I stopped buying "brand specific" breakfast cereals unless they were on sale and I had a coupon. This works for us as a special treat but it is not our primary way we buy cereal.

We switched to the bulk cereals from brands like Malt-o-Meal because they are all nearly just as yummy, offer the same health benefits (or lack there of, depending your point of view

) and they are a huge bargain per ounce vs the other brands. However, that frugal moment just hasn't been enough to curtail the onslaught of the nearly bottomless tummies of my growing boys!

I wanted to make us an inexpensive breakfast that would be easy to make, preserve and something the boys would actually EAT! (They loath oatmeal [sigh]).

I found a fantastic recipe on allrecipes.com

Fast and Easy Pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups milk
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

Directions

Place milk, sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla in the blender. Add flour and baking powder. Blend until smooth.(I just added dry ingredients first, then wet, and beat with a whisk)
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sidesand serve hot.

So I set about to make a batch that is cheaper than Bisquick, and easy to do in a pinch, that I could easily control to make healthier. (I intend on using whole wheat flour with a sprinkle of wheat germ and stevia and/or agave syrup as a lower glycemic index, healthier and lower cal recipe.)

But, to try out the recipe, I used it "as is". I used the Pampered Chef medium stainless steel scoop and it delivered perfect sized pancakes!

Here they are on the griddle...

I took the pancakes off the griddle and allowed them to cool a bit and then set them on wax paper layers to further cool.

After they cooled, I layered the sheet into a freezer baggie and popped it in the freezer!

Now my endless eaters can have a quick (and extremely inexpensive!) breakfast! It just needs to be popped into the toaster and ta-da!!! Now you can do a dance, rock it old school style and proclaim to the masses you're a frugal efficient mastermind!!