Breakfast literally means Break the Fast. Most people fast 10 to 12 hours between dinner and morning. If you’re like me, you’re in a hurry and having easy breakfast ideas makes it possible to get everyone out the door well fed.
In this post you’ll find easy breakfast ideas you can make the night before, create in 5 minutes, or prepare hot within 30 minutes.
BREAKFASTS OF LOVE
Growing up, my Momma made us breakfast every morning before school. That was our tradition. Weekends and summers we were usually on our own to scrounge something up. I loved everyone around the table at the start of the day and never went to school feeling hungry. Because that was important to me, I vowed my kids would always have a prepared meal before heading out the door.
That was not always easy, especially when I had a newborn or was struggling with ME/CFS. I was a stay-at-home mom for many years, but when I began working it became even harder. My husband promised that he’d help keep that tradition alive. (He was Mr. Mom for a while.) Having a wide variety of options and flexibility in what constituted breakfast made it easier. I learned some hacks along the way, too. I’ve learned a few things in 31 years of parenting. I’m currently in my last year of having high schoolers, so I’ll share with you what works for me.
NUTRIENT RICH FOOD
Here’s the biggest take away. Breakfast can be anything. Because it’s important for that food to last until lunchtime, it needs to have certain elements besides sugar, but I got way too caught up in the idea that breakfast had to be the traditional breakfast foods of cereal or pancakes or eggs. Not so.
I have had several kids who do not like the typical breakfast food collection. Child #2 would rather have leftovers from dinner. On mornings when it was up to him, that’s what he’d heat up. So don’t get caught up in staying inside the “breakfast box”.
I still fix a lot of traditional, but it’s mostly important to get nutrient-dense calories in our bodies. When I was a health educator, I taught the Jr. High kids that fruit (and sugar cereals) will give you that immediate burst of energy and last about 30 minutes – maybe. Vegetables (more fiber) take up to an hour to digest. Whole grains are going to carry you an hour or two because they have even more fiber. And proteins and fats take even longer and can last up to four hours. That’s why it’s important to get a wide variety of foods in the morning. I taught them to aim for three food groups. The following video was not made by me. The Foodie does a great job of explaining in less than two and a half minutes. Check it out.
Easy Breakfast Ideas
These are all breakfasts that I have personally made. There are a million different ideas and recipes out there, so this is not an exclusive list by any means. I will be adding recipes to my blog as time goes by, so keep an eye out and check back often.
Hot 30-Minute (ish) Breakfasts
- Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes
- French Toast Sticks
- Egg Sandwhich
- Skillet Breakfast
- Southwest Breakfast Burrito
- Norwegian Pancakes with filling
- Breakfast Casserole
- Hashbrowns, sausage links, and wheat toast
- Sunshine Rice
- Easy Eggs Benedict
- Biscuits and Gravy
Hot 20-Minute (or less) Breakfasts
- Hearty Fruit and Nut Oatmeal
- Milk Toast (cinnamon toast [homemade] with warm milk poured over the top)
- Scrambled Eggs
- Buttered Eggs (boiled eggs mashed with butter)
- Bird Nests (egg cooked inside toast)
- Hot cereal (Cream of Wheat, Malt-O-Meal, Grits, Corn mush)
- Fried eggs, bacon or ham, and toast
- Protein Waffles
- Boiled eggs
- Omelet
Fast Cold Breakfasts
- Whole grain cereals (look for 3 grams of fiber or more on the nutrition fact label)
- Cheerios, Wheaties, Mini Wheats, Grape Nuts, Honey Bunches of Oats and so on
- Mini Bagels and Cream Cheese (you can also put yogurt, peanut butter, jelly, sun butter, etc. on top)
- Toast with peanut butter and sliced bananas
- Yogurt
- Boiled Eggs
- Fruit Smoothie (Shrek Smoothie with strawberries, yogurt, and spinach was a favorite with kindergarteners)
- English Muffin (with peanut butter or cream cheese)
- Monkey wrap (wheat tortilla with peanut butter, grape nuts, and a banana rolled up inside)
- Muffins (bran muffins are a great source of fiber, and you can use any banana or zucchini bread recipe, too.)
- Yogurt parfait
- Refrigerator Oatmeal
- Rice with cinnamon and milk
- Granola Bars (I always look for 2 or 3 grams of fiber to ensure they last longer than 30 minutes)
- Fresh Fruit – grapefruit, oranges, bananas, apples, kiwi, grapes, etc.
GLORIOUS LEFTOVERS
My number one hack is to prepare yourself to use leftovers. I purposely make more baked potatoes or rice so I can use them for breakfast. You can put them in your skillet breakfasts, make your rice dishes (sunshine rice or rice with cinnamon and milk), or breakfast burritos. Refried beans can be used in breakfast burritos or on a Mexican omelet. (I was skeptical at first on that one, but it was really good, and the 8th graders loved it.)
Did you know that leftover summer squash tastes really great in a breakfast skillet? Quinoa too. Brown rice, kidney beans, salsa, diced tomatoes. Whatever you have in your fridge that you need to get rid of, yes, you can sneak it into a skillet breakfast. Okay, maybe not anything, but you get what I’m saying.
And if your kids loved the spaghetti, heat it up. Leftover pizza? Great! Green beans and leftover roast? If that’s what your kid wants (and mine did) then go for it.
MAKE IT AHEAD
Hack #2. Whatever you can make ahead the night before, do it. Yogurt parfaits with fruit between the layers is a great one. I found some awesome yogurt parfait cups at Dollar Tree this year. They even have a built-in folding spoon and separate place in the lid for the granola, so it doesn’t get soggy. Unfortunately, you never know what you’ll find at Dollar Tree. But, you can get something similar on Amazon, too (though they’re way more expensive).
You can make the overnight oatmeal in these containers, too. And the more nuts and fruit you add to the oatmeal, the longer it will last them. There are so many great combinations of flavors and textures. Throw in a few chocolate chips if that ensures your child will eat the healthy stuff. Which reminds me — stay away from the instant or minute variety of rice and oatmeal. They aren’t as nutritious.
And did you know you can freeze your rice after you’ve cooked it? Yep. Stick it in a ziplock bag and throw it in the freezer. When you’re ready to use it, pull it out and run hot water over it in a colander. Or microwave it.
Pancakes and waffles also freeze nicely, and you can throw them in the toaster or microwave. Put wax paper between them so they don’t stick together as much.
Your gravies and batters can be made the night before, cutting that precious time in half. Instead of 30 minutes to make biscuits and gravy, it’ll take 15. Especially if you use refrigerator biscuits. Not as healthy and gross in my opinion, but my husband loves them. You can buy biscuits in the freezer section, or freeze your own, and those are pretty close to freshly made.
RECRUIT HELP
Don’t forget to let (have) your kids help you. It’s important for them to know how to do these things for themselves when they leave for college. Encourage (or even schedule) them to help you or take a morning to fix one of the easy breakfast ideas. Our kids have to make some of their own breakfasts their senior year as part of learning life skills. It’s a wonderful feeling when your grown kids call and tell you how great they feel being independent. It’s amazing how many college students and newlyweds don’t know how to cook.
YOUR TURN
What was your breakfast tradition growing up? Who makes breakfast at your house? Do you or your kids have a favorite breakfast? If you have a non-traditional breakfast, what is it?
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