Weekday Breakfast Strategy

There is a definite pattern to our breakfasts.  We typically just try to get right out the door Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays.  Monday sucks so it's best to just dive on in.  Wednesday and Fridays are typically post hockey mornings.  So I have no desire to do anything but sleep in a couple minutes and throw my cereal in my lunch bag and grab my travel mug of coffee.  In an effort to get in a little more fruit and dairy we are trying to mix up the smoothie recipes.  Some have been good, some have been just "eh" So I figure I'll try to share one a week with you folks, two if I have two new good ones.

When we are off track it's Dunkin Donuts for us in the morning.  Which isn't the healthiest option and tends to add up with both of us hitting the drive through every morning at least $4.00 each.  So we are making an effort to make coffee every morning and have some together while we watch the morning news and take some with us for our commutes.  Sometimes we don't get to have the coffee together, but we always bring it with us.

2.5 Lbs of Coffee, stored in pantry - kept in kitchen canister

Coffee is tough, the price just keeps rising.  I like my Dunkin Donuts coffee, so I typically pick it up when Dunks is having sales at the holidays (4/$19.99) or if I have a coupon for the smaller bags - I'll match it up with sales at the local grocery stores (Stop and Shop, Shaws or Roche Bros)  I don't have a Market Basket near me, but I do have one near my work so one of my buddies will give me the heads up on good sale prices for dry goods, because I will definitely use my lunch to swing by and save money on coffee!  And you know where else has good prices on Dunkin Donuts coffee - Target.  No really, its true.  Again, I typically only buy the 12-16 oz bags when I have a coupon to match with a sale - and they usually match up within a week or two of the coupon being published.  But if that all fails, I buy my coffee in 2.5 lb bags at BJ's - it's been around $19.99, so it's a bit of a savings from the typical regular price of $7.99/lb.  You can't put a price on the sanity coffee brings you, but you can put a price on coffee.

$2.50 a box is the maximum to pay for a box of cereal

Cereal is something I'm always trying to keep on the shelf.  I typically will not buy cereal for more that $2.50 a box.  There are always sales in the grocery flyer and it typically coincidences with the coupons for the week.

For Example:
This past week at Stop and Shop there was a General Mills sale.  I wasn't able to make the grocery store this week but I sent Hubs for a few items because I couldn't miss out on this sale.

Buy 4 General Mills Cereals, get $4.00 off at register AND a coupon for up to $4.50 off a gallon of milk at a future visit.  I told Hubs not to pay more than average $3.50 a box regular price.

So we got:

Cheerios $3.49
Honey Nut Cheerios $3.29
Honey Nut Chex $3.69
Cinnamon Burst Cheerios $3.29
Less $4.00 savings
Less $4.50 off Milk
Total: $5.26
Average of $1.32 a box - plus I'll have free milk!

About milk, this is one of the items I typically buy at BJ's.  If we are running low I'll just ask Hubs to pick some up on the way home from work as he passes BJ's on the way home.  I can't be trusted in BJ's - if I go in for milk, I'll get that and a small fridge or something. Milk is under $2.50 a gallon at BJs and most milk at the grocery store is $3.50 or more a gallon.  I don't even stop to look it's way in the grocery store anymore.

There's always deals to be had on cereal my friends, just keep your eye out and stock up when you can!
When we do our meal prep, I do try to pour out the six servings of cereal out in containers, so it's just one last thing to do in the morning.  Pouring out the six servings takes less than 2 minutes, but doing it at 6 AM just gives us an excuse not to do it.

Frozen Fruit - wait for sales and stock up! Great for smoothies

32 oz tubs of yogurt - six cents an ounce better than individual cups from 8-10 cents an ounce!

I typically buy frozen fruit when it's 3/$5.00 a bag at the grocery store, sometimes there's coupons, but what I find a lot of times for my in store scanner is that it's included in those instant coupons too.  So I wind up with a decent variety. We try to keep fat free yogurt on hand as well.  I typically will by a 32 oz container of the store brand for $1.99.  It's about six cents an oz!  When individual cups are on sale you might get them at 50-60 cent a piece for 6oz portions.  Plain and Vanilla are great to have on hand for smoothies or on their own with some granola or whatever might tickle your fancy.

So when you start thinking about meal planning - start with breakfast - it's the most important meal of the day!