Team, a few weeks ago, I decided to stop eating eggs for breakfast. There's two main reasons for this:
- Price. A dozen large eggs is currently running around $10 here.
- Fear. Bird Flu is kinda freaking me out.
Historically, my breakfast for the last five or so years has been two eggs, and sometimes some toast, prepared in basically any way. I've gone through omelet phases. Hard boiled. Fried. Scrambled. With hot sauce. With Avocado. With Spam. With all sorts of stuff.
That means I'm buying and consuming one carton of eggs a week at least. Money is a little tight, so while ~$520 a year isn't oppressive, it isn't nothing.
As for bird flu, I don't know if I am being irrational or not here. But podcast episodes like NPR Up First March 1st, and Why scientists' fears about bird flu are intensifying and articles like CDC releases data signaling bird flu spread undetected in cows and people have got me concerned.
So given all of that, I decided to stop eating eggs for breakfast.
I first tried going back to my youth and having cereal for breakfast. This did not work well. A bowl of honey nut cherries in oat milk is delicious, but with a cup of coffee, I found myself running out of energy quickly, and much more irritable than normal.
So! I reached out to the internet. I asked four communities that I feel close to and posted some variation of the following:
Hi friends, I need some breakfast recommendations. With bird flu in the US, I'm going to change up my morning routine of two eggs, toast and coffee.
Suggestions for other protein sources for breakfast? I can't have peanuts and I am lactose intolerant.
The communities I asked are Merveilles.town, Gunks Gaming Guild Discord, The Waystone Discord and Time Owls Discord.
Some of the responses I got (edited for clarity) included:
- Protein powder
- Some kind of grain (cereal, toast, bagel etc) and then just nomming on a piece of corned beef or sliced pork belly
- Breakfast Sausages
- Protein Muffins
- Trader Joes Protein Pancakes
- a hummus wrap with vegan protein crumbles and veggies
- Locally produced eggs are less likely to be contaminated
- Impossible breakfast sausages in a sandwich
- Smoked salmon or other fish paired with capers and other pickled items. Can do them with sliced cucumber and a bit of hummus
- Just Egg
- Sandwich with sliced firm tofu and coleslaw or fresh cabbage. salt/pepper/onions/hot sauce to taste
- Oats or granola with modifiers (nuts / nut butters, chia / hemp / sunflower seeds, yogurt, fruit / berries, syrup, chocolate chips, spices...)
- Good bread, toasted, and spread with plain yogurt, and a salty/savory topper
- Oatmeal porridge with fresh berries or jam and an apple
- Tofu scramble (use a pinch of Kala Namak, black salt), nut butter, hummus or any other bean spread
- A bagel with onion and chive cream cheese + bacon
- Cottage cheese with fruit and a slight drizzle of honey
These are all fantastic suggestions, and made me a bit excited to experiment.
I made a trip to Adams which is our local green grocer. Not as cheap as other grocery stores in the area, but have the best produce by far.
My goal was to put together a list of things that would be close to or cheaper than eggs, taste good, and allow for experimenting. I bought two large containers of hummus (each about $4), sprouts ($2), radishes ($1), a pound of raw breakfast sausage ($3), good sourdough sliced loaf ($6). I tried to find good egg substitute, tofu and vegan breakfast meats, but all were either too expensive or sold out (also tried Target a few days later and had same experience, need to go to another grocery store and/or Walmart and try again).
Outcome:
In the first photo I have radishes, sprouts and hummus on toasted sourdough. In the second, sprouts and hummus on toasted sourdough with a side of breakfast sausage. To save more money, I'll definitely need to switch to making my own hummus. I also still want to try the fake egg things. But so far, this was delicious.
Let me know about your breakfast habits and if you have any tips on egg replacements.
Cheers!
/Nat