Breakfast ideas, please!

August 11, 2010 5:47 AM

I need to find breakfast ideas that keep me full. I won't eat eggs, I'm allergic to soy and I don't care for oatmeal. What should I eat?

For years, I've been eating the same things for breakfast. Sometimes it's a bagel and light cream cheese. Sometimes it's yogurt and fruit with a little granola on top. I've tried eating cereal, but it really doesn't satisfy. I'm ravenous by 9:30 a.m. These carb-y breakfasts just aren't keeping me full. I normally eat breakfast at 6:00 a.m., right after I finish my workout.

I'd like to find a way to get more lean protein into my system for breakfast. I think it would keep me fuller, longer.

As I mentioned in the question, I have some things I can't/won't/prefer not to eat. I will eat oatmeal if I absolutely must, but I sure don't like it. Eggs have always given me the heebie-jeebies unless they're mixed into something (like cake or brownies!). Soy gives me migraines.

So, with those limitations in mind... tell me - what should I eat for breakfast?

posted by MorningPerson to Food & Drink (44 answers total)

Think outside the breakfast-food box! Turkey sandwich on whole-wheat bread. Bean burrito. Last night's leftovers.
posted by Daily Alice at 5:51 AM on August 11, 2010 [5 favorites]

I've suggested it before, but I like feta cheese, tomatoes, a few sprigs of basil, bread, maybe some dry sausage like a sopresata (not breakfast sausage), and some eggs (which I know you don't want, but are part of my breakfast line up). Possibly add an aged cheese, like a Swiss or aged Gouda, too. Sometimes, if I have them, I also have oven roasted tomatoes in addition to the fresh tomatoes.

I don't tend to like sweet breakfasts, so the savory and filling breakfast hits just the right spot.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 5:51 AM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Cashew butter on an English muffin with some fruit on the side.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 5:53 AM on August 11, 2010

Also, whatever you decide to eat for breakfast, you could take a bag of almonds with you and snack on those until lunch. It'll keep the hunger away and it'll keep you peppy, what with all the protein and good fat and what have you.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 5:55 AM on August 11, 2010

Carbs and lean meats have little to no fat, and you are having appetite issues because you're not getting very much of it. Fat has a maligned reputation and is often even equated with fat-in fat-out, but it is important in a diet and though it's calorie-dense, that's offset by its appetite-suppressing properties. I would suggest getting fats by eating cheese or meat. For something healthier maybe find a way to work in ample portions of olive oil or flaxseed oil.
posted by crapmatic at 5:57 AM on August 11, 2010

Best answer: My favorite breakfast has rolled oats but isn't oatmeal, and it's protein-rich and filling. A spoonful each of plain yogurt & real peanut butter, a couple of spoons of uncooked rolled oats, some blueberries or whatever fruit you have on hand, and some crunched-up walnuts. Doesn't sound like much but it's really good.
posted by headnsouth at 5:59 AM on August 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

Best answer: -Peanut butter or other nut butter on toasted whole grain bread.
-Grilled cheese sandwich.
posted by mareli at 6:05 AM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

a breakfast I have sometimes that keeps me surprisingly full is peanut butter on a banana. Its not exactly lean meat, but it'll get you to lunch.
posted by Unred at 6:06 AM on August 11, 2010

Baked beans on sourdough. Pumpernickel with a sauteed chicken liver or a piece of Edam. Phở. Noodles with spicy vinegar beef (Hunan noodles). Kippers. Grilled polenta with pancetta or smoked salmon.
posted by hawthorne at 6:09 AM on August 11, 2010

Best answer: Rather than look for a more fulfilling breakfast, as 3 1/2 hrs isn't too bad, why not look for some mid-morning snacks? Have a small snack at 9:30 to tide you over to lunch. It'd be a fine way to keep that metabolism burning through the morning. As for the snack itself, you've endless possibilities.
posted by Atreides at 6:14 AM on August 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

I usually start my day with a fruit-juice-yoghurt smoothie, but (echoing crapmatic above), it's full-fat yoghurt.
I'm disorganised this week, courtesy of being out of town over the weekend, so I had a slice of sourdough with some bean-dip stuff on it this morning. Hummus on on toast is awesome as well, and neither of them are typically breakfasty.
If you've got the time, maybe you could sneak an egg in as part of a couple of slices of french toast? You could easily make it the night before and heat it up in the toaster the next day, eggo-style.
posted by Kreiger at 6:19 AM on August 11, 2010

How strange and lovely that I should check metafilter on my way into work for the very first time, on the same day that I am armed for the first time with my new breakfast ingredients after researching this very question yesterday.

