I tried Tim Hortons, McDonald's and Starbucks breakfasts to find the best value meal

Starbucks

Starbucks is a place I frequent often. I love a cafe work session and appreciate that they always have outlets for my computer, and you can get free refills of coffee (no membership required!). I've always thought their breakfast options are pretty good, too. Maybe not the cheapest, but solid.

Looking at Starbucks breakfast options through a critical lens here, I can say my opinion stands. In fact, they're priced even better than I thought when compared to other Canadian coffee chains.

Starbucks pros:

• Variety of options — my store had eight breakfast sandwich options and four non-sandwich options.
• Reasonable prices — everything was under $6.
• Good quality ingredients.
• Free coffee refills if you eat in.

McDonald's

I've been a longtime fan of McDonald's for breakfast, but I made a total rookie move when going to order this time — I went too late in the day. McDonald's "all-day breakfast" needs a big disclaimer: "unless you want hash browns, because those disappear after 11 a.m."

And the hash browns are good, so learn from my mistakes and get there earlier!

But besides not serving hash browns all day, I see only pros with McDonald's breakfast:

• Combo options for a variety of breakfast items, including pancakes and breakfast sandwiches.
• Varying price points, from the McValue Sausage McMuffin for $3.19 to $5.89 for the Mighty McMuffin. Add-ons for your side and drink are available, and combos are $5-10.
• Tasty, hot and fresh. No one's claiming they're the most creative breakfast sandwiches, but they always taste good.

The combo option is nice, but compared to Starbucks, I actually get less coffee. So for roughly the same price, you can get more food or more coffee.

Tim Hortons

The last breakfast I tried was from Tim Hortons and, well, it was the worst. Sorry, I guess I'm a bad Canadian, but Tim Hortons just isn't it.

I chose the Double Stack breakfast sandwich for a close comparison to the other two options, but it was a mistake. The English muffin was room temp and dry — not hot and toasty like the one from McDonald's. And while the sausage was tasty, it didn't really make up for the fake cheese that wasn't fully melted and the tiny bit of un-crispy bacon.

But for $9.02, it did come as a combo with a hash brown and medium coffee, which I think is pretty good value overall. This is also one of the more pricey options, as some Tim Hortons breakfast sandwich combos are cheaper. In general, Tim Hortons has a lot of variety, which is one of several pros:

• Variety of options at different price points (from a toasted bagel for a few bucks to the loaded boxes for $10.19 as a combo).
• Combo options come with a medium coffee, unlike the small at McDonald's.
• Donuts and other sweet treats if you want them.

The bottom line

Since all three breakfasts came in around the $9 range, Starbucks, Tim Hortons and McDonald's all offer good value for money.

Starbucks may not offer a combo, but you can get a free coffee refill. McDonald's doesn't offer hash browns later in the day, but their all-day breakfast is always fresh. And Tim Hortons? Well, it's Canadian, it's cheap-ish, and there are lots of options to try out.

From this experience, I say McDonald's wins, with Starbucks a close second. Timmies will be reserved for when there are no other options around... Sorry.