Disclosure required – I know that this makes me a complete and utter saddo – but it had to be done, so please indulge me.
You see, I decided to time how long it takes to prepare and eat various breakfast items. Whenever I suggest alternatives to cereal, people always complain that they “don’t have time” and, besides the fact that I think it’s well worth investing a bit of time in fuelling your body well, I maintain that the things I recommend don’t actually take any longer. They certainly taste a darn sight better.
Let me give a bit of the back story to this, before you think I’ve gone stark raving mad. At the weekend, my husband and I hosted a party and the theme was Something begging with B. Martin decided to go dressed as breakfast. Thankfully he didn’t go all Lady Gaga on me and cover himself in bits of bacon. Rather he fashioned himself the below costume:
My husband, Martin, as “breakfast”
In order to make this costume, we purchased a variety pack of cereals. We haven’t had a box of cereal in our house for almost four years. Quite simply because most breakfast cereals found in the supermarket are full of sugar and a load of other rubbish and don’t really set you up for the day. But as we had eight mini-packets of the stuff, the day after the party we decided we might as well eat some rather than chuck it all in the bin. First off, I can honestly say that it was utterly disappointing. Do people really enjoy eating that first thing in the morning? Each to their own, I guess, but moreover, both Martin and I remarked that we were really hungry within about an hour of finishing our breakfast (and Martin had TWO boxes in his bowl)!
After that I thought “I’m going to write a blog post about how unsatisfying cereal is” but I knew that there would be the usual backlash of “I don’t have time to cook eggs” and “cereal is so convenient.” Hence my little experiment ensued, and over the past few days I have timed my breakfasts and Martin’s.
The rules were simple: The timer starts from the moment we walk into the kitchen and stops when we have finished eating and rinsed any apparatus / crockery involved. So the timings below include all preparation (from getting things out of the fridge / cupboards to chopping things), actual consumption, and basic clear up afterwards. Yes, I told you I am a saddo.
Here are the results:
Scrambled eggs & wilted spinach = 5:56
Banana, blueberries, yoghurt and seed / nut mix = 5:35
Smoothie (banana, spinach, oats, rice milk, peanut butter, berries, flax) = 5:21
Cereal & milk = 5:15
Scrambled eggs and smoked salmon = 4:58
What surprised me the most was how little variation there was between all of these items – under a minute from least to most time-consuming. Yes, cereal was the second quickest item but it took the longest to eat (less than a minute prep but it takes a long time to crunch your way through it, compared to some nice slippery eggs or drinking a nourishing, far more filling smoothie).
So there you have it. Point made. Don’t tell me you don’t have time. There’s nothing in it. If you want to feel fuller and do your mind and body a favour in the process then ditch the Frosties.