Homemade sausage! Make a big batch and freeze. Just FYI the "nitrate free" varieties are still full of nitrates, it's just naturally-sourced nitrates.

Get the applegate nitrate free or uncured bacon.

Use legumes some days.

I've cut back on portion sizes of bacon and have 2 slices instead of 4 or 6.

Leftover steak is good in a breakfast burrito.

Anonymous wrote:Lean ground beef or pork that you season yourself with sage etc for a breakfast sausage taste or chili and cumin for taco meat vibe. Also avocado.

This is what I’d do. Or make your own carnitas. For scrambled eggs and breakfast burritos I use shrimp or salmon seasoned with a bit of Old Bay.

Anonymous wrote:Why do you have to move away? If anyone can eat breakfast meats daily it's tween and teen boys who are active and growing. Just make sure they have some well round options too (fruit, avocados, add some spinach) so that they know that's part of breakfast too.

+1

Tween/teen boys do not have the nutritional needs of a middle aged woman. Some type of eggs, meat, starch, fruit/veg combo sounds like the perfect breakfast for kids that age! Plus they’ll be less likely to start grazing on cruddy snacks by 10AM.

Anonymous wrote:I don't' see anything wrong with boys eating all those.
In many European countries breakfast is some sort of an open face sandwich, meaning we eat cold cuts and smoked salmon all the time. I am healthy at 52.

I am sure you will not find any Norwegians going around telling people to cut their beloved breakfast foods because someone somewhere decided they are no ok, after centuries of them being ok.

I think that probably European meats have fewer nitrates and other chemicals, European countries generally having more stringent food safety laws.

Anonymous wrote:I absolutely know how bad processed meats are, but, despite an otherwise very healthy diet, I've come to rely on the high calorie, salty, fatty (satisfying!!) breakfast meats for my tween boys' breakfasts. They love a breakfast sandwich or breakfast tortilla with egg, cheese, and bacon/ham/sausage and have them almost daily.

I know we need to remove the processed meats and turkey sausage/bacon is no better from a complete health standpoint. What can substitute for that taste and the calories/protein it adds? Both of my boys are super-thin and athletes, so they really do need the calories.

Why do you add the meat? My favorite breakfast is a breakfast taco (Yes, I'm from TX). We eat potato&egg tacos almost every weekend. Or you can do egg and cheese. The meat is an unnecessary additive. Go the regular breakfast taco route. Eggs have enough protein on their own, and coupled with the potatoes, they're great.

I love a good bean burger. Still looking for a good frozen one though.

Similarly you can get applegate cold cuts which are just meat and not the additives

We do these - no nitrates, no additives, it’s just turkey: https://www.target.com/p/applegate-naturals-savory-turkey-breakfast-sausages-frozen-7oz-10ct/-/A-15831399?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&DFA=71700000012732781&CPNG=PLA_Grocery%2BShopping_Local%7CGrocery_Ecomm_Food_Bev&adgroup=SC_Grocery&LID=700000001170770pgs&LNM=PRODUCT_GROUP&network=g&device=t&location=9007781&targetid=pla-661637993705&ds_rl=1246978&gbraid=0AAAAAD-5dfaN34zSdcwj9SjPQEeZ84O8e&gbraid=0AAAAAD-5dfaN34zSdcwj9SjPQEeZ84O8e&gclid=CjwKCAjw_MqgBhAGEiwAnYOAelGoRMLTSuLer7x6612QEvdJdeLRcRMoZfv9k9kbfelK5Q1bm5OckhoCRfQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

They are very peppery though, the taste may not be for everyone

I do a combo of buying nitrate free all natural turkey bacon, making my own turkey sausage patties (ground meat, spices), the soy chorizo from Trader Joe’s, and buying premade organic variety of frozen breakfast sausage (can’t recall the brand).

I don't' see anything wrong with boys eating all those.
In many European countries breakfast is some sort of an open face sandwich, meaning we eat cold cuts and smoked salmon all the time. I am healthy at 52.

I am sure you will not find any Norwegians going around telling people to cut their beloved breakfast foods because someone somewhere decided they are no ok, after centuries of them being ok.

Maybe try low sodium bacon instead. Chicken sausage instead of pork. But they are growing kids - a little of this isnt bad!

I discovered these meat recipes recently, OP. They're for weight loss (because they all use 99% fat free ground turkey) but you could absolutely use higher fat ground turkey, or even ground beef, and use the seasonings to make chorizo or breakfast sausage. (If you use higher fat meat, you can eliminate the baking soda dissolved in water and the cocoa powder that some of the recipes call for).

I started making my own "chorizo" with this recipe and I put it into breakfast burritos with egg, black beans, cheese, sometimes avocado.

https://www.theguiltfreegourmet.net/cb1sections/MeatSeasoningMixes.pdf

Also I think there is "less-processed" bacon you could buy too right - nitrate-free bacon?

finally, we get a lot of sausage and bacon from our spring/summer CSA (community sources agriculture?) share. I have to think those meats are less processed than what you buy at the supermarket. Maybe see if you can join one of those or buy breakfast meat from farmers markets.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - black beans are a great idea - I don't know why I didn't think of that.

And actually, making our own sausage is a good idea as well.

I was expecting a lot of lectures about how unhealthy processed meats are. Sometimes DCUM surprises me!

Also some of the plant-based sausages are quite good. They can have a lot of salt though.