One-Handed Breakfasts: Five Things You Can Eat While Feeding

Toast is the default one-handed breakfast, and on inspection it's a poor one. It goes cold in four minutes. It contains almost no protein. And it drops crumbs directly into the hair of the person you're holding, which you will still be finding at bath time.

We wrote that the problem in the first postnatal year isn't knowing what to eat, it's the two hands, the fifteen uninterrupted minutes and the standing up, none of which you currently have. So here are five breakfasts designed around the constraint rather than in spite of it.

The rules

Every one of these can be held in one hand, eaten cold or at room temperature, abandoned halfway through and returned to twenty minutes later without becoming tragic. None requires cutting anything. All contain real protein, because that's the single most useful change available to you and the one most reliably skipped.

Four of the five are made in advance, on the day when someone else is holding the baby.

1. Overnight oats, in a jar

The obvious one, made worth doing by two adjustments.

Use a jar rather than a bowl — a jar survives being knocked, which a bowl on a couch arm does not. And build it protein-forward: oats, milk, a generous spoon of Greek yoghurt, chia seeds, and a tablespoon of nut butter stirred right through rather than sitting on top.

Make four at once. They keep three or four days and improve on day two.

2. Freezer egg cups

The most useful thing you can do with twenty minutes and a muffin tin.

Whisk a dozen eggs with grated zucchini, a handful of spinach and crumbled feta. Into a greased tin, twenty minutes in the oven, cool, then freeze. Two of them, defrosted overnight or thirty seconds in the microwave, is a genuine breakfast eaten in four bites with no plate.

No crumbs. Warm optional. Batch of twelve takes half an hour of your life once.

3. The rolled wrap

The trick is rolling it tightly enough that it can't unravel one-handed.

Wrap, hummus or cream cheese spread to the edges, then something with protein — smoked salmon, leftover roast chicken, a sliced boiled egg — and a layer of spinach. Roll tight, wrap in baking paper, refrigerate. Eat from one end like a very civilised burrito.

Makes the night before. Holds until lunch if breakfast doesn't happen.

4. A smoothie with a lid on it

The only entry requiring no hands at all, if you use a straw.

Whatever fruit you have, a large spoon of yoghurt or a nut butter for protein, a handful of spinach you won't taste, and milk. The essential detail is the vessel: a keep cup or a bottle with a lid, never an open glass. An open glass and a baby occupy the same lap eventually.

It also survives being put down for forty minutes, which almost nothing else does.

5. The plate you don't make

Not a recipe. A restocking habit.

On batch day, boil six eggs and put them in the fridge. Buy a good cheese, some cherry tomatoes, a packet of dates, a tub of olives. Then breakfast becomes opening the fridge and taking out four things with one hand.

It feels like cheating. It is the one you'll do most often.

One last thing

The best breakfast in this list is the one that's already in your fridge. Perfect is not on the menu this year, and it isn't the point.

Eat something. Eat it before eleven if you can. Then eat again.

1. Overnight Oats in a Jar

Makes 1 jar · 5 minutes to prepare · overnight to set · make four at once

Method

1. Combine everything in a jar, stirring the nut butter right through rather than leaving it sitting on top.

2. Lid on. Refrigerate overnight.

Notes

• Keeps three to four days, and is better on day two.

• A jar rather than a bowl. A jar survives being knocked off a couch arm.

2. Freezer Egg Cups

Makes 12 · 10 minutes to prepare · 20 minutes to bake

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 12-hole muffin tin.

2. Whisk the eggs, then stir through the zucchini, spinach, feta, salt and pepper.

3. Divide between the holes and bake for 20 minutes, until set and just golden.

4. Cool completely, then freeze in a container.

Notes

• They sink a little as they cool. They're meant to.

• Reheat 30 seconds from frozen, or defrost overnight in the fridge.

• Squeeze the zucchini properly or the cups go watery.

3. The Rolled Wrap

Makes 1 · 5 minutes · holds overnight

Method

1. Spread the hummus or cream cheese right to the edges. It's the glue.

2. Layer the protein and spinach across the lower third.

3. Roll as tightly as you can, wrap in baking paper, refrigerate.

Notes

• The tight roll is the entire trick. A loose one unravels the moment you have only one hand.

• Eat from one end, like a very civilised burrito.

4. A Smoothie With a Lid On It

Makes 1 · 3 minutes · no cutlery

Method

1. Blend until smooth.

2. Pour into a lidded cup or bottle.

Notes

• Never an open glass. An open glass and a baby end up occupying the same lap.

• A frozen banana makes it thicker and colder without watering it down with ice.
  
  

5. The Plate You Don't Make

Serves 1 · 2 minutes · nothing to cook

Method

1. On batch day, boil six eggs and put them in the fridge.

2. Open the fridge. Take out four things. Eat.

Notes

• Not a recipe. A restocking habit.

• It feels like cheating. It's the one you'll do most often.