A staple of science fiction, along with hover-boards and iPads, is the pill that somehow contains the nutrition of a single meal. That’s still a bit of a long way off, despite what others (e.g. 1, e.g. 2) may tell you.

In order to attend conveniently and reasonably cheaply to my nutritional needs at breakfast and lunch, I use overnight oats and a protein-based smoothie respectively, such that I only need to consider one ‘proper’ meal per day—supper—which changes daily and where more effort goes into sourcing ingredients and preparation.

Overnight oats

This will do two small-ish servings:

• 50 grams oats
• 300 grams oat milk (Oatley Barista Edition gets my vote)
• 10 grams chia seeds
• cocoa powder (optional)
• honey or other (optional)
• berries e.g. blueberries, raspberries, cherries (optional)

1. Put the oats, oat milk, and chia seeds in a large jar (or other sealable container) and leave in the refrigerator over night
2. In the morning, heat (in pan on the stove or in the microwave) and serve

Lunchtime smoothie

For one:

• two scoops flavoured impact whey protein powder (I use myprotein impact whey protein usually in strawberry flavour)
• nuts (whatever types I have to hand e.g. red peanuts, almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seed), 1x tablespoon of each type
• goji berry, teaspoon

1. The nuts and goji berries go in the blender with enough water to completely cover—this is then blended into a reasonably viscous liquid akin to a paste
2. Water is added up to the normal volume of 500 millilitres or so, with the protein powder then being added on top, blending again

(I buy raw nuts mail order in bulk and then roast them at home in the oven such that I always have plenty of nuts to hand. The only exception to this is flax seed which I buy in pre-ground.)