Yogurt: Or How I Get Through Breakfast Most Mornings.

I don't exactly cook a full breakfast every morning, and I seriously doubt most of you do either. It is, however, an important meal to start the day. It is also, I have recently learned, an enormous ethical pitfall that confronts you at every turn. Just what exactly is in your cereal? your milk? Yea, those eggs you liked so much? the chickens aren't exactly happy or healthy or even beak-having.

I'm sure I will get to all of those choices at some point, but I don't like to have to worry too much at 7 in the morning about whether I have already transgressed 6 times before I've even showered. I also like a routine.

So I reach for yogurt. Yogurt can also be difficult, but I've found an excellent (and relatively affordable) choice. I like Stoneyfield farms organic yogurt. It's available at most of the major grocery retailers in the Boston area (like Shaw's and Whole Foods). It is also organic and local (Londonderry, NH to be exact). They use cows from local farmers in the New England area to supply their milk. So your yogurt hasn't traveled very far at all. I highly recommend the Greek Yogurt, sold under the brand Oikos. Very healthy and delicious.

In case you're concerned about Stoneyfield farms being one of the "Big Organics," I went to the Cornucopia Institute, a not-for-profit family-scare farming advocacy group, which rates milk product companies. Stoneyfield Farms gets 4 cows out of 5, a pretty great rating.

Now, this does come at a price. When not on sale, the Oikos runs 1.99 a pop at Shaw's and 2.19 at Whole Foods. (See, Whole Foods is expensive, and not always for a good reason). However, that's my breakfast (occasionally I'll have some fruit with it). So, less than $2 for breakfast isn't a bad deal in my book. Especially when you consider the price difference. There are some pretty crappy Greek yogurt brands out there (yea you Shaw's brand, I mean you, you taste like bad sour cream). I like Chobani, but it's 1.69 not on sale, so for an extra .30 in the morning I can make an ethical decision about my food. That's .30 I'm willing to spend. Besides, if you like regular yogurt, they're even cheaper!

So, how to be a cheap Grad student? I got these beauties on sale at Whole Foods the other week for about 1.29 each. I bought a LOT of them. I'm watching the sales to see when they'll come on sale again. Also, Stoneyfield farms has a rewards programs. You enter codes on the lids on their website, and you earn free yogurt! I'm a sucker for rewards programs. But this is one I can feel good (and cheap) about.