How to break breakfast rules with Belvita

There’s nothing like breakfast to set you up for the day, so I was keen to share my thoughts in this post which has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. #CollectiveBias.

I’m a big breakfast eater.  Even if it’s only a piece of fruit at the weekends, during the working week I always need to have a decent breakfast in an attempt to get me through to lunch time.  The OH always thinks I’m obsessed with food because my day is arranged around what time, and what I’ll be eating at mealtimes!

Mostly I eat once I’m at work because N (supposedly) eats his breakfast at his day nursery most days, and the morning routine is always tight.  If I ate my breakfast at home, I’d always end up with him having 2 breakfasts and paying double for food for him.

Eating breakfast in the office was always the norm for a lot of people.  Many work flexibly and drop children off at school first, others have early starts with their commute so don’t want breakfast first. However, we’re soon to move to a new office block, and we’ve seen the first draft of the new office rules.  Sacrilege, breakfast in the office is to be banned after 8.30am. There’s been a bit of uproar – of course with flexible working it means many people don’t get in until later.  I arrive around 8.30 but even I wouldn’t manage to eat breakfast before this time, what with getting the laptop set up first.

So I’m rebelling (it doesn’t happen often), and I’m trying to think of creative ways to break the new breakfast rules.  If you want to avoid being caught eating breakfast, why not try one of these ideas?

Breaking the breakfast rules

Breakfast (break-fast)
n The first meal of the day, usually eaten in the morning
v break-fast-ed, break-fast-ing, break-fasts

According to dictionaries, breakfast is the first meal of the day.  There doesn’t seem to be a time limit on it, although morning is the obvious time.  So getting creative with breakfast means ignoring timings and working on the type of food and look of it.

Tip 1: Pretend you’re having a biscuit with your tea.

I tried a couple of the Belvita Breakfast biscuit range that I bought in Sainsbury’s.  In store it was on offer on gondola ends, so I picked up a couple of boxes for variety, although in the main aisle it was next to coffee.  So pretend it’s elevenses, and you’ll be able to get away with eating it in the office.

Not only that, but because Belvita is a breakfast biscuit, it doesn’t look like breakfast (the strawberry topped ones reminded me a bit of an open jammy dodger, and tasted better than one), no-one’s going to know that’s what I’m eating.

Tip 2: have a drink

No-one looks at a smoothie and thinks ‘breakfast’, so making your own smoothie (or buying one) means you’ll not only be healthy, but also get away with having breakfast at whatever time you want.  On a similar theme,

Tip 3: buy breakfast from the coffee delivery man

Yes, he sells coffee, but he doesn’t arrive at our office until 10.30ish.  So buy a bacon sarnie from him, and class it as brunch.

Tip 4: Make it artistic

While I’d not usually endorse playing with food, and I don’t want to go through the hassle of prettying up food for fussy young children, needs must if you want to break the breakfast rules.  I’ve used fruit and a pancake to make flowers (or a face depending on what you see).  If your boss walked passed your desk and spotted a fruity image, they might not recognise it as breakfast from a distance.  You might be classified as a bit odd though.

Tip 5: don’t use bowls or plates

Traditionally breakfast has been cereal or toast, but now people any any sort of food for breakfast (N once had leftover macaroni cheese).  So if you want to keep your breakfast quiet, stick to a finger food, or use little pots rather than normal crockery.

Fruit is great for a snack and breakfast, but I prefer to include some yoghurt to make it a bit more substantial.  Along with that, I also added some crumbled Belvita cocoa biscuits to add some texture and crunch.  Delicious, and healthy with the wholegrains that are in Belvita.

Tip 6: Start a workplace healthy fitness challenge

Our team at work have started a healthy challenge this year, although it’s a bit up and down in terms of progress.  Of course breakfast is an essential part of staying healthy, so start a healthy fitness drive as part of your wider workplace, and you can get away with having breakfast whenever is suitable for each person in line with their healthy plan.

As part of my healthy eating, I decided to try some of the overnight oats recipes I’ve seen on Pinterest recently.  I love porridge, but it’s a bit obvious at work, especially if you add golden syrup which tends to mean sweet wafts of aroma around the office.  So a cold version could work well as an office breakfast.

I tried adding mashed banana, natural yoghurt, chia seeds, peanut butter, cacao powder and a little agave nectar to my oats…it’s not a combination I’ll be trying again.

The second attempt with mashed berries and almond milk was delicious so I’ll definitely be looking for more flavour combinations in future. Our office has a bake challenge every so often, so maybe we should add breakfast suggestions to it?

So if you need some alternative breakfast ideas to beat the rules, why not try some of my tips.

What do you have for breakfast, and do you eat at home with family or on the run?  What alternative breakfast ideas would you recommend to break the rules?

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Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, all opinions and words are my own.