Trying to cut your grocery bill? One huge money trap I notice quite often is that of breakfast. Breakfast cereal. Holy cow is that stuff expensive, and if you have a large family you can go through a box or more in one sitting! Not only do you have the expense of the cereal, but also that of milk. Yes it’s an easy breakfast, but easy breakfasts can be homemade too, and lots healthier. I do realize every family is different, and I realize kids can be picky, so if you are good with breakfast cereal and don’t mind the expense then you probably have no need to read any further. But, if you would like to look into other options let me share with you some of our normal breakfasts. Aside from cheerios for our toddlers (for finger food snacks) I have never purchased boxed cereal for my family to eat. My husband enjoys it occasionally, so he might buy a box here and there but my kids don’t eat it. They also don’t drink cows milk regularly (there are plenty of other ways to take in the nutrients of milk). Instead, we:

• Do eggs, toast, bacon or sausage. We have chickens for eggs, and I normally bake our own bread made from freshly ground wheat berries (cost less than flour, but you need a grain mill to grind them into flour).
• Peanut butter on toast
• Fruit
• Smoothies (fruit, liquid (milk or juice), nuts, we often add kale or spinach, chia seeds, flaxmeal, yogurt, use dates or honey for sweetener, if it needs)
• Oatmeal. This is our normal ‘daily’ breakfast. We change up what we put in it. Our add ins include raisins, figs, dates, nuts of all sorts, fresh, frozen or dried fruits. Sometimes I cook it in the slow cooker so I don’t have to plan time for cooking it in the morning, but it does change the texture. We sweeten with honey or maple syrup.
• Farina/Cream of wheat – this can be expensive in the stores, but if you have a grain mill you can make your own for mere pennies.
• Cornmeal porridge
• Breakfast sandwiches – homemade biscuits, homemade breakfast sausage (ground pork with seasonings), cheese, eggs. Great for the freezer.
• Breakfast Burritos – eggs, cheese, sausage, with whatever additional items you would like added rolled into a tortilla (hey, those are usually homemade, too). Also freeze great.
• Scrambled eggs with cheese. Omelets.
• Pancakes, waffles (homemade mix). Both freeze well.
• Breakfast muffins. These freeze well, too.
• Yogurt with granola and fruit (homemade yogurt and granola, of course!)
• Overnight oatmeal
• Meusli
• Oven pancakes
• Breakfast casseroles
• Homemade poptarts and pastries (can control sugar content)
• Homemade granola in milk, or milk substitute.
• Bagels and cream cheese. Both can be homemade.

Just about all of this can be made ahead which makes breakfasts as easy as pulling them from the freezer and reheating. Or you can prepare it all ahead of time the night before and cook it the morning of.