Grapefruit and cereal was pretty much the standard throughout. Occasionally a different fruit (cantaloupe, pineapple).

When I lived in Westchester County, NY, for a couple years, I often had Wheatena from Halloween to Easter.

I think it depended on the season. We certainly ate a lot of oatmeal, but I also recall a lot of bacon and (sunny side up) eggs. Pancakes. Cold (un-presweetened) cereal. I’d say probably mostly oatmeal and cereal, M-F during the school year. Slower, heartier meals on the weekend.

All I remember is having cold breakfast cereal. Oatmeal was special and was reserved for cold days. Breakfast was not a sit down affair. We all ate and ran.

Cereal

Usually cereal or Malto Meal. I have never been a big breakfast type, and never cook traditional breakfasts. It is now 10 am on the west coast and I will be having a tuna sandwich for brunch in another hour or so. lol

We had huge monster heart stopper breakfasts. We milked the cows first, then came in for pancakes, sausages, bacon, and eggs. With toast with butter. If we didn’t put in the physical work we’d all be dead by now. But god, they were good, especially on a cold winter morning.

^^^ And that’s where the idea that we need to eat 3 big, hearty meals a day came in, from back in the day when we DID need to eat 3 big meals a day to keep us going because we were working so hard!

Living with my dad it was usually cereal. Usually the saw dust type, like Corn Flakes. It was fine, always filled me up. If it wasn’t cereal, it was waffles. Like you know, those leggo my eggo waffles you stick in the toaster. I always had two, and smothered them in that Aunt Jemimah syrup shit. Was pretty good, although I’ve long given up eating that. That damn syrup can’t be good for your teeth.
I made the breakfasts myself, although for the waffles my dad usually stuck them in the toaster after waking me up, so I’d just grab em out of there after.

Cereal or waffles, mind you, there isn’t much work in ’‘making’’ such breakfasts.

Cereal or toast. I was not a morning person and wouldn’t have woken up early enough to eat a home-cooked meal even if someone prepared it for me. I love breakfast food now, but typically eat it as “brunch” or “breakfast for dinner” now. I’m still not a morning person..

Often soft-boiled egg and soldiers,oj, milk or in the winter, hot chocolate made the old-fashioned way.

Quisp, Cap’n Crunch, and Frosted Flakes. The teachers hated my mom for this

@Cruiser Capn Crunch is awesome. :D

Oh Gawd. My sisters used to eat Capn Crunch! GAG me!

Mmmm…Berry Cap’n Crunch!

Let’s not forget French Toast Crunch, Fruit Loops, Apple Jacks, Trix, and Cooooookie Crisp. Yummy sugary goodness.

cornflakes with cocoa powder
sometimes sausage with mustard and a breadroll

Remember when Corn Pops were Sugar Pops?

If I got up early enough I fixed cereal or microwave oatmeal for myself and my brother. By middle school I stopped eating breakfast, and just got a Surge from the high school’s soda machine when I walked through the courtyard on my way to my school.

It was sugary cold cereal and I have the fillings in my teeth to show for it. When I had time to make something myself and got old enough to use the stove, I loved making cream-o-wheat. Cold winter mornings and the purchase of a microwave when I was in 6th grade meant Quaker oats with all the yummy flavours. (note to self, get BBE to bring cream-o-wheat when he visits next month).

I used to make Chocolate Malt OMeal for my daughter. It always came out lumpy. One time it came out smooth and she got upset! She prefers it lumpy to this day. M. Chocolate Malt O Meal. Gotta get me some!

When my daughter was little we had a pet donkey named Minnie Pearl. Minnie would only walk with the kids in her back if you dangled a baggie full of Cap’n Crunch. She wouldn’t move her muley ass for anything else. lol

Apple slices and yogurt and orange or apple juice.

