How To Make Time For Breakfast
BY ANDRI NEOCLEOUS
Although the statement that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” is still up for scientific debate, feeling hungry (or hangry) during your 9am is never a good feeling, and can impact your concentration levels. With late nights being common amongst students, most of us can relate to the trade-off between making breakfast or having an extra 15 minutes in bed, and often we choose the latter.
However, a decent breakfast doesn’t have to be anything fancy, and with the right preparation and knowledge, you’ll be able to squeeze a meal into your morning routine.
Here are some top tips for making time for breakfast, along with some quick meal suggestions:
1. Meal prep the evening before
Whilst you’re waiting for your dinner to cook the night before, you could prep your breakfast for the next day.
Breakfast options that can be pre-prepared:
Overnight oats:
Whilst porridge can be a bit of a faff to make in the morning, overnights couldn’t be easier...
- Just mix 40g oats with 100ml of your favourite milk (or more for a runnier consistency), then throw in your favourite toppings like fruit, peanut butter, honey, yogurt etc.
- All you’ll need to do is leave it in the fridge overnight, and the oats with fluff up ready to be eaten straight out the fridge the next day!
- You can also heat it in the microwave for 90 secs if you prefer your oats hot.
Breakfast wholemeal bap:
You can be as creative as you like with your fillings but try and incorporate a source of lean protein to help you feel fuller for longer. This could be scrambled/boiled egg, veggie sausage, crushed chickpeas (you can form a paste by mixing in smashed avo) etc.
You can wrap your bap in cling film then eat it on your way to uni the next day or heat it under the grill before leaving if you have a few minutes to spare.
Protein-packed smoothie
This is probably the easiest breakfast you could pre-prepare as you can just whiz all the ingredients in a blender then pour it into your reuseable water bottle to drink throughout the morning the next day.
As fruit is high in sugar (and blending it makes the sugar “free”, so causes your blood sugar to rise quicker), it is much healthier to add in half veggies (like spinach) and half fruit. The smoothie combinations are endless but adding a source of protein is always a good idea. This could be milk, protein powder, or nut butter (but be aware of the amount you add because this is quite energy dense).
2. Invest in a good leak-proof Tupperware
A good microwave-safe Tupperware is such a lifesaver for breakfast as it means you can transport your homemade breakfast to uni! Sometimes I’ll make my overnight oats in my Tupperware (see point 1) then heat it up using the microwaves in the union.
3. Always carry a filling cereal bar in your uni bag
Look at this a more of a last resort – a cereal bar isn’t the most nutritionally rich breakfast option – but sometimes it can feel impossible to make a homemade meal, especially if you’ve had a hectic evening the night and don’t have time to meal prep. You can prepare yourself for these situations by ensuring you have a back-up breakfast option in your uni bag, so you’ll never have a rumbling belly in your lecture again! Look out for high fibre low sugar cereal bars, like the ones by Quaker.