Know what’s my favorite breakfast meals when I have to eat outside of the house? A sausage egg McMuffin with hash browns (yes, more than one) from McDonald’s and/or either the corned beef or longganisa meals from Tropical Hut. The latter are harder to come by as there are not that many branches of Tropical Hut (you’d be lucky to find at least one in a city). If it’s McDonald’s, it’s better to eat the McMuffin in store while it’s still hot and I mostly have it with a small coffee. With Tropical Hut, you get a small coffee and a really small Pineapple Juice automatically.

These are not the healthiest breakfast options out there, but they’re kind of a guilty pleasure. The coffee is not the best, but they function as much as the food items: I consume them for survival. Okay, that’s dramatic but I eat and drink them to help me start the day. Prior to the pandemic, when I could still do my morning brisk walks for cardio, I would sometimes have breakfast in a McDonald’s near the Hospital I recently got admitted to. When I did, I kid you not, I would get some of the longest walks I ever completed – because I needed to burn off that McDonald’s food.

Like I said, some food and drinks you must consume not for pleasure but for survival. I just recently spent 10 days in a hospital. This was my third time being admitted, and the one where I pretty much did not get a diet restriction. Yep, my favorite meals during this time were the Bicol Express and the Binagoongan (both mostly for the Bagoong/Shrimp Paste they used). Of course, being hospital food, there were some things I did not like especially this bland dish of mixed vegetables with a little tofu mixed – that was it, and a cup of white rice. No dietary restrictions, but portions were light and most of them were in the bland side of things. They were not the best food I ever tasted, but we got a solid three meals a day – there was also always fruits during lunch and dinner. It helped me get well, it helped me survive. I got Covid, in case you were wondering.

This was something like my coffee consumption when I was still working in the offices. It was mostly second wave stuff, ranging from overpriced to just about right. Heck, when I was still in the night shift I even had to rely on the instant coffee from our office vending machines. It’s not exactly like the hospital food or when people trapped in the wilderness have to eat whatever they can find, but this was consuming coffee to survive a workday (especially the instant coffee during a couple of years in the night shift).

So believe me, especially as a guy who barely goes out and still got Covid, we’re all on survival mode right now. When you have the chance to get vaccinated, please consider it. Vaccinated or not, please follow proper social distancing to limit the spread of the virus. If you have symptoms, get in touch with healthcare professionals. I did not get it as bad as some, but I am still feeling the effects and my doctor says recovery usually takes months.

Stay safe, stay caffeinated.

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