One of the things that has changed quite a bit over the years is breakfast.

For a long time, breakfast at our house was pretty straightforward — some sort of bread bought from the supermarket with ham and cheese, luncheon meat, tuna, otah, or the very Singaporean combination of kaya and butter. Sometimes, it was just bread buns from the bakery.

Then COVID happened.

I started baking bread at home during the pandemic, and for a while we had a pretty good supply of homemade loaves and buns. Fresh bread straight from the oven is hard to resist, after all.

These days, though, you’ll find a lot more oats on our breakfast table.

And no, I never thought I’d be saying that either.

So what changed?

There wasn’t really one big moment when I decided that we were all going to become an oatmeal family. It happened gradually.

After my husband’s cholesterol readings came back high almost two years ago, we started having oats more regularly. At the same time, we’re also more conscious about protein these days, especially since we’re strength training and the kids are still growing.

I’ve also become a little… obsessive about protein.

I check the numbers. I compare things. I look at food labels. Basically, if something is supposed to be contributing protein to my breakfast, I want to know that it’s actually contributing a decent amount😂

Breakfast also needs to be substantial enough to keep me going. Mornings can get pretty crazy, especially when I have back-to-back lessons or meetings, and I don’t want to be sitting at work thinking about food an hour after breakfast.

And it needs to be prepared in advance.

My morning motto is basically:

Whatever can be prepped today should not be done tomorrow.

Every minute of sleep-in time counts.

I am very serious about this.

Enter the oats

My usual oatmeal base is actually very simple:

• 25g oats
• 50g milk
• 60g Greek yogurt
• 5–8g protein powder

Sometimes I’ll add other ingredients depending on what I’m in the mood for. Cocoa is a favourite, and I’ve made chocolate blueberry, berry-themed, strawberry cheesecake, banana black sesame and a Black Forest-inspired version too. The tiramisu-inspired version was alright, but maybe that needs a bit more tweaking.

And somewhere along the way, I actually started enjoying oatmeal.

My husband, however, has historically been very much in the “I don’t like oatmeal” camp. So when he told my mother at National Day dinner that my recent overnight chocolate oats tasted like dessert in a jar, I considered that a significant achievement.

If I can get an oatmeal-hating husband to voluntarily praise oatmeal, I think we’re doing something right.

Why overnight oats work for me

The biggest advantage isn’t even the fact that oats fit nicely into what we’re trying to do with our eating.

It’s the convenience.

Breakfast is done.

I can prepare it the night before, put it in the fridge and not have to think about breakfast when I wake up. No cooking, no chopping, no standing in the kitchen deciding what to eat.

Just take it out of the fridge and eat.

And because I’ve become rather particular about getting enough protein and staying satisfied through busy mornings, this combination works well for me.

It isn’t fancy.

It isn’t particularly Instagram-worthy.

It’s just practical.

And practical is exactly what I need at 6-something in the morning. Not to mention, it tastes absolutely divine.

But we haven’t abandoned bread

I’m not about to claim that oats have magically replaced all the bread in our lives.

That would be a lie.

Homemade bread is still a treat that I enjoy making, and there are definitely days when a freshly baked bun wins over a jar of oats. We just eat it differently now.

Bread used to be the more regular breakfast option.

Oats are now my weekday default.

And weekends are a little different anyway. There might be a Yindii rescue bag, Mr Bean, Nam Kee bao or even the occasional birthday cake and homemade Swiss rolls.

Because I don’t think breakfast needs to be “perfect” every single day. The whole point is finding something that works for your current life. Right now, oats work really well for ours. And somewhere along the way, I actually started enjoying them.

Which is probably the biggest surprise of all.

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m quite happy to wake up to a jar of overnight oats. I know many people prefer to use rolled oats for this, but I like the texture of instant oats better because the crumb is finer and really feels like eating dessert. We do what we feel is best for ourselves, and right now, I think waking up to dessert-like oats is what works best for us.