start your day with sense, for cents

if you are cooking on a budget, every meal counts. why not make your first meal your cheapest one and leave the rest of your alloted daily food cash for your bulkier meals? despite how cheap the "8 for $8" cereal sales or generic-brand bagels are at the local grocery store, these foods disappear too quickly (and aren't inexpensive enough) to really be considered "cheap".

hot cereal is the way to go for a truly discount and healthy breakfast. what makes hot cereal skinny bovine-worthy?

• variety. oatmeal, farina or germade (name brand=cream of wheat), 9 grain and cracked wheat are some of my favorites. buy quick oats in bulk basically anywhere, farina or germade at your local grocer and 9 grain and cracked wheat in the bulk foods of any whole foods market.
  
• more variety. just a few suggestions of many possibilities for toppings: brown sugar, white sugar, honey, milk, butter, fresh fruit, frozen fruit, canned fruit, seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, etc.), sour cream and salt and pepper. adding fruit or milk are especially good as you knock out an additional food group or two by including them.
  
• hot cereal is CHEAP!!! you can feed your whole family for literally pennies. the topping you put on it or the glass of milk you drink with it may be cheaper than the cereal itself.
  
• hot cereals are healthy. bagels and cold cereal are full of white flour and nothing with any substantial health benefits, but hot cereals are good carb grains full of fiber and other things from which your body benefits.
  

i'm a convert to hot cereal. my husband got me hooked - his mother fed all nine members of their family hot cereal for just pennies each morning when he was growing up. so for the sake of nostalgia, our pocketbooks and our health, let's start our day with sense for cents with hot cereal.

for cooking instructions on bulk-type hot cereals, simply search "how to cook cracked wheat", etc. on google... don't you love google?