raisin oatmeal. Even this takes no more than 10 minutes, and I can quickly get on with my day.

Yogurt parfait

Yes, it gets its own category. If I have homemade yogurt, I scoop some into a bowl with a sprinkle of nuts or granola. Add some chopped fruit (or, more often, blueberries from the freezer) and a drizzle of honey and stir. My daughter is practically made of yogurt parfaits since I ate this nearly every day while pregnant with her.

Extra protein

I have to get creative with “protein” items, because this is where the cost and time both tend to add up.

If you are getting a little tired of plain eggs, try “egg in a hole.” Use a round cookie cutter to cut a hole in the center of a slice of bread. Place it in a hot, buttered pan and crack an egg gently into the empty circle. Toast the extra circle of bread in the pan while you’re at it. Salt and pepper the egg, gently flip once it has started to set, and then remove while the yolk is still runny. Use the toasted circle to sop up any extra egg yolk.

One of my favorite items to have in the freezer is breakfast burritos. I scramble some eggs with some breakfast sausage (or whatever meat I have on hand) until just cooked. Sometimes I add vegetables like onion and bell pepper, but it’s quicker to just do eggs and meat. Let it cool, then spoon into “soft taco”-size tortillas with some cheese. Tuck one end, roll up, and freeze!

If you are rocking your tortilla wrapping technique, you can lay the burritos seam-side down on a plastic cutting board and freeze. Once frozen, transfer to an airtight container like a gallon zipper bag. If you are not a very neat burrito wrapper, you can wrap each individual burrito in a bit of plastic wrap to keep it rolled up nicely. Put these in the freezer in an airtight container without pre-freezing. They heat from frozen in the microwave.

If I have a little extra time, one of my and my husband’s favorite breakfasts is “breakfast hash,” which means I chop up a bunch of stuff and sauté it in a pan with eggs. This is a very flexible dish. It usually (but not always) involves some element of the following items:

• Potatoes (sweet potato or regular potato)
• Meat (usually bacon or breakfast sausage, but it can be any meat)
• Onions (any kind)
• Other vegetables (bell pepper? zucchini? spinach? mushrooms? Whatever you have on hand that sounds good, toss it in)
• Eggs

If you prepare some items ahead of time (oven-roast some cubed potatoes or sweet potatoes and refrigerate till needed, for example), this dish can come together quickly. If not, just dice the potatoes smaller and give them several extra minutes to cook before adding anything else. Add the eggs at the very end and don’t overcook them. Top with salsa.

I use a very small amount of meat, just enough for flavor, to save money. I usually buy a couple pounds of ground breakfast sausage and separate each pound into 5 or 6 plastic sandwich-size zipper bags. Flatten the contents of each bag before freezing, and then you have a thin sheet of easily thawed sausage that can be tossed directly into the pan while frozen. Break it up with your spoon/spatula as it thaws and cooks. You also end up with a little extra grease in which to sauté your vegetables (I usually end up adding more oil, though).

You can also make a large breakfast casserole (with lots of vegetables!) for the fridge and reheat individual servings throughout the week.

These are not the only things we ever eat for breakfast, but I hope it gives you some ideas if you are in a rut. Do you have any favorite quick/cheap/healthy breakfast hacks?

Other posts in the Stretch Your Grocery Budget series:

• Part 1: Introduction
• Part 2: Meal Planning
• Part 3: Dairy
• Part 4: Breakfast
• Part 5: Freeze It