What did people used to eat for breakfast.

[forevercooking]

Years ago. When people all sat around the table for breakfast before one or both parents went off to work and the kids went to school. What was being cooked/prepared/eaten? I can't imagine men were off down a pit on a diet of cornflakes but maybe I'm wrong.

Things I ate for breakfast as a child ( I am 51)

I ate the usual cereal and or toast and marmalade most of the time.

Aged eight I ate yoghurt only.
Aged nine I ate two cold pork sausages only.

Teenager- nothing or little.

Now anything or nothing.

I was always partial to a fried breakfast when offered.

Still am :)

My father was born in 1919 so when he was growing into a fit, strong boy on a farm I expect he and grandad, and others in the family , had fat bacon for breakfast. Fat bacon? Like a joint of boiling bacon or gammon that you would boil and then cut slices off it when it was cold, BUT, most likely from the belly of the pig, and remember that pigs have been bred to be much leaner nowadays, so it really was a lot of fat with a few streaks of pink lean meat. If they could happily stomach it I think a lot of farm workers and farmers would have eaten it in this rural area. Did they get fat? No. They did very hard physical work. They worked it off. They might have had brown sauce with it.
Unpasteurized milk not long out of the cow, strained through a muslin cloth into a tall, white jug -- maybe.

My Nan would have full English ,but often just Grandad would eat all of it,she might have a piece of toast or somethingn .When I stayed with her I would often have bacon /eggs before School! Sometimes didnt feel like that either ,but would enjoy in Winter ,At home mostly cereal or toast as DM worked (mid 70s)

Sorry only Grandad would eat it ! She didnt always eat much

My Dad worked in a factory and started at 6am. At 10am he came home to breakfast as lived 100 metres away. My Mum always had him a cooked breakfast. Sausages, fried egg and tomatoes on toast, beans on toast with bacon, fried potatoes sausage, bacon and a fried egg, scrambled egg on toast with tomatoes. She used to make his flask of tea while he ate it. We had scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast most days. My Granny had chickens and she always gave us a couple dozen eggs every week and apples, plums, raspberries and runner beans and peas from her garden too.

I remember in the eighties hearing research that a fifth of people still had cooked breakfast once a week. We did, but like many it was at a weekend. The equivalent of Sunday lunch now. Some people would have a roast during the week, but for most of us a lack of time means it is a weekend meal.

This was my breakfast too at my grandparents. I would have been given weetabix at home. I was the only child for a long time and my mum never eats so wouldn't have eaten with her. My grandparents would have been hungover so I was handed the biscuit tin and a cup of tea to keep me quiet.

Porridge
Bacon and Eggs, fried bread and tomato
Fried egg on toast
Scrambled eggs
Sausage and beans

Kippers.

I remember in the early 80’s we had family from Canada staying and my Mum made a cooked breakfast. Us kids were gobsmacked and kept asking why we are having our tea at breakfast time and my poor Mum shushing us!

So as a result of this thread and the overwhelming popularity of porridge I have looked it up and now have slow cooker porridge on the go for the morning!

It’s striking me how many of these breakfasts are as much about warning people up in cold houses as nutrition.

Or about relative wealth or there being somebody at home all today to cook a full meal and clean up.

Can't ever remember that on a morning except for Sundays.

I was born in the 60s and my father worked shifts even though he was a white collar worker.

Lovely to see this thread resurrected. So interesting!

Born in 1955 I can only ever remember being given cereal or ready brek with hot milk before school and on Saturdays. On Sunday we either had bacon sandwiches or bacon and egg before church. I always remember the smell of bacon frying made me feel sick !

DM was born in 1940, she last of six DC and parents didn't have too much money. They were literally brought up on bread and jam for breakfast and tea (free school dinners). When you started work and were contributing you were allowed sausages or bacon as funds would permit with your morning bread.

My great grandmother always ate grapefruit liberally sprinkled with sweetener. I remember watching her as a kid, she was well into her 90s. My grandmother has always eaten cereal (cornflakes or rice krispies) and toast, not either/or.

Porridge most weekdays, pancakes on Saturday and bacon and eggs on Sunday. My mum was a creature of habit and breakfast rarely varied.

Corn flakes in summer, porridge in winter
1/4 bacon sandwich on toasted plain bread
(sometimes dipped into corn flake milk)
Boiled egg and soldiers ( would only eat the yolk)

My dad used to work ski seasons in Canada/the US when he was younger...the breakfasts were amazing apparently...mounds of pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, and fruit. It all got worked off in the cold weather.

At home I just remember my parents drinking coffee and eating jam on toast - very boring!

My Irish granny gave us bread and butter with a sprinkling of sugar 🤮. My maternal grandfather had beef stew for breakfast. He was a miner and this was his preferred breakfast. My exh's granddad had porridge. It was cooked on a Monday (no cooking on a Sunday) and poured into a special drawer in the kitchen. The bits were sliced off each day. They lived in Aberfeldy and this was the early days of last century

I used to love bread butter and sugar! (Made a crusty bread roll though not sliced bread)

Porridge with raisins.

Weetbix and fruit followed by toast.