8 Easy Morning Recipes for the Lazy UpperClassman

If you are living too far off campus to go to the dining hall, trying to save money by going off a meal plan, not a great cook or just well, very lazy, these recipes are for you. 

I am not going to try to persuade you to eat a four course meal for breakfast or advocate the healthiest recipes for your first meal, but I will give you some quick and easy snacks to give you some energy to go out and complete your 10 hours of school, studying, and activities. 

These recipes are very basic and easy, but the point of their simplicity is that they can be easily made when you are half asleep in the morning. As you're grumbling at your roommates for turning on the blender a little too early in the morning, you can try and make one of these simple recipes right before your classes. 

1. Yogurt With Berries: This recipe is very simple and easy to obtain for people who need to rush to their 8 am or even 7 am recitations. The easiest route is grabbing several packs of your favorite yogurt like Yoplait, Dannon, or even Kefir along with your favorite fresh or frozen berries. For an even healthier meal, use Greek yogurt like Chobani or Fage to add that extra protein into the mix. And don't stop here with just berries, add your favorite granola, nuts, and seeds to the mix if you have a little more extra time on your hands.

2. Eggs Any Style

Sometimes people can make it seem like eggs are difficult to make in the morning or require too much effort, but I have often been short on time and still managed to fry some eggs before my early morning classes. The easiest, fastest, and laziest way to make eggs in the morning is by frying them. Just drop them into a pan with a little bit of oil, cut them through on one side before flipping them onto the other for whatever your egg preference is. Add salt, pepper, Sriracha hot sauce or cheese, and you have a quick and easy meal in under 10 minutes. 

3. Oatmeal

As a little kid, I gave oatmeal a bad rep because of its chunky and mysterious consistency, but it is such a great early morning meal if you are running short on time. The Quaker instant oatmeal packets come in a variety of flavors from maple and brown sugar, apple cinnamon spice, or my favorite, walnuts and dates. Add milk or water, mix it up, and pop into the microwave for about 2 minutes. And there you have it: instant oatmeal that you can throw into your Tupperware and probably sneak a bite of in class. Again, don't be afraid to add toppings like chocolate chips, nuts, or fruit to create a more balanced meal, but yet again, doing all this is a lot of effort for us lazy folks.

4. Coffee with Toasted Bread

You might think that this is a given meal to have in the morning, but this is actually an alternative to what you usually might think of as coffee and toast. The best way to eat this is by making café au lait or, in simpler terms, by adding milk to your coffee. Sweeten it however you want or even don't sweeten it at all. The new instructions to this recipe is to toast your favorite bread and dip it into the coffee. Now you might be wanting to close this article from this scary thought of dipping your precious bread into your coffee, but trust me, you better not knock it until you try it. I have grown up with my family dipping bread into coffee before I knew that it wasn't completely normal. And once you get comfortable with it, as I know you will, add a little bit of butter or even peanut butter to your toast for extra flavor and protein.

5. Cereal

You all love it, and you all love to eat it. So, why not try a little harder to eat it in the morning? It really only takes 5-10 minutes to sit down and eat your cereal, and there is no reason to give up breakfast when you can just wake up a little earlier for a good morning meal. On a healthier note, try to go for cereals that are made of whole grains like my favorite, Honey Nut Cheerios. Not to mention, a little milk and some whole grains isn't too bad for you in the morning, so eat up!

6. Banana and Peanut Butter

This is a common snack I know that people have throughout the day, but it's such a quick and lazy meal for the morning. Bananas and Peanut Butter gives you both the protein and the good carbs to last throughout the day without having too heavy of a meal. Plus, who would turn down peanut butter?

7. Breakfast Smoothie

Smoothies are wonderful because you can literally ADD ANYTHING to them and they will probably taste good, or at least be edible. My favorite type of breakfast smoothie is with fresh berries, milk, a little bit of kale and bananas, and with that alone, you'll have an easy and delicious smoothie where you will most likely have several cups worth of extras, if you can bat away your roommates from drinking it. 

8. Granola Bars

I give a lot of credit to having a little extra energy in college to munching on a granola bar right before heading over to class. Don't let people scare you into thinking that all granola bars are unhealthy, especially since the best time to eat them is in the morning. One of the best brands for granola bars I would recommend are KIND bars. They are always packed with dried fruit, nuts, and healthy grains that give you the perfect little meal to carry you over for maybe a class or two. These bars are truly life savers if you wake up late and have a long day ahead of you.

There are dozens more options that you can find just by looking into your cupboard for quick, easy, and lazy meals you can have in the morning. It's easy to tell yourself that breakfast is not that important, but when you're hit with lots of busy days and heavy loads of homework, you will be happy to have a little sustenance to carry you along. So take some of these recipes, and at least attempt to update your schedule so you can fit one of these small meals in every morning.