You Wont believe how cheap this hema breakfast is in Holland

Dutch people love deals, I often see them surrounding stores when heavy discount sales are taking place, especially when someone is giving away something for free, they simply never walk past, often hovering back to pick up more or going wowowowow as they accidently cycled past as they hit their breaks to cycle back. They are extremely frugal and have a keen eye for a bargain.
One deal, however they don’t wish to share so often because it’s too good to be true.
Hema is Probably the most Dutch store out there, worth checking out briefly if you’re ever visiting Holland, it’s a home store pretty much what Woolworths used to be in the UK, sells everything from food, gifts, electronics, kitchen goods, cosmetics, clothes, stationary, sells everything at great prices.
Some Hema’s also happen to have a cafe and offer Lunch and drinks all day long, However the secret Lays in the Hema breakfast deal.
What’s one way to get a Dutchie out of bed in the morning? Anything in a broodje along with a strong coffee, so this is what Hema does:
Every day all across The Netherlands every Hema Cafe from 09:30-10:00am Has Hema breakfast for €1. Yes only €1! No bullshit.
I still can’t get my head around this, but this is what €1 gets you:
For only €1 you get:
• Freshly grounded coffee
• Croissant
• Half baguette
• Scrambled egg
• Jam
Additional morning menu:
• 2 x Bacon slices €0.25 (this used to be included, but they stopped it recently, yes, no more free bacon “sad face”)
• Pancakes €0.50
• Fresh orange juice €0.50
• Fruit mix €0.50
Just the coffee alone is a struggle to find for only €1 in Holland (and a coffee worth drinking at that), let alone the whole breakfast meal! Don’t miss out on this incredible deal if you happen to be travelling around The Netherlands, it’s a real money saver.
Many hostels, Hotels have Breakfast as an additional add on extra, for €1 you might as well head on over to Hema in the morning and buy this instead, Perfect also if your Couchsurfing in Holland and want to treat your Dutch host to a breakfast, Dutch people like Hema which makes it a wonderful idea.
Hema is located all over the Netherlands and can be found in every major city, All you have to do is check that the Hema location has a cafe and they will be putting on this breakfast special.
Here you can find a store locator which shows if they have a cafe or not: Hema store locator website
The Trick
As good as it sounds, there is a catch, the Breakfast is only available for only 30 minutes. Yes, that’s right 30 minutes only.
From 09:30am Hema and the cafe opens along with the start of the Hema breakfast deal, at 10:00am the Breakfast deal ends and that’s that.
I’ve even been in the line at 09:58 and a few people were ahead of me, but simply if there is nothing remaining the staff will stop making them and at the strike of 10:00am and tell you to piss off pretty much.
I find it fun like a game to make sure I arrive on time to grab this deal, sometimes my alarm goes off and I have 5 minutes to jump into my clothes like a fireman and sprint over to Hema to get my Breakfast. It’s funny watching people arrive exactly or after 10:00am with a face of disappointment, the staff simply don’t care about your begging, its just a marketing tool to get you into the store early and you simply lose out by being late.
Being a student in The Netherlands its very frequent that I would set a Breakfast date with a study buddy to grab a Hema breakfast as it ensure that we will be up on time to cycle to the library together. This is a tall order after a heavy night of drinking at a free student barrel, but if there is one thing that’s going to get students out of bed that early with a hangover and in the library its cheap breakfast. If you miss the early time you don’t get breakfast and one of your study group members will get there on time and pick up your breakfast for you and wake you up with endless whatsapp messages, One thing you don’t want to do in Holland is be late, always be on time, especially in the morning or you have a Grumpy Dutchie on your hands till you can get them to the bar in the evening again and that’s never good.
It’s such a cheap deal that the staff really don’t care if you’re in line the moment it’s 10:00am it simply stops. That’s Dutch directness for you.
I have come along at 10:02 and there was some remaining once, yes, if some breakfast is still there it will stay till it goes, but best to arrive at 09:30-09:50 then you have a strong chance of getting one, anything after 09:50 it turns into a gambled risk.
I have a fear now sharing my cheap breakfast secret with all the internationals in Tilburg that I might have to arrive earlier to avoid disappointment.
I pretty much go every morning because I simply can’t buy everything cheaper in the store and I love a good breakfast in the morning. It’s also a very short walk from my house and saves me having to do the washing up, it’s perfect for the student life and travellers on a budget.
I hope you found this blog post useful and hope to see you soon at Hema for Breakfast, eet smakelijk!