JOHOR BARU: Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day but for clerk Latifah Ahmad, 44, it is hectic in the morning, not allowing her time to prepare a wholesome breakfast for her family.

"The children are in a hurry to go to school while my husband and I will be getting ready for work. Thus, I only prepare a simple breakfast."

Latifah will take the children to school and then go to work.

"Simple and quick dishes like fried rice or noodles are my favourite as I can prepare them in a short time."

Some of the leftover dishes from dinner, such as asam pedas, would come in handy during breakfast, as the family likes to dip bread or roti canai in it.

Latifah said she hardly paid attention to the nutritional aspects of their breakfast until the family's eating habit came under scrutiny in the Ringgit and Sense project.

"I started to notice the monotony of our meals, as the children would just gulp down a bowl of their favourite breakfast cereal and refuse to eat anything else."

Her husband, lorry driver Masrihan Kandar, 29, noticed the changes that she made and started to make adjustments of his own.

"It's funny how we took our meals for granted before our eating and spending habits were published in the New Straits Times," he said.

Masrihan lauded the project as it delved into the spending habits of the participants.

"The hands-on approach to get to know the average Malaysian family gives the right perspective of the economic reality that we are in."