Calculating the Costs: Breakfast Edition

By Mike Dang February 25, 2014

I am not a person who has generally eaten breakfast — just coffee in the morning — but I am making an attempt to change that because breakfast is the most important meal of the day, or so they say.

My main reason for skipping breakfast is because my mode of operation is to run out the door in the morning and by the time I’m at the office and sitting at my desk, I’m too involved in work to think about breakfast.

This week, I found a solution: No-bake Energy Bites from a site called Gimme Some Oven.

The thing I love about this recipe is that is just requires mixing a bunch of things in a bowl, refrigerating it, and then rolling them into balls for easy consumption later. “No-bake!”

Ingredients

• 1 cup (dry) oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oats) ($0.75)
• 2/3 cup toasted coconut flakes ($0.40)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter ($0.50)
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseed or wheat germ ($0.30)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips or cacao nibs (optional) ($.50)
• 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup ($0.75)
• 1 Tbsp. chia seeds (optional) Chopped dry roasted almonds. ($1)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract ($0.25)

Total: $4.45

That’s a photo of all the dry ingredients before I mixed in the peanut butter, honey, and vanilla extract. It made enough for about four breakfasts — I put some in a Ziploc bag this morning to eat at the office with a cup of coffee and it was great.

The other thing I liked about this is that you can pretty much mix in whatever you want. I put in flaxseed instead of wheat germ, and roasted almonds instead of chia seeds. I felt it was a tad on the sweet side, so I’d probably cut out some of the chocolate and honey next time. Maybe I’ll throw some dried cranberries in the next batch in place of chocolate.

Verdict: Easy; ingredients are versatile. Plus, it’s highly economical at about $1.10 per breakfast.

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