to eat the same breakfast and lunch every single day?

[NorthernGirlie]

I didn't realise it was weird until a colleague pointed it out. Disclaimer - the colleague is a friend, we were just chatting - she wasn't criticising!

Every week I pot up 5 lots of overnight oats (literally just oats and a spoon of trail mix) and have 1 a day for breakfast

I cook a chicken on a Sunday and have a chicken, pease pudding and stuffing sandwich every day for lunch.

I use the rest of the chicken in a family meal, sometimes dh will make himself a sandwich with it.

I've been doing this for about 2 years straight. Every single work day - never given it a thought!

How weird am I?

I think I say dish water as well

ponders...

I would have said it's normal as I do the same.

It's not always the same every week but I have oats made with water and golden syrup for breakfast.

Pasta bake with chicken or ham for lunch and a stew/casserole for dinner.

My ds is a swimmer and so I eat well and cooked from scratch. But it's always heated in the microwave and eaten from a thermos 😂

I see that, as always when someone mentions food on Mumsnet, dozens of people have immediately chipped in to offer unsolicited dietary advice, despite that not actually being anything to do with the OP’s question.

That's a pretty inspired sandwich filling, excellent use of the pease pudding.
I'd get bored though, might be solved by a rotation of salads or pickles.

As a child, I would have eaten oxtail soup every single day for lunch had my parents let me. Reader, they didn't let me.

You, on the other hand, @NorthernGirlie are a Grown Up and can do what you like. So as long as you're happy, keep going.

I eat pretty much the same breakfast every day because I love it - toast with marmite. Also, always have a sandwich for lunch as its quick to make and often have the same filling. Its just easy and if you like something, not wierd at all.

(We do vary dinner every night, but like most families, buy the same things over and over!).

DH eats a simple cheese sandwich for lunch, more or less 7 days a week, and has done for more than 50 years. He knows what he likes.

I couldn’t be doing with that and rarely eat the same thing on consecutive days. 😂

Absolutely fine, and you're using up leftovers instead of spending a fortune on lunch. I wouldn't tell your students that you eat pease pudding every day though, they will be singing nursery rhymes at you.

I thought most people did this. 🙈

I have the same thing for breakfast every day and when I worked I had exactly the same lunch. I don't think it is weird and I know other people who do this too.
I guess it depends on how much you enjoy thinking and planning your weekly food intake.

I eat the same Breakfast and Lunch every work day. I'm Diabetic, so its just easier for me to do the same thing that I know works for my Blood Sugar every day. I do change things up on non-working days though.

I don't eat exactly the same thing but I eat a narrow range of things.
Breakfasts:
oats and kefir and a banana
Or kiwi, grapes, banana and kefir
Or Kiwi, grapes, kefir and a weetabix

Lunch
I almost always have homemade vegetable soup (leek, carrot, celery plus a bit of broccoli and cauliflower, butterbeans, lentils and veg stock) plus 3 crispbreads with either cottage cheese and tomato or egg and tomato or 3 slices of wholewheat bread Nimble made into tomato and cottage cheese sandwiches.

Late afternoon:
3 crispbreads plus laughing cow light and a tomato
or carrot batons with a cottage cheese and horseradish dip

Tea:
broccoli, carrots, sprouts, cauliflower (3 of the 4) plus carrot and turnip mash, quorn sausages and veggie gravy
or quorn mince with homemade tomato and veggie sauce and a baked potato.
Or baked potato (with no fat greek yoghurt), mushroom omelette and veggies

I am trying to lose weight (lost 12lbs since 25th Dec) and find it easier to stick to a range of food.

I make three packed lunches for work every Sunday and they are always the same thing. Been doing it for 20 years!

I tend to have the same breakfast which I take to work - overnight oats made with protein yoghurt and some fruit. I switch up with different flavors and fruit so don’t get bored but always have the same as it works for me. I do tend to have similar lunches but that more because it’s just easier

I’d get super bored doing this. But that’s me, if this works for you then go for it!

Same breakfast every day is perfectly normal, loads of people eat a boiled egg every day, or porridge, or cereal or whatever, but it's pretty normal for it to be daily and constant.

Same lunch every day I would personally get bored with, unless it was Chinese BBQ then I could have it for breakfast lunch and dinner every day for the rest of my life.

Food to me is a mixture of functional and enjoyable.

Y DH had the same lunchbox contents for years. He has the same breakfast daily in a working week. Says it's one less decision to make in a busy day. I need to do the same as you and him, I'd probably eat better. I don't really like eating, and when there's too much choice, I don't bother! I'd be interested to know your oat to milk ratio, mine have always turned out mega runny or too dry when made before

I’d love to be able to do this, but I can have the same meal three times in a row at most. And that’s just not to waste food.

My dh on the other hand has had the same breakfast for years. He’d also be quite happy with the same lunch as long as it was one of his preferred foods (e.g omelette). It does make my life a lot easier so can’t complain.

If you’re happy with your meals and it helps you save time, there’s nothing wrong with it.

@Arabaloosa no ratio rule here. I throw about 4 tablespoons of oats into one of these pots. Cover with milk and add a spoonful of train mix

They're not runny runny unless I forget on a night and add milk on the morning

I do the same. Overnight oats every single day, and the same lunch every single day. I do find it boring, but I just accept the benefits of not having to think about it / always having the ingredients in etc. (if I go out, then I do choose something different!).

I actually love to cook when I have time. Reading this and having a think has made me realise how compartmentalised I am about work food.

I don't put any real thought into enjoyment or nutrition. It's literally about how I can get enough fuel in fast enough.

Shit really - and no coffee unless I take a flask and have it from the lid cup between lessons (I make nice flask coffee though - that's not a poor me moan)

A flask is something extra to lug between buildings though so I don't bother often.

I think it's a sad indictment of modern working culture that eating and mealtimes have become something to simplify and shorten so that they don't get in the way of work or whatever else. Food, meals, breaking of bread together are amongst lives simplest and most important pleasures, important to social cohesion and well, just delicious! Food is not just fuel it is hugely cultural as well....and it doesn't say much for our culture if this is what we are reduced to.

I don't think it's that weird to have meals on repeat but it is a bit odd to have the same lunch and dinner every day for 2 years, not to mention boring. If you're happy then carry on.

Depends on how you define success I suppose, all sounds pretty joyless to me. I'm afraid I am far more interesting in living life in its entirety than paring everything but work and/or what will make or save me money away. Pondering what to cook for dinner or eat for lunch IS amongst the enjoyable stuff of life, not some annoying thing to be done to get through life.

You're absolutely right @theleafandnotthetree
Some days my colleague pops into my classroom and we ram our lunch down together while we each second mark each others assessment papers which is fun (not really but it means we get a quick snap of grown up time!)