Zero Carb Breakfast Ideas

When transitioning to a Zero Carb diet from the standard UK diet, it can sometimes be hard to overcome the thinking that you need to eat three main meals per day consisting of breakfast, lunch and dinner.

With regard to breakfast, it can also be difficult to comprehend that you can eat whatever meat you like at breakfast. We have become so conditioned to having ‘breakfast foods’ such as cereals and toast each morning that the idea of eating a freshly fried rump steak or a couple of crispy roast chicken legs can seem a little odd.

Another issue a lot of people experience when they start out with Zero Carb is the need for variety. Most long-term veterans will tell you that after a while of following this way of eating you tend to be satisfied with much less variety. Most vets choose to eat from quite a limited range of meat, usually made up of beef as the main staple.

If the idea of only ever eating beef burgers or beef mince every single day sounds dreadfully boring, just you wait a while!

Having variety is a good idea, especially in the early days of Zero Carb when you haven’t shaken off the old habits of the SUK diet. Adding variety to your meals, especially at breakfast time, can give you the motivation to stick to your diet and keep your mind at rest.

Lets take a look at some examples of interesting and varied breakfast choices. Don’t forget that you are not restricted to eating these combinations at breakfast time alone – they are good at any time of day, especially when your mind is wanting some variety.

Breakfast on the go…….

These ham and egg roll-ups are not only delicious, but they can be made in advance when you know you have a busy morning planned. Great for grabbing on the go in the morning when packing lunch boxes and organising the kids ready for the school run. (Photo courtesy of Clare from Zero Carb UK Facebook Group).

Here is another tasty idea from Clare: Turkey curry bites. These could be made in advance and eaten cold or re-heated quickly in the morning.

Breakfast is also a good time to eat up all your leftovers (if you actually have any) from the day before. You can quickly grab a plate full of cold bits and pieces to make a great breakfast on the run. These are also great to pack up and carry along with you to eat at work. You could add a few cubes of cheese or make a dip using some cream cheese and sour cream to go with your ‘fast-food breakfast’.

Clare has put together a tasty looking plate here consisting of roast chicken thighs (skin on), ZC Scotch egg, curried turkey bites and ham & egg swirls. With this sort of choice you cannot say that ZC breakfasts are boring!

Bringing back traditional breakfasts

Let’s not forget that before breakfast cereals were invented, we used to eat plenty of meat and fish for breakfast. Herrings, sprats, eels, oysters, mussels, cockles and whelks, were all popular during Victorian times for breakfast, as were cod and haddock that were often ‘jugged’, which was a method of poaching fish in jugs of hot water for breakfast.

Early Victorian breakfasts for the more affluent would have consisted of cold meats, cheese and beer.  Beer was a lot safer to drink than water back then. In later Victorian times breakfasts mainly consisted of fish, eggs and bacon, or the “full English” as we know it.

A good old fashioned fry-up (without the carb sides) need not be left until the weekend. You can even throw on a small steak to make the meal more like a mixed-grill breakfast.

Fish is a great choice for breakfast because it can be eaten hot or cold. Fish doesn’t take long to cook either, so if you are short of time in the morning you could poach some salmon steaks in a frying pan in as little as five minutes. Serve with a soft poached egg on the side and you are all set to go!

For an even faster breakfast on the go, you could make up a quick breakfast by mixing together a tin of tuna with some chopped boiled eggs and adding a bit of sour cream. You could throw in some dried herbs such as a pinch of tarragon and some salt and pepper to give it an extra boost of flavour.

Charcuterie is always good to keep in the fridge to add a bit of flavour and variety to your breakfasts. These are great as a side to your main meat dish and good to use as ingredients, such as finely chopped chorizo added to an egg salad. Ideal to serve with some cold sliced beef, ham or gammon.

If you don’t know how to poach salmon, then here is a handy video. You can poach salmon in water, so although this video shows salmon poached in white wine, for an everyday breakfast you can simply use water instead. Salmon poached in white wine is rather nice, but it’s probably best to save this for a special occasion.