For the past few years I have eaten a bagel with cream cheese, a muffin, a breakfast sandwich, or oatmeal for breakfast. It's just not cutting it and nutrition wise, it's by far the weakest meal of the day.

I settled on: fruit smoothies with protein powder.

Fruit is delicious and nutritious, and protein powder will provide me with the extra protein I was looking for in my diet and keep me full and satisfied until lunch.

My first smoothie will include: banana, blueberry, whey&soy protein powder (vanilla flavor), chobani plain Greek yogurt, skim milk, ground flax seed, maybe some ice.

Instantly a million times better and more satisfying than my usual.

I would do research into protein powder - it's really not just for bodybuilders, but people who want more good quality protein (as you seem to be).

The best part is that smoothies are endlessly variable. Don't want protein powder? Fine, use natural peanut butter. Don't want milk? Fine, use fruit juice. How about try a little of this seasoning, or this fruit? How about some honey? The possibilities!
posted by 3FLryan at 6:20 AM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

What Daily Alice said. Forget the breakfast tag and ideas about what a "breakfast" should be and eat a meal which gives you what you want.
posted by fire&wings at 6:20 AM on August 11, 2010

Rice and beans! With or without tortillas/salsa/veggies/whatever. I like an egg on top, but it will keep you full without the egg.
posted by teragram at 6:27 AM on August 11, 2010

I have to be at work at 8:30 and can't have lunch till after 1:30 (on days I work that is) and I have found, believe it or not, that shredded wheat cereals keep me pretty satisfied till noon.

Also, some string cheese might be a good selection.

For what it's worth, oatmeal is one of the worst things for keeping me full. Seriously.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 6:35 AM on August 11, 2010

I made a big batch of a cold veggie salad with some grain and beans this week, and it's been awesome for breakfast.

I started with 1 cup cooked black beans, 2 cups cooked quinoa, 1 chopped sweet pepper, about 2-3 cups of finely grated carrot (I have a food processor), a couple of sliced green onions, 2 tomatoes from my garden, and a handful of chopped fresh cilantro (obviously optional). I then added 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, some lime juice, salt, pepper, ground cumin and hot paprika.

It's cold (and very tasty cold) so all you have to do in the morning is dish it out. You can use any combo of veggies you like, you can add more oil, you can change the spicing, and the type and proportion of bean and grain is entirely up to you. It has a reasonable amount of protein and fat as well as fiber and heaps of nutrients from the veggies, beans and grain. And it's definitely filling.
posted by maudlin at 6:36 AM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Greek yogurt is the shizzle! I bore easily with foods and I've been plowing through a few containers a week. You can rip one open and toss in whatever - nuts, honey, fruit, chocolate chips, etc. Even the fat-free tastes creamy and satisfying and NUMNUMNUM.
posted by julthumbscrew at 6:39 AM on August 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

I agree with Atreides that expecting a meal to last you 6 hours (from 6am breakfast to a lunch at noon) is a bit of a tall order. Getting a good high-protein satisfying breakfast (any of these suggestions) will be fantastic, but even then might not last you till noon, or even an early lunch at 11. Try to think of a midmorning snack as "normal", and plan on that, with a handful of nuts, a homemade fruit-and-oatmeal energy bar, or some such.
posted by aimedwander at 6:43 AM on August 11, 2010

I'd like to second the dry sausage + chewy & tasty bread + cheese and/or tomato idea. This is what my dad calls a "peasant breakfast" and it's what he used to eat while growing up on a farm, so it's more filling than it seems. I have this for dinner sometimes when I'm feeling lazy. It's also nice to drizzle some olive oil and your favorite salty spice blend on top of everything.

I'm a big fan of variations on Mollie Katzen's March Hare Salad. I know, a savory cottage cheese salad sounds like a parody of depressing diet food, but it's actually yummy and filling. As far as I'm concerned, the only essential ingredients are cottage cheese, cracked pepper, lemon juice, mild onions (I like scallions) and some kind of nut (my favorite = sunflower seeds). Other than that, you can throw in whatever crunchy veggies you like and have on hand.
posted by thewrongparty at 6:50 AM on August 11, 2010

Beans & toast! Mmmmmmm. And capable of sustaining you until lunch. Have a piece of fruit alongside, too.
posted by Aquaman at 6:50 AM on August 11, 2010

Quark with a chopped banana, crushed nuts (toasted if you like), a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Super delicious, and it is really surprisingly filling to the point that I always accidentally make more than I can eat. You can use cottage cheese or ricotta instead, but I find quark to be the best mix of healthy and tasty.
posted by Emilyisnow at 6:53 AM on August 11, 2010

Like the first two answers suggest, don't be afraid of eating food that is supposedly "non-breakfast" for breakfast. Sandwiches, leftovers (super duper time savers), hell, even salad works ok (though to make it last you need to add some stuff like meat, nuts, etc on the salad or on the side).

