Healthy Frugal Breakfasts, Start The Day The Frugal Living Way

Creating frugal breakfasts for all the family is an ideal way to keep your family budget to a minimum and also provide them with a healthy start to the day.

We are always being told that having a breakfast will help our kids concentrate at school better and prevent them filling up on unhealthy sweets. We are also told that it will help keep our weight down and provide us with enough energy to see us through till lunch.

I used to think this was rubbish and I never would eat breakfast, I was a size 16 then. However a few years back things changed in our household that meant that we all started to eat a breakfast every morning. Guess what, without hardly changing my diet at all, I lost three dress sizes and am now a size 10. I truly believe that by having frugal breakfasts everyday really helped by metabolism. Cereal a healthy frugal breakfast by Peter on flickr

Eating a breakfast at home also stops you grabbing a coffee and bagel every morning on your way into work. A friend of mine used to do this everyday and she told me it was costing her a fortune every month, not to mention all the calories she was consuming every morning. My frugal budget just wouldn't cope with this every week either.

Here are a few of my food tips for eating easy to prepare healthy frugal breakfasts every day.

Cereal - Cereals are good for you and should be in your diet, but they can also be very expensive if you go for the big brand names and lots of them aren't all that healthy when you see how much sugar and salt they contain.

My advice is to always buy the generic branded cereals and store them in an airtight container at home, so that the kids won't notice that they don't have the latest cartoon on the box etc. I always like to check the ingredients too and I try to go for the healthier option.

Waffles and Pancakes - Instead of buying the pre packed frozen ones from the supermarket, bake them your self. The ingredients are cheap and certainly frugal as you can make a batch up over the weekend and store them in the freezer until needed. Waffles and pancakes are so versatile as well, as you can vary the toppings to make them appear different and interesting. A few topping suggestions are:

Honey
Banana
Peanut butter
Jam
Egg

A basic pancake recipe:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons melted butter

Fresh Fruit - A bowl of fruit for breakfast is a great energy booster and goes towards your five a day requirement. The cheapest option and a way to get a variety of fruits into your diet, is to buy tinned or frozen fruit.

Porridge - A very traditional frugal breakfasts option, but still one of the best. However the secret is not to opt for those pre packed little sachets of porridge but to buy a large bag of porridge oats and make the porridge on the stove your self. The oats will not only last a long time but will be much healthier too, as you decide how much salt and sugar you want to add and not the manufacturer.

Simple porridge recipe:
4oz Oatmeal
5 fl oz milk
1 pint boiling water

Heat together over a low heat, add honey or salt if required.

Smoothies - I absolutely love these as they are an easy way to get everyone to eat some fresh fruit and they are so delicious and easy to make. Simply put a banana into a blender with half a tin of fruit (whatever you like), add a splash of orange juice and blend. If you want to make it creamier just add some low fat natural yoghurt to the blend. Yum

Eggs - No frugal breakfasts list would be complete without the humble egg being mentioned. These are cheap, versatile and extremely nutritious. Keep in mind though that the healthiest option is to either soft boil them and eat them with toast soldiers or to scramble them and have them on a toasted muffin.

Frugal Breakfasts on the run

OK, I know not everyone has time to sit down each morning and have breakfast. That's just a fact of life for some people in this modern fast moving world. However it is still possible to have yourself a breakfast on the run, that doesn't include the local deli.

Here are just a couple of suggestions of how to eat frugal breakfasts in a hurry.

Thaw some of your frozen mini pancakes the night before and spread them with jam or peanut butter and put them together to make a pancake sandwich which can be eaten in the hand.

Homemade raison scones - A healthy breakfast snack.

Raisin Oatmeal Scones (this is from The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn with a few slight changes)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup uncooked oatmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup soymilk with 2 tsp vinegar whisked in

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix dry ingredients and cut in canola oil and raisins using a fork. Stir in soymilk mixture until just combined. Divide dough in half and form two circles about a half inch thick on a greased baking sheet. Cut into quarters and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Cereal Bars - Instead of buying those expensive cereal bars, make them yourself using muesli, granola, or plain toasted oats and raisons. Add honey to bind them together and bake. My sister uses this great frugal recipe for her kids lunch box. She finds that it helps to stop them wanting other more sugery snacks.

Coffee - invest in a small thermos flask and take your own coffee to work. You can even buy thermos cups with sealed lids so that they can be drunk on the move.

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