08 January 2007

Cereal -- It's Not Just for Breakfast

I love cereal and I usually have at least 2-3 types of cereal on hand. Raisin Bran is my favorite.

I could eat cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I consider it an any time meal and in the past, especially when I was single and working two jobs, I depended upon a couple of bowls of cereal, a couple of hard-boiled eggs along with a yogurt and fruit to get me through the 8 am to 11 pm work day. Sometimes a protein bar if I was very hungry that day.

For a special treat I would make slow-cooked oatmeal with raisins when I had a bit of time on the weekends. Instant oatmeal is a travesty.

Not coincidentally, I was also at my slimmest during this time!

I mean it. I really, really love cereal.

My love of cereal is now being tested. The problem is not the cereal. I've already found a couple of brands that I like. The real issue is that I don't like the milk.

I was raised on skim milk. Even 1% or 2% seems too thick. And whole milk (4%) is not even to be considered. Tastes like a glass of cream. Yeech! Adding water to it just makes it watered down.

And I am very sad because the lowest fat content I can find in the lactose free milk is 3.8% milk fat. (Yes, lactose free is necessary. Otherwise extreme unpleasantness occurs. Enough said.) And the higher fat content is also causing other, how do I put this delicately, "issues." My stomach is just not accustomed to eating a higher fat diet.

I suppose eventually I will become accustomed to it and will be able to stomach it better. And I believe that I will branch out into other genres of breakfast, perhaps even the traditional Germanic breakfast of cold-cut meats, cheese and bread.

But I am still concerned that my Love Fest with cereal is at an end.

By the way, is anyone else freaked out by the fact that milk isn't refrigerated in the grocery stores here? Is it just the American obsession with germs and bacteria that causes us to refrigerate milk? Or is the milk processed differently to allow for a longer shelf life?

4 comments:

Jul said...

The unrefrigerated milk here is processed an entirely different way, making it last a long time (but you have to refrigerate once it's open). They sell fresh milk here, too, always refrigerated. The unrefrigerated eggs used to freak me out, too....

Given your aversion to lactose, have you tried soy milk or rice milk? Soy milk tasted funny to me at first, but now I'm used to it and like the taste. Plus it's much healthier than high-fat cow milk...

Jul said...

PS - I just emailed you re: drinks.

Unknown said...

I love the taste of milk in Europe. I think it tastes way better than back in the states/canada. But I think I had to get more used to it.

The unrefriged milk is called UHT or something like that and it is boiled ahead of time. I was told by many that you don't really have to refrig it afterwards either (never could I do that though!).

I'd totally go with Juls recommendations. I prefer soy hands down now...

I got laughed at for refrigerating stuff that you just don't put there...

Sarah said...

I'd be in the same boat as you without my skim milk. So glad you all made it safely to the land of the beautiful people. :-)