I believe there are very few breakfast options better than the breakfast sandwich. If done right, this combination of bread (or bagel), meat, cheese and egg can be both delicious and nutritious. All clichés about breakfast being the most important meal of the day aside, a breakfast sandwich can be the filling, energizing breakfast that you need to make sure your day starts off as wonderful as possible. The beauty of the breakfast sandwich is that there’s no one way to go about it; you can customize each sandwich based on your mood, your dietary restrictions or the ingredients that are available to you. There’s so much potential to make breakfast sandwiches that are joyful to eat at home (pro tip: use a sandwich press at the end), but for this article I’m focusing on breakfast sandwiches you can “grab and go” close to Mac’s campus.

Whole Foods

The Selby Bar & Grill inside the new Whole Foods offers lots of high-quality dining options, with a full-service menu and plenty of dining options. They have quite a few counter-service breakfast options, including omelettes, pancakes, biscuits and gravy and the glorious breakfast sandwich. Theirs has a fairly standard base: a fried egg with a cheddar cheese slice, on your choice of bread and the option to add meat. I first had the sandwich on a buttermilk biscuit, which was light and fluffy and made the sandwich quite delicious. Be warned: if you order sausage, it will arrive on the side.

I was less than thrilled by my second sandwich here: this one was on sourdough bread and came with ham. While the first one was tasty, filling and distinctive, this one felt much more like a grilled cheese sandwich. It tasted fine, but wasn’t exciting, and it didn’t feel like I was eating breakfast. If I were to go to back to Whole Foods, I’d aim for the biscuit over the sourdough.

Price: $5 (add $1 for meat.)

Pros: Price, selection, taste.

Cons: Distance from campus.

Neighborhood Café

Neighborhood Café’s breakfast sandwich, like most everything else on their menu, is wonderful. And while dining in and having a sit-down breakfast isn’t feasible for most Macalester students regularly, it’s a nice treat every so often. This sandwich packs punch. Not only is it tasty, but it’s also incredibly filling. A standard breakfast sandwich here comes with one egg any style (definitely order it on the firmer side, or you’ll have yolk running everywhere), cheese, meat and bread. I ordered one with American cheese and sausage on a bagel and was surprised by how sizable it was. Breakfast sandwiches here also come with a side of hash browns. Out of all the sandwiches I tried for this article, this one was my favorite, by far. It wasn’t even close.

Price: $8.95 (add for extra meat or veggies.)

Pros: Taste, quantity.

Cons: Price, distance from campus.

The Grille

The breakfast sandwich is one place where The Grille truly shines. Their sandwiches are affordable, tasty and convenient — the perfect breakfast to grab on the go. Pick your choice of bagel (the selection changes depending on the day). It comes with fried egg and cheese, and you get your choice of meat (or another egg). I had one with ham and one with sausage. While they were both great, I preferred the one with sausage. Shockingly, I had made it almost four years without getting a breakfast sandwich here, but I now understand why so many people rave about this sandwich. It’s delicious.

Price: $3.95

Pros: Taste, convenience, price.

Cons: Does this one have any cons?