Breakfast: the fuel of champions!!

As soon as I finished posting this morning, it occurred to me that my opinions of what 'breakfast' is all about have changed drastically in recent months. Mainly out of necessity. Last year, when I was working and could afford it,the kids ate breakfast at school every day. I had to be at work between 7:30 and 7:45 every morning--after dropping the kids off at school. I was also going to college at the time and would stay up late studying every night, so I was in no shape to get up at 5:30 or 6 daily to fix breakfast. The little one went to work with me daily (preschool) and would eat breakfast there. So this year, I have had to get back into the groove of fixing a morning meal of some description, without it eating my lunch (yuk, yuk, yuk).

When most folks think of breakfast, conjured images of pop tarts, dry cereal with milk, or bacon and eggs come to mind. All of the above are well and good--and pricey. I do use eggs, but not generally as the main meal. I use them as an ingredient to muffins, coffee cake and the like. Feeding eggs to our family of 6 on a daily basis would require a whole dozen EVERY morning. Um, yeah. That gets pricey. Also, I hardly ever buy dry cereal. Why, u ask? Because unless I have a coupon and can get it for around a dollar or less a box, it costs a LOT of money for us. We could plow through a whole box each DAY. I also don't buy pop tarts for the same reason, with the exception of exceptional deals via coupons and sales. You may now be wondering what exactly I do feed my kids. So here is a small list: muffins (Jiffy muffin mixes are dirt cheap and very tasty!), coffee cake (there is a recipe for blueberry style on the side of the blueberry muffin mix box--yumm!), cinnamon toast (made with homemade bread I bake a few times weekly and freeze), fruit and regular toast, banana bread, malt-o-meal (lasts forever but they'll eat it gladly), and oatmeal. I will back up a little here and clarify one thing: I DO boil a dozen eggs periodically for breakfast and label that carton to keep in the fridge. Boiled eggs stretch farther than scrambled and seem to fill the kiddos up better. I know, I know, I'm a tightwad. But, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. As long as we're eating well, who cares??? lol