Breakfast Bowls | Cheap & Easy Meals

I’ve been on a weekly meal prep kick for the last several weeks. With life being busier than ever, it’s sometimes difficult to remember to start every day off right, with a nice filling breakfast.

We’ve been pinching pennies recently as we try to fix up the new house we bought, so spending extra on to-go breakfasts as we often do, was cut from the budget. Instead, I opted to prepare us breakfast bowls that could be enjoyed throughout the week – the best part, the total for the ingredients for two weeks worth of breakfasts came to just $.90 cents per bowl!

By taking advantage of specials at the grocery store, I managed to buy all my ingredients for $12.64.

Here was my list:

• Dozen organic eggs – $2.29
• Two russet potatoes – $1.79
• One large white onion – $1.46
• Head of garlic – $.35
• Cheddar cheese – $2.25
• Breakfast sausage – $2.50
• Bacon – $2.00

The sausage came in a one pound package, and I only used a half pound in my bowls. I also only used four slices of bacon, split across several bowls. And I only used about a half bag of cheddar cheese (but the cheese is totally optional anyways). I included the full cost of each package in my calculation, despite not using the entire package. Just think of all the other foods you can make with some extra cheese, sausage and bacon!

Cook the bacon first, but reserve the grease for frying the sausage. When sausage has browned, remove it from the pan and wipe the pan clean of sausage, but try to leave a touch of any remaining grease in the pan.

While the sausage is cooking, cut the potatoes into small cubes. Try to make all the cubes as evenly sized as you can – if some chunks are bigger than others, they may not cook all the way through.

Add the potatoes into the pan with a touch of vegetable oil, as needed. Cover the potatoes and let them sear for ten to fifteen minutes over medium high heat. Gently flip the potatoes every few minutes to ensure they don’t start burning on the bottom.

Put the onions into the pan with the potatoes, but don’t cover the pan again right away or else the onions will start to “sweat” and make the potatoes soggy. Stir the onions into the potatoes until the onions have softened and are beginning to caramelize. Once all of the onions have softened, its safe to cover the potatoes once again.

This time, let the potatoes cook for another fifteen to twenty minutes, checking every so often that the potatoes on the bottom aren’t burning. Finally, add the minced garlic to the pan and fold into the potatoes until the garlic has been evenly distributed.

In the last five minutes of the potato cooking, start the scrambled eggs. Whisk all the eggs together in a large bowl, then pour into a greased skillet over medium heat.

Let the eggs set for a minute, then start scraping the bottom of the skillet until the eggs have been scrambled. Season the eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Arrange your ramekins on a counter top. Split the bacon and sausage across the bowls as desired. I let some without meat, and doubled up the meat on others.

Then top off each bowl with a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of potatoes and onions, and sprinkle on the cheddar cheese.

If you have extra ingredients in your fridge, there are tons of different combinations you can make. In the past, I’ve topped the potatoes and eggs with salsa for an extra spicy kick in the morning. I’ve also mellowed it out with a sweet maple syrup drizzle. For extra flavor, use seasonings like paprika, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder.

I’ve made these breakfast bowls dozens of times in the past, but this is the first time I’ve fully documented the experience. I usually will refrigerate the bowls for about seven to ten days, then whatever bowls I don’t think I’ll eat during that two week time span, I’ll freeze to grab later on a morning where I find myself in a rush.

Have you made breakfast bowls before? What breakfast bowl combinations have you tried? Let me know in the comments section below!