The price of breakfast food is going up

And I've got an idea for a less expensive start to your day (while still eating breakfast)

Recently the Wall Street Journal published an article titled “To Save Money, Maybe You Should Skip Breakfast”.

Here’s the proof

I was shocked to see such a callous headline, so of course I head to read the article myself to see what it was really saying.

The article is behind a paywall, but thanks to my local library I was able to read it for free! It was a very short, dry article that actually didn’t talk about not eating breakfast, but rather showcased specifics around rising food costs here in the US. Focusing on breakfast foods, the article noted that due to the bird flu outbreak, egg prices had increased 8.5% from December to January, and over the last year are up a whopping 70.1%. The article also noted that breakfast cereal prices were up 15% over the last year which has been caused by elevated global grain prices due to the war in Ukraine.

It’s true, eggs are very expensive (and often unavailable at grocery stores) at the moment.

The article headline honestly seems a little like click-bait. But it does showcase that American breakfast staples are definitely more expensive and sometimes are out-of-stock at the moment.

It got me thinking about what we eat for breakfast and why.

Personally, I am not a breakfast cereal person, so haven’t been aware of those price increases. I am more of a savory-for breakfast person: eggs, meats, leftover pizza, etc. The price of all the things I reach for definitely have gone up in price.

I haven’t really noticed the price of baked goods such as bread for toast or bagels going up much, but I find that when I eat those as my first meal I have a significant energy crash a couple of hours before lunchtime, so I tend to avoid those too.

But one thing I love eating for breakfast, the price of which has mostly remained steady: soup.

I like making a big batch of soup so I can just grab a portion for breakfast each day of the week. That way, I don’t have to think about what I’m going to have for that meal throughout the week.

My favorite breakfast soup (or, soup-like gruel), though is congee.

Congee is a traditional rice porridge that’s well known in Asian countries. It can be made savory or sweet (we all know now where I find myself on that spectrum) and can be eaten at any time of the day.

I make mine in the slow-cooker overnight, so the food really has a chance to break down which makes it extremely easy to digest: perfect for the first meal of the day.

So, if you are looking for less expensive breakfast options, or even if you are simply looking for ways to change up your breakfast routine, I propose you open your mornings up to soups!

What are some non-traditional breakfast foods you eat? Paid subscribers can leave and reply to comments by clicking the button below:

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