Got protein?Follow

I'm supposedly paying some attention to my health or something these days, and among the improvements I'm trying to make is getting more protein in the mornings. Apparently I don't get enough (I'll let the irony of that sink in for a moment). It goes along with the cutting out the doughnut and lessening the coffee intake.

Now this is proving harder than I imagined. Because first of all, it's best if the food is portable, as eating at home is tough in the morning. I'm also not a fan of peanut butter, and that includes things like almond butter, Nutella, and the other knockoffs.

I've tried taking those frozen breakfast biscuit sandwich things. However at 2-3 dollars a piece, it's more than I want to spend on a stale piece of bread covered with sausage bits. The last thing would be going down to the cafiteria and grabbing a side of sausage, bacon, or something. But that means, #1 hospital food, and #2 you don't get much for your 88 cents. Ideally I'd like to get at least 300ish calories, so I can go a while without being hungry too.

So, since you're all food gurus here, does anyone have any ideas for some cheap/portable protein? Also because it's always fun to get some new ideas, how do you get your morning protein?



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Eggs. Sometimes I'll make Oatmeal with flax instead to change it up but mostly eggs.

I'm so tempted to try this now. I've never tried cooking an egg in the microwave, that alone may be motivation enough.

If you can move beyond the idea of traditional breakfast food try a ham/turkey/bacon/whatever meat you like and cheese sandwich. If you have access to a microwave, I like mac and cheese for breakfast or the weight watchers mini cheeseburgers.

I hard-boil some eggs to keep in the fridge so I can grab one or two for a quick breakfast. I like Greek yogurt, too, but usually only buy it when it goes on sale. But yeah, protein powder smoothies are super easy and delicious.

Yogourt and Cottage cheese.

Handful of almonds. Greek yogurt (it's more expensive but it's got at least 2x the protein as regular yogurt.).

Pickled eggs. You can make a dozen or so at a time. Hard boil them, and let them sit in a jar of vinegar and other spices. I'd stick with white colored vinegar or they'll look really gross. Sprinkle with salt and pepper at time of consumption.

I know you said you don't like peanut-butter. I don't really like it either, but I like it on banana bread. I have that a lot for breakfast. i can make a loaf on the weekend and it will get me through a week.

Granola is good - and granola bars. But don't get them nature valley things that are just sugar laden blecho stuff. Granola bars are pretty easy to make on your own. I've not found a good way to eat yogurt on my commute to work.

You can always fry up an egg, throw it on some whole grain toast with other stuff and have your egg sandwich style.....

I've had to quit buying breakfast every day, for the savings I guess but more because there is no place between me an work anymore that can make a decent cup of coffee and a decent road-breakfast.

I keep thinking I'm going habituate myself to get up in the mornings, eat a nice relaxing breakfast at home before going to work I'm afraid though, that once I got my breakfast and coffee in me, I'd no longer have any motivation to get in the car and go to the office.

Going to agree with the egg sandwich idea. It's what I eat most mornings. It's fast, easy, reasonably healthy, and reasonably inexpensive. Plus you can be as simple or fancy as you want. I tend to fry my eggs rather than the microwave idea (since it takes about the same time to fry as it takes to toast the bread). Get yourself one of those one egg pans. They work great for cooking a sandwich sized egg patty (you can even cook two eggs if you want). You can either put slices of stuff on top as Joph suggested or dice up stuff and toss it in while you're cooking. Diced ham and peppers is particularly yummy.

Edited, Oct 10th 2012 1:18pm by gbaji

If you eat cereal there are a few out there now with protein added to them. I eat a bowl of that kind of cereal and a HB egg, plain yogurt with some protein powder or a protein shake for breakfast.

The Quorn chick'n cutlets are really good, but they're made with eggs, so obviously they're not vegan. That said, they're great for basically any dish you'd use chicken for.

It's amazing how many meat substitutes have eggs, cheese, or milk. That said, almost every substitute meat product tastes different, and it's worth trying a variety of stuff. There are some really great veggie patties out there (and I bet the ones with cheese in them are even more delicious!)

However, substitute cheese is something I cannot handle yet. Nutritional yeast does in a pinch for cheesy cravings though.

Apparently Quorn now has a vegan burger option. I don't know how it is, though. Morningstar Farms makes some vegan "chicken" strips that are really good in a stir fry.