I'm not fond of regular breakfast foods, and find that eating sweet stuff in the morning gives me a big sugar crash an hour or two later, so I go with savory foods that are often kind of non-traditional at breakfast. It takes a bit of experimenting -- I've found beef stew to work really well as breakfast, but leftover chicken really didn't taste right first thing in the morning, for example.
posted by Forktine at 6:54 AM on August 11, 2010

i normally start my day with a nice yogurt and granola... better alternative than milk... I've been trying the Greek yogurt lately, and have found it more filling.
posted by fozzie33 at 6:59 AM on August 11, 2010

instead of a "little" granola, try mixing a little yogurt with a lot of granola, in particular a granola with a reasonably high amount of nuts in it. Personally I find granola extremely filling, but yogurt hardly at all.
posted by contrarian at 7:11 AM on August 11, 2010

Small update: I asked my egg-hating partner how he would answer this question, having had a lifetime of not eating eggs for breakfast and he agrees with a lot of people here:

My advice would be to acknowledge that you don't like traditional breakfast food - and that chicken sausage is good, but maybe you don't want that every day. Eat what you would for lunch. Don't get caught up in categories...have a turkey sandwich.

posted by thewrongparty at 7:13 AM on August 11, 2010

I've seen research showing that blended soups trick your stomach into thinking you are full for longer than the same amount of food eaten without being blended into a soup. I love soup. I eat soup for breakfast all the time. Tomato Bean is a good one, but also cream of chicken, potato leek, and Caribbean sweet potato. Just make a soup that you like (can be cooked over night in the crock pot) and when you are ready to eat, run it through a food processor or blender.

Tomato Bean
3 cans of white beans
3 cans of tomatoes
I chopped onion
2 TB olive oil
Spices such as oregano, paprika, cayenne

Saute the onion in olive oil on low heat until translucent and soft. Add in tomatoes and beans and heat thoroughly. Add seasoning of your choice. Run through the blender. Note: This is one of those soups that gets better after a day or so of "aging." You can also dress it up with sprinkled cheese, croutons, chopped chives, or sour cream.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:15 AM on August 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

A tuna-salad sandwich on whole-grain bread sometimes really hits the spot in the morning. One morning I ate one at home and came in to work to find a coworker eating the same thing for breakfast at her desk. Great minds...

Also, Progresso makes a really good lentil soup (not the fat-free kind though... that one is kind of watery tasting and doesn't have much staying power.) A bowl of soup plus half an apple with peanut butter would give you protein, fat and lots of fiber which should keep you going through the morning. If I didn't have it every day for lunch I could see making this my regular breakfast.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 7:19 AM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

peanut butter on toast! could also add jam or honey or banana

plenty of carbs, fat, and protein! you'll be set until noon.
posted by herox at 7:20 AM on August 11, 2010

Plain spoon-sized shredded wheat mixed with plain yogurt and bacon bits with a little fruit on the side keeps me going all morning.
posted by JaneL at 7:40 AM on August 11, 2010

I think expanding your horizons to lunch meals or non-western breakfasts will help meet your requirements. In Japan breakfast is commonly bits of leftovers or small portions of fish and rice and fruit and miso soup. You can take inspiration from this and make up a small portion of simple tuna or chicken salad and eat it on crackers, served with a side of fruit, breakfast drink of choice, and a slice of carrot cake. Making the salad in advance and leaving it in the fridge for a few days means it's a matter of scooping it out in the morning. Or add a scoopful of a leftover dinner, or fresh veggies from the garden, a side of bacon, etc.

I am a fan of the toastie avocado breakfast: toast an english muffin or toast, mash up an avocado, spread avocado on toast and top with salt and lemon pepper. Not too good on lean protein but it does fill me up consistently.
posted by Meagan at 7:45 AM on August 11, 2010

I forgot to mention that I've been using Greek yogurt in that mixture lately, and like the others have said, it's the best! It's thick and tangy and really sticks to the shredded wheat and bacon bits.
posted by JaneL at 7:51 AM on August 11, 2010

Dropping carbs for protein will help a bit, but reiterating what a few others have said, you should be having a snack mid-morning when you're feeling ravenous.

Reading your post, you say that you eat breakfast at 6am *after* your workout. Which means you're burning calories and setting your body's chemistry up for desiring food before many are even awake. I'm not saying that's a bad thing--it's great that you have that discipline and desire. But you're body isn't lying to you 3.5 hours later. It wants to be fed and I don't think it's pulling one over on you. Feed it, in moderation, frequently.
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:52 AM on August 11, 2010

Best answer: Peanut butter toast.

