It’s almost time for the kids to head back to school and slow—or, at least, slower—mornings will be a thing of the past until the next school vacation. During busy weekday mornings, I find it hard to get healthy breakfasts on the table unless they’ve been made or prepped ahead. So for this school year, I’ve lined up these make-ahead breakfast recipes to keep in heavy rotation.
Before we dive in: There are a lot of make-ahead breakfast ideas on the internet but, to be honest, most seem unhealthy, uninspired, or totally not kid friendly. (There is only so much chia the average child can take.) These recipes strike a balance between healthy and kid-friendly, easy and delicious. Being selective this way will help ensure that these recipes make it over the long haul—because the school year is no joke.
Related: 8 quick and healthy breakfast recipes for even the busiest mornings.
The low-sugar Raspberry Pancake Muffins on my site, One Hungry Mama, are a revelation. I made them as breakfast with the intention to serve them with maple syrup and, instead, my kids gobbled them up plain as a snack. These have way less sugar than any muffin, but clearly satisfy just as well. And when you do pour syrup on them at breakfast, they feel like it’s a decadent treat.
I’m a big fan of make-ahead oatmeal, but have heard from some parents that their kids can’t quite get used to it. If that’s the case in your house, too, try these Baked Oatmeal Bites, also from my site, One Hungry Mama. Making these is easier than baking muffins and healthier, too. They store in the refrigerator for a couple of days or can be popped in the freezer to have on hand any time you need them.
Still not convinced that you can get the kids eating oatmeal. Okay, fine, try these Baked Oatmeal Donuts with Maple Glaze and watch oatmeal go. The recipe, which we first found at Stir & Scribble for an awesome roundup of delicious donut recipes, is fairly low sugar—well, without the glaze—and uses whole wheat and oat flour instead of white, making it more filling and higher in fiber. An unglazed donut and yogurt makes a yummy breakfast that should satisfy. And then leave a few to glaze for a treat over the weekend.
Related: 8 baked donut recipes so easy, you’ll want to make them every week
Easy, make-ahead breakfast burritos are nothing new, but it’s hard to find a recipe without processed meat and other less-than-wholesome ingredients. These healthy Freezer Breakfast Burritos at Cookie and Kate not only come from a trusted source, but they wisely use the burrito as a way of fitting in nutrient-dense sweet potato, which will do wonders to fuel the day. If that just won’t fly, skip the potatoes or use white ones instead.
Related: 7 totally delicious and easy-to-make breakfast taco recipes to spice up your morning routine.
Even more simple are these freezer breakfast sandwiches at Damn Delicious. In just any 20-30 free minutes during the week, you can prep a whole bunch of these tasty sandwiches to have on hand for the busiest mornings. They are just as delicious as the kind you can get on-the-go, but with ingredients you choose which makes them way tastier.
Waffles are another great breakfast item to stock in your freezer. Any of our favorite waffle recipes can be made in a double batch and frozen to have on hand for a quick morning meal. Just like the kind from the store, pull your homemade waffles out of the freezer and pop them into a toaster. Breakfast will be ready fewer than 3 minutes.
Quick tip: Place a small piece of parchment or wax paper between each waffle as you pack them into a freezer-safe storage bag or container. This will make it easier to pull them apart when you need just a few.
My family and I love a good smoothie for breakfast, but somedays even just coming up with a combination and opening all the different packs of frozen fruit and juice feels like too much. (I told you I find mornings hard!) Making your own ready-to-blend smoothie packs like the ones on The Chic Site takes care of all that. You do the thinking and planning ahead of time so that all you have to do while you sip coffee is dump the contents of one smartly packed bag into the blender.
Just because I love the idea of making your own freezer smoothie packs so much, I’m including another how-to from GI 365 for more flavor inspiration. You can never have too many smoothie recipes.
Related: The Blender Girl Smoothies app: More healthy than Candy Crush in a few ways.
Breakfast doesn’t have to be elaborate to be delicious—or cute! We still love this ‘Happy Eggs’ breakfast that we spied on Weelicious. Learn how to hard boil eggs perfectly and keep them on hand for this morning meal that will surely bring a smile to your kid’s sleepy face.
If your kids are a little too old—or too cool—to get a kick out of happy eggs, keep hard boiled eggs on hand for one of these simple, but more sophisticated hard boiled egg breakfast ideas like this egg and avocado toast from Heather’s Dish.
I love this recipe for making DIY fruit on the bottom yogurt at Simple Bites. My kids love yogurt, but almost every supermarket option other than plain is loaded with sugar and, in some cases, other ingredients that I’d rather avoid. But plain—eh. With this quick how-to, you can make a big batch of fruit-sweetened yogurt on Sunday to have on hand all week. And, no, you are not required to make homemade yogurt (unless you want to, of course).
Great post. I would never think of using hard boiled eggs in a tortilla but that will be sure to go over great in my house.
Please fix the link to the baked oatmeal donuts! It goes to the hard boiled egg page instead.
The link for the oatmeal donuts is wrong. What’s the right one? These look super yummy
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Fixed! Sorry about that and thanks for letting us know, KT