There were 4 of us, left to prepare our own breakfast, and we were surprisingly well regimented. Our dad worked on the railroad, and mom was a secretary at the Veteran’s Administration. Mom would crank up the chevy and drive off before we fought over the bathroom. Sometimes the 4 of us would be in there together, the girls braiding hair, and me and my 4 year old brother brushing teeth. The bathroom was also the warmest room in the house in winter. Thinking back, it’s amazing that there was a time when responsible adults would trust things to go well with four kids under 8 years old left to fend for themselves, then walk the 3 blocks to school. We also would come home for lunch. Breakfast was always cereal with fruit. There was always Welch’s grape juice and orange juice (made from frozen concentrate). 2 half gallons of milk had to be retrieved from the milk box (we had a milk man) every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It was really critical in winter, because the bottles would freeze and break if we forgot them. One thing I do recall is that the 4 of us would fry and consume enormous quantities of bacon. We would fry it up to go with the cereal, then at lunch fry up more for bacon sandwiches. We would drain the grease from the griddle, to save for cooking! Another thing I remember were my mom’s trips to the supermarket, when the trunk and back seat could be filled with bags of groceries at a cost of $20. Seriously, 2 cartloads. It was crucial that I accompany my mother, because left on her own, she never “brought home the bacon” (at least never enough). But the best breakfasts were in the summer on my dad’s days at home, because those were the days when we would walk to Pedersen’s bakery for danish the likes of which I haven’t taste since. We could pick out whatever we wanted. Then back home to bacon, danish and cold milk. Dad was the best! From him, the 4 of us inherited a serious sugar addiction. My mom, bless her perpetual cigarette smoking heart, was apparently unaware of the hazards involved with a bacon diet, but had no illusions about sugar. She would look at pop and say “Don’t fill these kids with sugar” as the Chesterfield smoke curled from her nose. (dad called her “the dragon” but never to her face). In the summer, we would be outside all over the neighborhood playing, but the first day of my dad’s 4 days off, we would all know to be home by noon. Then the pilgrimage to Pedersens, this time for cake, usually a 3 layered yellow cake with coconut frosting. We would come home, get the milk, and the 5 of us would devour THE ENTIRE THING. That was lunch, and it always ended with dad’s “now you know guys, there’s no need to worry your mother about our lunch”, at which point, four of our heads would swivel to face my little brother, who could not seem to appreciate the meaning of a secret. The area was then policed, and not a crumb nor shred of evidence was allowed visible. Dishes were washed dried, and shelved, and I personally would haul the huge cake box and string it was tied with to the 50 gallon drum outside that served as a trash burner (every household had one). Then light the trash, and watch the evidence vanish. Inevitably the dragon would arrive in the evening, while dad was usually cooking dinner. She would then immediately confront my brother with “What did you guys have for lunch?” And my poor brother, would proudly announce, beaming all the while ” We had a BIG cake and I ate lots!”

Kids can be amazingly responsible.
We used to have milk delivered too. My sister once dropped a jar…and stepped on the glass. Blood, blood, everywhere!

Non-existent

@Symbeline Capn Crunch is also great for throwing under your tires when you get stuck in the snow!

Wow! @stanleybmanly that was a GA and then some. Are you a writer in real life? If not, you should be.

Fruit, or cereal. I always got it myself. My mother was gone by the time I got up for school, and my father was still sleeping. My oldest sister always got my breakfast for me, until I could do it myself.

Cereal

In the early years we usually had cold cereal and milk to drink, with maybe a piece of toast. Later on, in elementary school we discovered Carnation Instant Breakfast. I also liked Cream of Wheat

Weekday breakfast was usually eggs, bacon and toast or one of the few cold or hot cereals that was available back then. But Sunday breakfast each week was… ahhhhh!!! ... a deli (real deli) brunch. Hosted by my dad, a transplanted New York Jew, it comprised bagels, lox and cream cheese; kosher pickles and half-dill tomatoes; smoked whitefish or sturgeon; and creamed pickled herring. Can’t get that kind of deli anymore, at least not where I live.

Most days it was cold cereal. Usually Cheerios or Rice Krispies. Oatmeal sometimes, if I remembered to ask. Milk and orange juice to drink. My dad had eggs over medium and maple flavored sausage. My mom ate toast. When grandma lived with us, she had a poached egg and toast. We sat at the kitchen table. My dad read the newspaper, but would always give me the comics. I didn’t talk much because I was not a morning person.

Eggs and toast, or Cream of Wheat, or Cocoa Wheats, or oatmeal during the week. pancakes or waffles on the weekend. If mom needed or wanted something, homemade whipped cream. Extra thick for dad.
When mom started working, She’d make oatmeal cookies before she left so they’d be there warm when we woke up. That soon evolved to, “You can have corn flakes and get your own darn breakfast.”

I went to elementary school in Russia and we were pretty poor so I guess I ate a lot of Farina-like kasha and drank a lot of tea.

Oatmeal and a banana.

Mom was at work, dad was sick, big sis started earlier than me, other big sis married. One big bro married and the other in Vietnam. If I was lucky there was cereal and milk to fend for myself and my baby brother. Sometimes it was toast and sometimes I waited until lunch. The worst was getting ready alone and burning myself trying to iron my own clothes.

Also poached eggs on toast. and sunny boy breakfast slop.

