My husband and I both have to be out the door by 6:30 every morning.
And we’re are not the type who leisurely wake up, mosey to the kitchen and whip ourselves up some bacon and eggs. Heck, we don’t even have time to toast ourselves a bagel.
Each morning is a complete struggle and we only have the time and energy to grab something and go.
We’re just not morning people, OK?
The Cost of Morning Convenience
I started buying us some on-the-go breakfast foods we could just grab each morning: muffins, pop tarts and granola bars.
On average, I’ve found you can get about four muffins for $4.50, six granola bars for $3.99, and so on.
My husband is a large man and I, well, eat a lot, so one measly little muffin or granola bar for each of us doesn’t cut it.
Our grocery bills seemed way too high for just the two of us, and we spent way more on breakfast than we should’ve been — between $10 and $20 a week.
I realized a four pack of muffins from the grocery’s bakery and boxes of granola bars just weren’t good deals. We needed to figure out a way to save more money on weekday breakfasts.
I don’t really make things from scratch, and I’m certainly not a baker.
But I turned to Pinterest to see if homemade granola bars and muffins would solve our dilemma.
Some are way too difficult and call for ridiculous ingredients I’d never have, and way too many steps.
But for the most part, the recipes I’ve found are super easy (even for a baking hater) and require only ingredients I already usually have in my cupboards!
We’ve saved so much money since we stopped buying muffins for over $1 each. I’d like to share three of our favorite recipes with you.
3 Easy, Affordable Breakfast Recipes
Here are the recipes we go back to, time and time again. They’re simple, cheap and delicious!
Vanilla Coconut Muffins
These are our absolute favorites!
You might not keep coconut in your cupboard, but I do — because I’m obsessed with it.
If you don’t have coconut, it’s worth investing in some. These are delicious!
The recipe makes 12 muffins and only costs $3.08 (compared to buying four muffins at the store for $4.50… or more!).
It only takes like about five minutes to prep, and 25-28 minutes to bake.
No Bake Peanut Butter Oat Squares
These bars are great for when you don’t have time to bake — or just don’t feel like it.
The best part is, they only require three ingredients, and they’re all things I always have on hand. I’d bet most other people do, too.
And they’re super yummy (and relatively healthy)!
They take less than five minutes to prep. All you have to do is melt some stuff in the microwave and mix in the oats.
They do need to be refrigerated for a while in order to set. So if you make them the night before, they’re perfect to start eating in the morning.
I cut my bars big and square, so it makes nine squares, but you can cut them however you’d like.
This recipe costs $1.67 to make.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
I love this recipe because if you don’t have chocolate chips, you can pretty much throw in whatever you do have.
Got a bag of Craisins or raisins? One banana left? A couple apples, or some berries? Even a couple spoonfuls of peanut or almond butter?
Any of those would totally work!
If you find recipes calling for chocolate chips or raisins or something else, you can totally experiment and swap them for whatever you want.
Be creative!
These muffins also take about five minutes to prep (I told you I only like quick, easy recipes!), and 16-18 minutes to bake.
The recipe makes about 18 muffins and costs $2.33 per batch.
How These Quick Breakfasts Change Our Budget
Every Sunday evening, I make at least a dozen muffins or bars for the week. If I know there’ll be busy weeks ahead, I’ll double the recipe and freeze a bunch for later.
I’ve been doing this for about a year now, and I’d say we save an average of $50 to $60 a month.
That’s like a whole tank of gas or produce for the entire month. Or, a date night!
This breakfast strategy helped us go from spending $10-$20 a week to about $3 or less. I hope homemade breakfasts save you and your family a lot of money, too!
Your Turn: Will you try these breakfast recipes? Know any others?
Taren Penington and her husband Cory live in Oregon. She’s currently a nanny and aspiring writer. She and her husband are expecting their first baby this spring.
The post 3 Simple Make-Ahead Breakfasts to Help You Save Money and Get Out the Door appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/1QIGsan
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق