Breakfast

When I heard kids were going to school without eating breakfast I was amazed. At the age of 7 I was making my own breakfast. I'd put some thin sliced bread in the toaster, push down the lever, take the bread when it popped up, spread it with butter and go to school, eating on the way. However, sometimes my parents would make my breakfast for me.

Depending on what was being advertised, I either had a boiled egg or porridge.

Boiled eggs, despite propaganda to the contrary, are quite healthy. So the yolk contains cholesterol, eh? Well the brain is 90% cholesterol. In fact, cholesterol is one of the building blocks of cells, and so eggs are the most amazing food for growing children!

When I was 9 my mom had her thyroid out, and spent the best part of a year in hospital. To start with, I stayed with my Auntie Jen and Uncle Arthur, but when it became clear Mom wasn't coming home anytime soon, I had to go home and basically fend for myself. This was because Dad worked shifts: either nights, when I wasn't allowed to do hardly anything in case I woke him, days which in fact were 6 - 2, or afternoons. That meant I didn't see my father for days on end. But Dad used to make my meals and leave them for me with instructions.

Breakfast, made by Dad, was boiled egg sandwiches. He'd use the doorstep bread - well, Mom wasn't there to shout at him! and boil the eggs for 7 minutes, then stick the pan under the cold tap for a while. He'd thickly butter the bread and slice the eggs on to the bread, then put them in a sandwich bag and leave them in the fridge for me. If I didn't fancy eating them first thing I would put them in my school bag and eat them at break. Oh eggy smells!

Breakfast made by Mom was porridge. This is so cheap even today. You can get a bag of porridge oats enough for breakfast for a week for about 50p even now. It's flexible and versatile too, as well as being nutritious and good for your heart.

If you're really, really poor like we were once, you make it with water. Maybe you can sprinkle some sugar on top of it when you serve it. When times were better we used milk to make it, sprinkle with sugar and pour some extra milk around it. When I left home and was fending for myself I used to put a dollop of jam in the middle. If you're into honey or golden syrup, I'm sure you could use those.

If you can't face the faff of making porridge first thing in the morning - and you need a really good pan or a microwave, in which case there really is no excuse - then put it together the night before. In the morning you warm it up. Couldn't be easier.

Just don't get me started on Ready Brek. We got some of that one winter. God it was dreadful. Tasted like cardboard. Haven't dared try it since!