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Growing up, how many of you remember hearing that breakfast was the most important meal of the day? I fondly remember taking the time to sit down with the rest of the family and eating a full-balanced meal; it was a great way to start the day! As times have changed, so too has the way most of us eat breakfast. It seems that everyone is in such a hurry now that almost everything is in a to-go form (whether it’s an entire meal packed into a bar or blended into a smoothie). Call us old fashioned, but we thought we’d take a trip down memory lane and reminisce on how breakfast used to be. This is how we remember breakfast!

1. Freshly-Squeezed Juice

Whether you had a fancy juice press, or you did it with your hands, it seems like there was always freshly-squeezed juice waiting for you at the table (usually either orange juice or grapefruit). This was the best type of juice; not from concentrate or loaded with sugar, just juice at it’s purest. Not to mention the added-benefit of starting your day with a workout (juicing wasn’t easy but it was definitely worth it)!

From: Esther Bubley – Farm Security Administration

2. Toast On The Side

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed for sure, it’s that people hate carbs. I remember growing up, no matter what was for breakfast, we always had toast on the side (in fact sometimes, the toast was the main entree). Some of us may have had an old-fashion toaster like the one picture below, but how many of you remember toasting your bread in the oven? Whether it was plain toast with butter or a little cinnamon and sugar, it was always a delicious addition to breakfast.

From John Vachon /
Farm Security Administration

3. Coffee From A Percolator

Yes, if you’re like me, you remember the days before Starbucks, Keurig, and fancy in-home latte machines. When we were growing up, mom used to make the coffee on the stove using a percolator! I can still remember the rich smell as the coffee brewed. And yes, even kids drank coffee back then.

From: Arthur Rothstein / Yale Photogrammar

4. Cereal With Table Sugar

Cereal today is packed with sugar, which is why it’s not as much of a breakfast-mainstay as it used to be. Growing up, the cereals we ate were often more bran or rice-based, so we were allowed to put a spoonful or two of table sugar on it. Nowadays, you’d probably be hard-pressed to even find sugar on the table, much less kids putting it into their cereal. And while this may be a better trend in terms of health, we sure do miss it!

From the Library of Congress

5. Spam Cakes

If you grew up in The Good Old Days, chances are you ate spam quite a bit; perhaps you even ate it with your pancakes for breakfast! While kids today might quiver at the thought of mixing together spam and pancakes, I actually remember them to be quite tasty. They were a quick, simple way to make the pancakes a little more filling, which was always important for starting the day.

From: TitaWorks / Pinterest

As technology continues to boom and the world gets faster and faster, it’s nice to sit down once and awhile and have a family breakfast. It’s a great way to start the day, and if you’re like us, it’ll bring back great memories of The Good Old Days!

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