@Judi You grew up at such an early age…I am sure whether he realized it then or not that your baby brother was happy for all that you provided in those challenging years

I fought an overwhelming urge to go in search of a place that served Eggs Benedict this afternoon.
I might have to have my bi-decade, 40,000 calorie, fat laden breakfast soon.

Usually cereal or an English muffin. I’d have to ask my mom what else, I don’t remember anything besides those, but I think there were other things.

@Cruiser, I freak out thinking about it sometimes. I look at my 6 and 7 year old grand kids and try to imagine them warming bottles, changing diapers and ironing their own clothes. I’m not sure how we survived. I gave him a black eye once when he wouldn’t get ready for school and I threw ice water in his face.

I didn’t know English muffins existed until 1984! I remember hearing about yogert in the 70’s but it was something only “Long haired hippie-type pinko fags” ate. Didn’t try yougert until about 1984 either. O the things I missed!

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Please translate ”Farina-like kasha”

Cereal and Milk DON’T BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!!!

Frosted Flakes or Toast and jam or (if mom had been inspired) Scones.

I can remember eating cream of wheat. Pretty good with milk and sugar. We also used to eat Cinnamon Life cereal. I hated that cereal. Tasted like cardboard and very bland. Yuck!

My grand kids get ice cream instead of milk in their cereal when they spend the night with me. :-)

Awwww. ^ ^ ^, sweet! I love cereal and ice cream!

People put icecream in cereal?

We discovered it because we were out of milk. Now it’s a tradition.

@AshLeigh, Absafrizzerlutely! It is a must try.

@Dutchess_III – Farina is basically cream of wheat. I have no idea what kasha is.

I have never heard of this.

When I answered this I was thinking breakfast on a school day. On the weekends we had cereal, English muffins, Wheatina, French toast, or a bagel. Sometimes we had bacon with the French toast or a bacon English muffin sandwich (bacon English muffin sandwich is still a big treat to me for breakfast). Once in a blue moon we ate hot oatmeal, scrambled eggs, or a croque monsieur. As I got older I began making my own omelets, and had those a lot for several years.

Maybe they didn’t have English muffins where you lived? I think Thomas, an Englishman, started making them in NYC over 100 years ago. Since I was in elementary school living outside of NYC they may have been available to us and not the whole country? Not sure. I know when I moved to MD in the late ‘70’s they had them too and store brand knock-offs.

I have absolutely no recollections of breakfasts on school days in my childhood. I only remember doughnuts from the local bakery after church on Sundays. I’m not sure if this should worry me.

Farina also sounds a bit like the French word for flour; farine. :/

I don’t recall them serving breakfast either. And about half the time Mom sent a lunch to school with me.

@Dutchess_III – Oddly enough, I remember not eating breakfast in High School because it was too early; so I’m guessing that I did have breakfast in earlier years, but it wasn’t a memorable experience. I have only vague memories of lunches – and more of the thermos it was packed in, rather than the food itself.

I remember those glass lined thermoses. Mom put chocolate milk in them for me! And fixed us peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Yum!

Farina(food) and Kasha

One of the fellows from the Our Gang features was named Farina

Not sure why some of those kids were named after grains like Alfalfa and Buckwheat.

My daughter named her son Kale….

“Maybe they didn’t have English muffins where you lived? I think Thomas, an Englishman, started making them in NYC over 100 years ago.” Good golly, miss molly! How old are you @Dutchess_III??

Sheesh, you 2, I was j/k!

@Dutchess_III I’m not sure where that came from, but I know a guy named Kale. And a girl named Cayle, pronounced the same way.

@livelaughlove21, @Kardamom said, “Not sure why some of those kids were named after grains like Alfalfa and Buckwheat.” Well, I’m just saying my daughter named her son after a leafy vegetable, somewhat related to a cabbage! :)

@Dutchess_III Gotcha. I know what kale is, I just missed that comment.

@Kardamom thanks for helping out

A sunday browse through the fluther archives here. This morning I had a sliced apple, a piece of sharp cheddar cheese, raisin toast and cashews for breakfast. I almost had left over spaghetti. haha I often eat dinner foods for breakfast.

Wow. I don’t even remembering asking this.

LOL. Were you drunk? XD

I don’t think so! Probably still recovering from Christmas.

^^ Reminds me of something I read recently: “If you were to walk a mile in my shoes, you would most likely end up in a bar”.

I WAS NOT DRUNK, PEOPLE!!!! Lollling here! :D I hate you.

Good…Good…
Let the hate flow through you!
Feel the power of the dark side of the Force!

I care, @ragingloli. I care.

Oatmeal during the winter. It was probably near a mile walk to the bus stop.