Grocery Shopping: Breakfast
Hey guys! So I’m focusing on some grocery store tips in this post. Mostly what to look out for, how to get the best bang for your buck, and not bust your budget! HEB is seriously my sh!t because their store brands are cheap and are actually made with real ingredients with not a ton of additives. So if you have access to an HEB, it is my number one recommendation.
Where to start!? Most of you have probably heard the saying about “shopping the perimeter of the store” and this is very true. Shop your produce in season and it’s cheaper. Although, I must have avocados at all times, because healthy fats, duh. I do go down the aisles for things like condiments, canned goods, and the occasional granola bars, but for the most part the dreaded aisles are where lots of processed foods live. This is also where the kids see all the cereal advertisements with cartoons and go freakin bananas, so I try to just avoid them all together.
Some staple items I have for breakfast are usually eggs (such a magical and nutrient dense food in a fragile oval, which I feel is often underrated), oatmeal, 
Greek yogurt, BACON, and toast to name a few. I get eggs straight from the backyard chickens so I don’t usually buy them. The HEB oatmeal is like, $2 and is awesome for overnight oats. Add unsweetened original almond milk-$3, chia seeds, nuts, and get creative people. Greek yogurt works great for macros; great source of carbs and protein with no fat. I like the HEB brand in vanilla!
Who doesn’t love bacon? I know a few people…but I also question their sanity. It’s been an ongoing battle that turkey bacon (top) is better than regular bacon (bottom) and vice versa. I will say that turkey bacon has more sodium
in one slice than pork has in two. But if we are talking macros, you’ll get 5g more protein out of the two slices of turkey bacon, with 2g less fat. The trade offs guys…
If you are not a bacon person, sausage can be another option. Unlike bacon, I actually prefer the taste of turkey sausage over the pork. Pork has over twice as much fat per serving, and only 1g more of protein. If your macros call for more fat, or you just aren’t having other fats with your breakfast that day, go for 
it!
This sprouted cinnamon raisin bread is what I love to have toasted with cream cheese! You can find it in the refrigerated section and it offers less carbs and fat (to make room for the cream cheese) and a little more protein than your usual bread. Great source of your grains and here you can notice that this is a rare occasion in which the organic (top right) is actually $2 cheaper than the name brand (bottom left).
EXPOSED: I wanted to bring this reduced fat whippped cream cheese into the light for all to see. The serving sizes are the same, but the reduced fat has .5g MORE fat and more calories than the regular. What? And it claims to have been reduced from 7g to 5g… but what is this being compared to? Moral of the story: read the Nutrition Facts and don’t trust the labels guys. Just don’t do it.
At the end of the day, just keep it simple guys. You can also incorporate vegetables into your breakfast, like bell peppers or spinach. To be healthy you don’t have to buy overpriced, gluten free, fat free, organic ingredients that you’ll use once and can only find on Mount Kilimanjaro.
–Clarissa Espinoza
BC Nutrition Coach
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