Frugal and Healthy Breakfast

 Breakfast, the first meal of the day.  A meal to set you, your body and mind up for the day ahead.  Body and mind fuel to help keep you sustained until lunch.

However, breakfast is often taken in a rush and becomes a chore and/or boring.  It does not have to be that way.  With a little forethought and preparation you can have a delicious simple heart healthy breakfast that will last more than one day.  This frugal breakfast cake will also save money as well as time by using ingredients that you already have in your own home.

This recipe is for banana breakfast cake but you can change that if you want.  See Hints. 

 Banana Breakfast Cake

1 cup low fat spread, melted
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups whole rolled oats (ASDA Smartprice)
¾ cup honey (ASDA Smartprice)
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup banana

 Mix the melted spread, buttermilk, flour and oats in a large bowl.  Cover and leave to soak overnight.

Stir in honey, eggs, salt, baking powder and vanilla.  Fold in banana.  

Pour into a greased 9 inch tin.  (Round or square.)

Bake at 350 degrees F/180 degrees C for 30-40 minutes.  The cake is cooked when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Serve warm or cold.

 This cake is also useful for snacks and packed lunches.  It keeps well for a few days in a sealed container.

Leftovers?  Don’t throw them away – feed to the chickens as a welcome treat.

Need to make this even more frugal? There are some hints below.

Use the cheapest own brand versions wherever possible to keep the cost down.

Don’t have or don’t like bananas? Substitute 1 cup of chopped dried fruit (cranberries, blueberries and raisins are great) or for a treat chocolate chips.

Buttermilk: make your own by souring 1 cup of skimmed milk with 1 tbsp of vinegar. To make it even more frugal use powdered skimmed milk.

Wholemeal flour: Using ordinary flour for the cake just won’t make it quite so healthy. I would suggest if using white flour that you add a cup of bran (soaked Albran would be good) at the soaking overnight stage.

Vanilla: to make having vanilla essence even cheaper make your own.

If you like this recipe or the budgeting hints then keep an eye on my hubs.  I also recommend checking out http://healthyfrugalhome.blogspot.com/ where there will be a growing number of ideas and helpful hints borne out of necessity.

Ingredients: 1 cup whole oats

1 cup porridge oats or course oatmeal

1 cup All-Bran

2 cups wholemeal flour

1 cup buttermilk (or substitute - see budgeting ideas)

1 cup melted low fat spread

3/4 cup honey

3/4 cup applesauce

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 large extra ripe banana mashed

1 large banana thinly sliced or chopped

Method:

Same as original version except add All-Bran to grains when being soaked overnight.

NOTE: this cake works equally well if made from scratch in the morning without soaking overnight.