It’s not like I don’t try. Every night I go to bed thinking I’ll wake up in the morning and make myself french toast, or pancakes, or an omelet. Of course, the morning never works out that way.

There is a quick alternative, though: Eggs and toast.

Not only was it simple, but it’s real, local food.

Bread: Farmer’s Whole Wheat from Breadsmith.

Eggs: Vegetarian-fed, cage-free brown local eggs.

Jam: Organic raspberry preserves.

Coffee: Peruvian fair-trade organic.

Coffee cream: Half & half from Calder’s Dairy.

And it got me thinking about what this meal would have looked like 2 years ago (before I started paying attention to what I eat). The bread certainly wouldn’t have been natural. Maybe it would even have been (gasp!) white bread! The eggs would be standard white eggs from caged hens. You know, the insanely cheap eggs (both price and quality-wise). Maybe the jam would have been natural, but only by chance. The coffee almost certainly would have used some sort of artificially flavored Coffeemate. Ugh.

Just thinking about how much better I eat now … completely amazed.

The only somewhat-expensive item pictured was the bacon, which cost $6 for 12 ounces, but could easily have fed 4 people. Organic pepper jack cheese does cost a bit more than standard pepper jack cheese, but is worth the bump in fee.

Estimated cost of food pictured below: $4

Check out the Flickr photo page for a larger image version.

(1) Semi-omelet includes grazing-fresh eggs, organic pepper jack cheese (purchased at Foods For Living), roma tomatoes from Owosso Organics, jalapeno pepper from Owosso Organics, and organic mushroom from Meijer.

(2) Natural thick-sliced bacon purchased at Foods For Living. Vegetarian-fed, humanely-raised pigs from an Iowa farm. No nitrates added! Brand name escapes me right now.

(3) Honey whole wheat bread purchased from Great Harvest Bread company (Okemos, Michigan), with a little bit of real butter and natural blackberry jam.

(4) Seasoned roasted organic potatoes (mixed varieties) from a farm in Dewitt, Michigan.