Mission: Breakfast

One thing I love about Jitterbug's blog posts are the fact that she has weekly missions. Sometimes these missions end up going longer than a week, at least until she feels they begin to feel like a habit. Knowing my personality, this is exactly the way I need to approach my project.

photo taken December 1944



The first mission is... breakfast! Why breakfast? Because in order to start anything during the day, the body needs fuel. No sense puttering around on an empty stomach! In the 1940's housewives were taught the value of making a healthy, nutritious breakfast. Without breakfast Jim is irritable at work, he can't concentrate fully and his work suffers, his boss notices how Jim seems to just "not be in it", and offers that promotion to Bob instead. In the evenings he's so fatigued he doesn't want to romp with the children! Jimmy Jr. suffers in school without a hearty, healthy breakfast... his mind doesn't want to focus on his numbers when he lacks energy and is so run down. Even when the guys ask him to play ball he seems to run around the bases slower than molasses! Poor Jimmy Jr.! If mom skips breakfast she'll be paying for it all morning... she's so sluggish that getting her morning routine done is overly exhausting... no time for afternoon pick me up naps, there's still so much that needs to be done before Jim gets home! The cupcakes for the school party?! Oh no, mom has completely forgot about it because her mind just isn't as sharp as it would be with a nice, well rounded breakfast.

Ah, while my story maybe 1940's fiction, it is true. Without a healthy breakfast it makes tackling the day even tougher! 2011 me, would say that doughnuts, prepackaged muffins, marshmallow cereals, honey buns, etc. all fit on the breakfast menu. They're easy to toss to the kids as they went out the door, but after studying a bit on the nutritional value (or lack there of), these sugar filled goodies did nothing but actually cause a "worse case scenario"... by pumping the body full of sugar treats, when the sugar crash came (as it always does) it leaves the family more tired than if they ate nothing at all!

So what are the 1940 options for breakfast? Of course there is always eggs and bacon, but here's a few 40's cereal ads:



All of these cereals are still available today, although my husband believes that feeding him Weetabix would equal torture.

So, how is the mission fairing? Well Sunday my husband had to work, so it was an off day, but nevertheless I managed to wake up at 6am, scramble eggs, make toast, and open a can of pears. Not bad to start. I do have to say also that it was quite peaceful, romantic even, to eat breakfast at such an early hour with the hubby. It was different, and something I could really get used to doing.

Today is considered an "off day" too, because the hubby was off work, so breakfast was for the kid's only today. They ate bite sized shredded wheat with strawberries and a glass of orange juice.

Now, the one thing that is rather concerning to me, is how the 1940's wife managed to get everyone fed. Did everyone leave at the same time? Our family's schedule looks like this:

Hubby leaves at 6:30a

Daughter leaves at 7a

Son leaves at 7:30a

I leave to take daughter to pre K at 7:45a

Son leaves at 7:55a

So, you see, the time frame for everyone waking up is different and mornings are generally just scattered all over. It works with cereal, because I can make each bowl, omitting the milk until the person's time to eat, but what about a hot breakfast? Did the 40's housewife make it at one setting? Surely she couldn't make breakfast 4-5 times, especially when housekeeping manuals spoke of the important of being efficient with your time. Was she to reheat for each person? Microwaves certainly weren't available, so was it placed in the oven at a low temp to keep warm? I wonder.....

These are obstacles that I will have to over come because morning is such a hectic time for us. I've also learned that preparing for the morning the night before is extremely helpful. When a little one washes dishes, it's important she actually *run* the dishwasher otherwise hand washing will take valuable time! Also making lunches as much as possible the night before saves time when you need to prepare breakfast.

My mission this week is to also find out from the kids how they feel energy wise and if eating a healthy breakfast makes them feel as if they have more energy to go about their day.

Tomorrow's menu? Ham, Eggs, Pineapple & Milk

Tomorrow will also be my first 'normal' day as hubby goes back to his M-F schedule for awhile, and kid's will be off to school.