Budget meal planning
Cheap breakfast ideas
Breakfast is the cheapest meal to fix and the one most people overpay for. Porridge with banana costs about $0.45; a week of it is $3.15.
By Joao Dunlap · · 3 min read
The short version
- Porridge with a banana: about $0.45. A whole week: $3.15.
- Two eggs: about $0.55, and roughly 12g of protein.
- Cereal and breakfast bars are the most expensive way to buy breakfast per gram of anything.
- Protein at breakfast is why you are not buying something at 11am.
Breakfast is the easiest meal on which to spend nothing and the easiest on which to quietly spend a lot. The gap between the two is almost entirely about packaging.
A tub of oats is $4.29 and holds about thirty servings — roughly $0.14 each. The same breakfast in single-serve sachets, or as a cereal with a health claim on the box, costs several times that for the same grain.
$0.45
Porridge with a banana
$0.55
Two eggs
$3.15
A full week of breakfasts
The cheapest breakfasts, costed
| Breakfast | What it costs | Protein |
|---|---|---|
| Porridge with banana | $0.45 | About 6g |
| Two eggs, any way | $0.55 | About 12g |
| Yogurt with oats | $0.64 | About 12g |
| Peanut butter on toast | $0.53 | About 10g |
| Eggs on toast | $0.87 | About 15g |
Why protein at breakfast saves money
A carbohydrate-only breakfast — toast, cereal, a pastry — is cheap at the point of eating and expensive by mid-morning, because you buy something at 11am. Adding protein is what stops that, and it costs very little.
- Eggs at about $0.55 for two are the cheapest fast protein in the shop.
- Yogurt stirred through oats adds protein for pennies and needs no cooking.
- Peanut butter instead of jam changes toast from a snack into a meal.
- Last night's dinner. Unfashionable, free, and the highest-protein option available.
Breakfasts worth cooking
Real breakfasts from the NeatEat library — most under 20 minutes, several over 30g of protein, none of them expensive.
20 minLentil and Veggie Breakfast Skillet
31g of protein before 9am.
15 minSpinach and Cheese Scramble
Fifteen minutes, 20g of protein, three ingredients.
20 minEgg and Black Bean Breakfast Tacos
Breakfast that works as dinner. 32g protein.
20 minSweet Potato and Spinach Frittata
Cooks once, eaten cold all week.
20 minZucchini and Corn Fritters with Eggs
Uses up the vegetables nobody finished.
20 minEgg and Vegetable Skillet Hash
Uses up whatever vegetables are left. 31g protein.
Breakfast for a week, on rotation
The cheapest workable pattern is two options alternating, not seven different ones. Variety at breakfast costs money and nobody wants a decision at 7am.
Two options, seven days
Monday
- Break
- Porridge with banana
- Lunch
- —
- Dinner
- —
Tuesday
- Break
- Eggs on toast
- Lunch
- —
- Dinner
- —
Wednesday
- Break
- Porridge with banana
- Lunch
- —
- Dinner
- —
Thursday
- Break
- Eggs on toast
- Lunch
- —
- Dinner
- —
Friday
- Break
- Porridge with banana
- Lunch
- —
- Dinner
- —
Saturday
- Break
- A frittata, made once, eaten cold
- Lunch
- —
- Dinner
- —
Sunday
- Break
- Leftover frittata
- Lunch
- —
- Dinner
- —
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest breakfast?
Porridge made from a large tub of oats, at roughly $0.14 a serving, or about $0.45 with a banana. A full week of it costs around $3.15. Eggs are the next cheapest at about $0.55 for two, and they bring considerably more protein.
Is cereal cheaper than eggs?
Usually not, once you compare per serving rather than per box, and almost never once protein is taken into account. Cereal is a low-cost grain sold with a large premium for processing, packaging and marketing. Two eggs cost roughly the same as a bowl of branded cereal and carry about three times the protein.
What is a cheap high protein breakfast?
Eggs, at around $0.55 for two and about 12g of protein. Yogurt stirred through oats is the next best and needs no cooking. Both are far cheaper per gram of protein than breakfast bars or protein cereals, which are among the most expensive ways to buy protein in a supermarket.
How do I make breakfast cheaper without eating the same thing daily?
Run two options on alternating days rather than seven different ones, and cook something once at the weekend - a frittata or a batch of overnight oats - that covers two more mornings. Full variety at breakfast costs money and requires a decision at the worst possible time of day.