Full-fat yogurt with nuts. (the full fatness will help you feel satiated.)

I also agree with mcstayinskool - if you're doing a full workout and then having a light breakfast at six, it's not wrong to be hungry again at 9:30. You should have a healthy mid-morning snack.
posted by Sara C. at 8:04 AM on August 11, 2010

I eat way too many eggs than is probably right for a human, but as an alternative, I often eat leftovers from dinner, many of the options mentioned above (love peanut butter) or I'm also a fan of cottage cheese by itself, with fruit or flax seed oil.

Cottage cheese tends to have a higher salt content, especially lower quality brands, so I don't eat it every day, but it is filling and has decent amount of protien to get you through the morning.
posted by getmetoSF at 8:04 AM on August 11, 2010

Until I learned to love scrambled eggs (preferably with cheese and some veggies thrown in), my standard breakfast was either leftover whatever from the night before (usually some variation of chicken), or a handful of almonds and an ounce or so of cheese.
posted by chez shoes at 8:06 AM on August 11, 2010

Scrambled eggs make me nauseous after a while, so I turned to egg whites with some salsa verde and morningstar farms fake 'sausage' and it's become the big go-to breakfast. For some reason the whites don't count as 'egg' to me & my body doesn't have the same reaction. I used to be exhausted after a workout, because my go-to breakfast was oatmeal, but this is great. I feel full and energetic. But with that, i end up eating a handful of almonds around 11:30 (I'm snacking on some right now) so I don't die of hunger before lunchtime. (I don't have the 9:30 pang because that's when I have my coffee.)

I too love the Progresso lentil soup; it's always in my cupboard as emergency meail.
posted by micawber at 8:43 AM on August 11, 2010

Best answer: Here's the recipe that I use to help me actually enjoy the high-fiber cereals that are supposed to be good for me.

3 tbs peanut (or almond) butter, preferrably natural
1 tbs honey (prefer local)
1 tbs Grape Nuts
2 tsp All Bran (we call it “Fiber Worms”)
Optional: raisins, dried cranberries, toasted walnuts, dash of cinnamon

Mix peanut butter and honey together with a spoon in a small bowl. Helps to warm the peanut butter up for 10 seconds in the microwave first. Mix in remaining ingredients.Adjust peanut butter and honey mixture to desired viscosity.

Roll out on parchment or wax paper to about 1/2 in thinckness. Chill. Cut into bars and wrap each with wax paper for grab-n-go portability.

My daughter coined these 'Craptastic Bars' ("looks like crap, tastes fantatstic -- Craptastic!") Gotta have milk or coffee with these. Sticks to the roof of your mouth. Fills you up until lunch.
posted by cross_impact at 9:08 AM on August 11, 2010 [9 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you for the many ideas! I think the winning solution might be to have "second breakfast" around 9:30 a.m.

Peanut butter, cheese and nuts all sound like great ideas!
posted by MorningPerson at 10:40 AM on August 11, 2010

Cottage cheese pancakes!

1/3c cottage cheese
1/3c rolled oats
1 egg
a splash of vanilla
a few nuts (I like walnuts)
a dash of cinnamon

Throw it all in a blender and process until smooth. Cook them up as you would regular pancakes.
posted by burntflowers at 11:36 AM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Protein? Definitely quinoa. Whether you give it the breakfast cereal treatment or "break the rules" by going savory is up to you.
posted by O9scar at 12:49 PM on August 11, 2010

For breakfast all Summer I've been sauteeing big piles of vegetables. It's savory, delicious, filling and so super healthy!

Coarsely chop any or all of the following:
zucchini
broccoli
mushrooms
cabbage
reg/green/yellow peppers
onion
tomato
...etc...you get the idea.

I'll usually drop an egg on it when it's done and stir it around, or add chopped tofu - just for the protein. You really barely detect the egg. Feel free to add any and all herbs to keep things interesting! No need for salt, but pepper goes great.

Every other day, ish, I pair it with fresh blended smoothie (frozen berries & kale thawed in the microwave, greek yogurt, orange juice)
posted by carlh at 6:15 PM on August 11, 2010

Hummus on a pita.
posted by melodykramer at 6:45 PM on August 11, 2010

An addendum to my earlier post, if carbs matter to you at all, my veggie saute is very very low carb.
posted by carlh at 4:13 AM on August 12, 2010

Old-fashioned oats from Trader Joe's with almond butter & flaxseeds stirred in, plus a spoonful of honey, are about a BILLION times better than plain old "oatmeal." Can't believe how tasty it is.
posted by wintersweet at 8:45 PM on August 12, 2010