I tried eating breakfast for dinner every night
Breakfast is, by far, my favorite meal of the day. Some mornings, if we’re honest, it’s my main motivating factor for getting out of bed.
I look forward to getting creative with new combinations to stack my breakfast sandwich with or top my waffles or oatmeal with, depending on what I’m in the mood for that day.
Which got me thinking – why have I been limiting myself to eating breakfast for only one of my three meals? When I was a kid, I swore I’d eat cereal for dinner whenever I wanted to (the sugary stuff – none of that healthy stuff), so why hadn’t I made good on that promise to my younger self?
I decided to spend a week eating breakfast for dinner. Here’s what happened.
Day 1
Before my experiment, I stocked up on all my favorite breakfast foods – eggs, bagels and oatmeal, as well as a variety of my go-to cereals from childhood: Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs and Frosted Flakes, to name a few. My strategy was to have cereal in the morning, then a more hearty breakfast like pancakes or an egg sandwich for dinner.
On day 1, I made a bowl of Frosted Flakes. Since dinner was going to be carb-heavy, I made a quick salad for lunch. By dinnertime, I was craving something sweet, so I whipped up some banana pancakes and bacon.
I found myself craving coffee to go with this — but knew if I had another cup at 7 pm, I’d be up all night, so I pushed past it, watched some TV and called it a night.
Day 2
I kicked my morning off with some magically delicious Lucky Charms, then got to work.
By lunchtime, I craved some more nostalgia, so I made a can of Beefaroni – which didn’t taste as good as I remember it as a kid.
I made scrambled eggs and toast for dinner and cut up some strawberries to go along with it since I’d eaten pretty much nothing nutritious all day.
Day 3
By day 3 of the experiment, I noticed that my morning sugary cereal was starting to cause me to crash at around 11 am. I’d had Cocoa Puffs that morning and decided that tomorrow I’d try something with less sugar to offset this.
For lunch, I forced myself to eat a healthy meal of steamed broccoli and grilled chicken, which seemed to help with my energy levels. I made a frittata for dinner with mushrooms, onions and tomato.
Day 4
I woke up craving cereal but forced myself to have leftover frittata instead, which was pretty unsatisfying. I had a turkey sandwich for lunch. During the rest of day 4, something weird started to happen.
I was craving dinner food around dinner time instead of looking forward to breakfast. Still, I soldiered on with the experiment. I was craving sushi, so I made a bagel with lox and cream cheese for dinner in hopes it would satisfy me. It was good, but it didn’t hit the spot as far as my craving went.
Day 5-6
These were, by far, the most challenging days in the experiment. I found myself throwing dinner items into my omelets, like grilled chicken or even ground beef.
I’d managed to out cereal myself by day 6 – and felt like I couldn’t look Tony the Tiger in the eye anymore without feeling a little queasy.
Day 7
On my final day, I tried to get back to the enthusiasm I’d had for breakfast before this experiment started.
For breakfast that morning, I ordered my favorite breakfast of all time – Eggs Benedict – from my go-to local spot. It was delicious, but I still found myself dreading my breakfast for dinner meal later that night.
After researching, I decided to make shakshuka – an egg dish with tomato sauce and feta, which seemed as close to dinner as I could get. It was good, but I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t so tired of eggs at this point.
In conclusion, I still love breakfast – and can even see the benefit of having it for dinner every once in a while. But as with any food, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing – to the point where you don’t enjoy it as much anymore.
I wouldn’t recommend eating breakfast for dinner seven days in a row – but if you’re in the mood for it every once in awhile, I’d say go for it.
