Cooked hall breakfasts are great. They’re an incentive to get up in the morning – maybe go for a run,havea shower, decide on the day’s lectures – and then have sausages, bacon, tomato and eggs waiting for you afterwards. Maybe even a hash brown. But now that it’s summer, the breakfast is the same as every term, and it isn’t as cold and dark and dismal outside as it is in Michaelmas and Hilary. So, meat and hot food at 8:15am lose their appeal. Making an easy breakfast for yourself, which is both healthier and more adaptable than a bowl of cereal, can be easy. Overnight oats, eaten cold, are great for Trinity Term. They’re really simple and cheap to prepare- one breakfast probably costs 7p in oats, 20p in (soya/almond) milk, adding up to 50p per serving if you include toppings.
To make them, pour oats to halfway of a jar, or any container. Then you can add whichever toppings you fancy – I’d recommend cinnamon and vanilla essence, cocoa, apple pieces or jam. Next, cover the oats with your milk of choice.
You can just pour to cover or you can add extra milk on the top, depending on how dense and flapjack-like you want the consistency to be.
The oats will swell up, so be careful not to overfill your container. Then add sultanas, or any other extra toppings, and stir it round. You can add honey or maple syrup for sweetness although just sweetened milk can also solve that issue.
Then, leave it in the fridge or in a cold place for between 2 and 20 hours, and enjoy it for breakfast or a snack!
If you’re feeling indulgent you top it with brazil nuts and chocolate, Lotus Biscoff biscuits, or any type of cookie the college cookie fairy might have treated you to. If you’re looking for a healthier alternative, Tesco’s frozen berries also go really nicely. Rinse out the jar and repeat.
Overnight Oats have less sugar than shop-bought cereals, no smashed-up powder at the bottom of the cereal packet, and make for a really versatile breakfast– there are recipes out there for carrot-cake flavoured and apple-pie themed oats.
I even tried straining a tea-bag in it to experiment and it made for a nice and aromatic jar of oats, though it’s more effort than is necessary.
Trinity Term, the sunny but stressful term, requires snacks.
Another nice DIY alternative, which takes about 10 minutes to put together, is a couscous bowl topped with any vegetables- cherry tomatoes, soya beans, spring onions and bell peppers work quite well.
If you feel like trying a refreshing drink, I also really enjoy making iced tea by straining a tea bag in a small amount of boiling water, removing it and placing the solution in the fridge, before adding lemonade.
Melons are great – a satisfying bite to eat without many calories. When the weather becomes spring showers, and work is killing your summer vibe, let your snacks remind you that summer is here, by being fresh and light!
