(In case this is your first time reading The Dollar Diet blog, my family and I are on a quest to go the entire month of February without spending any money. No kidding. We'll pay the monthly bills, put gas in our cars to get to and from work and spend just $10 a week on milk and produce, but that's it. If it's discretionary, it's off limits. Click here to read the introductory post.)
Once a week at our house, we eat breakfast for dinner.
It's a great way to trim the grocery budget. Pancakes, after all, are way cheaper to serve than even the cheapest cuts of beef or chicken.
And it's quick, easy, and typically, a kid pleaser.
I try to rotate the breakfast menu from week to week to keep things interesting.
Last week, we had whole wheat pancakes. This week, we'll have a baked oatmeal concoction. The original recipe called for apples but I throw in whatever I have on hand. This time around, I'll use up a few apples past their prime and a handful of cranberries I froze at Christmas. I'll also be using applesauce as a substitute for oil since we are about to run out.
Other breakfasts I like to serve for dinner are:
*burritos filled with scrambled eggs, salsa and cheese. If we happen to have any leftover chicken or bacon in the fridge, we might throw that in too.
*omelets filled with leftovers. (see above)
*scrambled eggs and toast
*a sausage casserole that uses croutons as its base, which I sometimes make myself using stale bread.
*apple pancakes
Anybody else have any favorite breakfast for dinner ideas? Or any other ways you cheat on your grocery budget? I'm all ears, especially this month.
Comments
breakfast burritos for dinner
Wed, 02/16/2011 - 23:00 — sjboyceWe like to make homemade ice cream in the summer but the recipes I use (from Food Network's website, no need to buy a cookbook) call for egg yolks only and it is like 8 eggs or something. I wasn't going to throw away 8 egg whites! So, I started making egg burritos with the whites (I usually throw in one more whole egg because the yolk helps it all stick together better) for dinner the night after we make homemade ice cream. I guess I could also freeze the egg whites for later use, too.
Ice cream and breakfast
Thu, 02/17/2011 - 09:11 — AmyDunn (author)Ice cream and breakfast burriotos. That has to be the most fun way I've ever heard of to avoid food waste!
we love breakfast for dinner too :)
Tue, 02/15/2011 - 15:01 — RaleighMommyWe've started mixing in a little breakfast for dinner in the past few months too! Here's one to try - oatmeal! Try adding in vanilla extract, a little brown sugar, and some walnuts and fruit and it's delicious (I think! :) ). Add a fruit smoothie and it's a super easy, healthy meal. Not sayin' that we do this every week, but every now and then it's fun to do something different. I also like whole wheat pancakes for dinner, and I often make muffins to keep around the house as snacks instead of store-bought snacks.
As far as other "cheats" on the grocery budget ... we regularly eat vegetarian meals like beans & rice, or a loaded vegetable stir-fry. Using meat as flavoring instead of the main ingredient is something I've done for a long time.
Thanks for your blog - I enjoy following it every day! :)
RaleighMommy.com