Breakfast for dinner is a fun way to switch up your normal weeknight meals. But aside from being delicious, breakfast for dinner is actually a SMART choice for your diet and your budget.

“What’s for dinner?”

This question brings music to the ears of some parents and angst to others. When time is plentiful and your kitchen is fully-stocked with supplies to create delicious, crowd-pleasing meals, it’s fun to take requests and whip up your favorite dishes. But let’s get back to reality…if your nights are filled with bath time, laundry time, catching up with your own work time and getting depressed from listening to the news time…then the following tips are for you.

To get a healthy meal on the table in minutes…breakfast for dinner is the solution. Here’s why:

Breakfast foods are generally those you can count on.

You don’t have to worry about what breakfast-like foods are going to taste like or be concerned about how your recipe will turn out. Eggs, waffles and pancakes are pretty predictable. If you look at a box of cereal, for example, especially if it’s a type that you grew up with since childhood, there’s no guess work involved; you can practically taste it just by looking at the recognizable box it comes in. Since cold cereal requires no preparation, you can use your extra time to wash some berries, slice a banana or pour chopped nuts into a bowl and create a breakfast bar, a kin to a salad bar. This DIY breakfast bar can provide a variety of nutrients, such as the fiber in fresh fruit.

Breakfast foods can help you can save time, money and calories.

Breakfast foods are easy to throw together and they can be lower in calories than eating out or ordering in a dinner meal from a restaurant. When it comes to cost, there’s no comparison. A box of cereal costs less than 50 cents per serving. Eggs range around 25 cents per egg. If you purchase fruits and veggies to pair with the cereal or eggs, you can choose those in season to cut costs.

Breakfast foods help bring benefits you miss out on at other times of day.

The fruit and nut breakfast bar mentioned above can supply the fiber and other valuable nutrients that you may have had a hard time filling up on during your day. An omelet or frittata can become a warm home for veggies, a food group most of us don’t seem to get enough of. Whole grains in cereal or toast can help satisfy hunger and perhaps even limit that temptation for a late night snack. Moreover, most cereals are fortified with essential nutrients like iron, thereby helping deliciously meet your needs.

Breakfast can be prepared by others.

Kids know how to pour cereal, so they can put it together without your help. frozen waffles can be toasted and topped with nut butter and sliced banana in minutes.  You can make hardboiled eggs ahead of time and leave them in the fridge so that they can be paired with toast and a few slices of avocado and tomato. The more you have pre-chopped, peeled and prepped ahead of time, the less you’ll have to do at mealtime.