I love to cook and really spend time on preparing food for me and my fella, but especially at this time of year, I find myself scrambling just to keep up with work deadlines and keeping the house from falling into disarray.

But eating right during the Christmas shopping and errands and life events? That can be tricky. And a healthy breakfast? Even trickier! So I was pleased to find two solutions – Vitamuffins and Grain-Free JK Gourmet Cereals – to help us make our way through the day!

Vitamuffins

VitaMuffins are muffins that you keep in the freezer!

First of all, I looove that, because you don’t have to worry about buying or making muffins and then not eating them before they go bad (for a household of 2 people, making muffins means muffins for breakfast AND lunch for at least a week!) and second of all, they have a 9 month freezer shelf life, so you can eat them whenever you want and not feel pressure to finish the box before the expiry date!

You can defrost them on the counter or pop them into the microwave for just a few seconds. I love the Deep Chocolate Muffins while they’re hot – the chocolate chips are all soft and gooey and at only 100 calories each, you don’t have to feel guilty about having a chocolate muffin for breakfast for once!

There is CranBran, MultiBran and BlueBran, which are all okay for bran muffins. At least you know you’re getting some fiber, iron and calcium into you and all but the chocolate are fat-free!

For the 2 of us, a fairly healthy muffin that we eat at our leisure (read: when we’re rushing out the door and haven’t had a balanced breakfast), that won’t pack on the pounds is a pretty great thing.

Grain-Free JK Gourmet Cereals

I love granola. There was a time when I was a kid that I had Quaker Harvest Granola every morning. But as a young woman, it was revealed how much sugar and how many calories were in each bowl. I switched to Shredded Wheat and various kinds of all-natural puffs.

So when I first saw Grain-Free JK Gourmet, I was wondering if it could taste good despite not having gluten, refined sugar or grains. They are sweetened with honey and use nut flours (mostly almond flour), but are grain free. How would it stack up without using things like granola staples like oats?

This Canadian company devoted to making all-natural, preservative-free baked goods has managed to made incredibly delicious granolas that are incredibly filling (you don’t need much in the bowl to feel full, which means the bag lasts longer!), and yet don’t make you feel uncomfortably full that can sometimes accompany trying to digest grains or gluten.

Many of their cereals are also dairy-free, which I also appreciate.

My very favourite flavour is their Nuts and Raisins Original. It is sweet and crunchy and satisfies me better than any other cereal ever has! I ate the whole bag by the end of the workweek! I enjoyed having the opportunity to try Apple Spice and Raisin, Mission Fig and Apricot (mmm – so sticky and sweet!), and Hazelnut and Date (a heartier granola), which were all good but the original is what pleases me the most.

These cereals are more expensive than most, but they don’t have all that added junk either, so to me, it’s worth it.

A bowl of goodness that I enjoy AND is good for me?

Yeah, I’m going to spend the little extra.