There’s a lot of differing opinions on breakfast. A typical American breakfast these days is cereal and toast or bagels or some such…all grain-based carbs. Your body burns this kind of breakfast so quickly you get a boost of energy, but then it drops you flat in just a couple of hours. So maybe this isn’t what’s best for breakfast!
Better to do a more traditional breakfast…the kind that once sustained a man through physical labor in the fields…eggs! Many doctors now agree the good these little gems provide outweighs the negatives (see all those good things here).
And for those of us who are frugal, there is NO better choice!
Imagination is your only limit with cooking eggs
You can boil, fry, poach, bake or scramble eggs! (I may have even forgotten some possibilities – please feel free to add your favorite to the comments!) Depending on how “done” you like your eggs, really the sky is the limit. Choose any cooking method and apparatus you like (my friend says boiled eggs in the Instant Pot are the very best).
What’s best with eggs?
My personal opinion is MEAT. What kind of meat? That doesn’t really matter. You just need to have the protein and fat. These take longer to burn so they sustain your energy levels more evenly over time. Most folks like bacon or sausage (I also make a turkey breakfast sausage…see more on that here). But ham or steak are also good.
My personal favorites come from the Whole 30 book…dry-rubbed steak and pulled pork carnitas. Both of these just make my mouth water thinking about it. And for some reason the seasonings are perfect with eggs. I never would have thought of these pairings before, but when you’re in the middle of Whole30 and at the end of your rope and time, you’ll take any leftovers you can get in the morning. I tried them and now I’m hooked.
Or add a side of avocado and you have the healthy fat as well. Your body will burn more efficiently, and you won’t have the bottom drop out on you just as you’re getting revved up for your day.
Eggs are the most frugal protein
Okay time for a foray into math…but it’ll be short I promise. Even if you bought the high-end eggs at 4.99/dozen, that’s only 42c per egg. You will not find a better deal on protein with ANY OTHER FOOD – I promise you that! And if you’re super frugal like me and get just regular old eggs for more like $1/dozen, that’s 8c per egg. To keep your family fed a good breakfast in the worst of financial times (like when my husband first lost his job in 2009 when I started on this journey), eggs are the ticket.
Eggs every day? How boring!
Anything gets boring after a while. But when you switch up ingredients in your omelet or frittata, eat some eggs scrambled with chorizo or other breakfast sausages, you’ll find you don’t get as bored as you thought! Check out the links below for other egg options I’ve written about.
Eggs can even be the easiest breakfast to cook…
…because you can cook them ahead! Even the most stubborn dog (that would be me!) can sometimes learn new tricks. I had done this when making chorizo and eggs, but until I asked my friend to help out with breakfast when my wrist went bad (see that story here), I didn’t think about the efficiency of pre-scrambling a bunch of eggs myself simply to save time in the mornings.
Scrambling eggs
Crack your eggs into a bowl or container where you can whisk them all together, breaking the yolks and adding ¼ tsp each of salt and pepper. (I do 8-9 whole and the rest egg white only.) Add 1-2 tsp butter or oil (or bacon fat or ghee if you’re doing the Whole30) per dozen eggs to a slope-sided non-stick skillet and heat on medium high 2 minutes. Distribute the oil evenly across the bottom of the pan and a little up the sides (sloped sides help here too!)
Quickly, pour your eggs into the hot pan, pulling every last drop out with your whisk. Turn the eggs consistently as they cook, scraping down the sides of the pan and breaking up the eggs so they cook throughout. I prefer a flexible, rounded-edge spatula because it bends to hug the contours of the pan (and no squared-off corners are going to be a match for the sloped sides). I don’t want to lose even one bite of eggs stuck on there!
Scramble a dozen or two, and breakfast becomes just a matter of reheating. Anyone needing to eat a little earlier (or later) can fix their own in the microwave. You could even doll them up as burritos one day (or make frozen breakfast burritos – find directions here). Mornings are a challenge for non-morning people…I get that. So, make it easy on yourself and still give your body the fuel it needs.
I LOVE eggs!
I think you get that by now. Nutritious, easy to cook, AND frugal…really, what more could you ask for? Do you eat eggs for breakfast? Share your favorite egg idea in the comments!
Check out these other posts that include eggs…
We go through a ton of eggs each week. My favorite is egg bites! You can make them in muffin tins or even in the instant pot with silicone egg bite molds! I just add veggies and meat to my eggs and it’s a wonderful, easy breakfast!!! You can even make them in advance and just pop them in the microwave for an even faster breakfast .
Ooo…sounds so fun!
Sounds like you have a LOT of fun with eggs! Next time I’m at your house, let’s do eggs! ; )
I like to cook veggies with my egg. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, etc. either fresh or left over from yesterday. Sometimes I add beans. Garlic, onion, and bell pepper are common in my pan too.
All of those sound great…I’ll pretty much throw anything in there!
I have always liked scrambled eggs on toast. Also, in Brazil, they put a fried egg on all their sandwiches. They also eat fried eggs with their rice and beans for lunch. Great tip on matching a spatula to the sides of the pan. Who would’ve thought they make those?!
I LOVE egg sandwiches- fried OR egg salad! Never had ’em with rice and beans…I’ll need to try that one. Discovered the spatula trick by accident after years of sticky egg mess on the sides. My son bought a spatula to use in the dorm and when he came home, it stayed here. It was really pretty, fresh and clean but when i tried to break up hamburger meat with it, it was a bomb…way too flexible. But when I tried it with scrambled eggs? PERFECT!!! He didn’t get that one back! ; )