After a great summer break my kids go back to school next week.
I’d like to continue to stick my head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening, but that isn’t going to make it any easier.
One of the things I dread most about school mornings – apart from having to drag the kids out of bed, make sure they have clean uniforms and a shoe for both feet – is breakfast.
I am not good at breakfast, and neither are my kids, but I know my kids all do better at school (and life) with a decent breakfast on board. So this year I’m going to try harder to up my breakfast game.
It’s not going to be easy – I have one difficult eater, two with nut allergies, two that don’t eat eggs, and one who is the slowest eater in the whole of the southern hemisphere – but I’m determined to level up at breakfast this year!
So I’ve made a list of 20 school morning breakfast ideas. I’m aiming for homemade, whole-grain, reduced sugar, options that are either quick and easy, or that I can make ahead, and that at least half my kids will eat!
Quick and easy ideas to make at breakfast time:
1. Smoothies are quick and easy and portable! So far we’ve stuck with banana, berries, yoghurt and milk, but I’m hoping my smoothie lovers might branch out to something like this simple Orange and Pineapple green smoothie from Back to the Book Nutrition.
2. Yoghurt is one of our go to breakfast staples, if all else fails I know I can add a few drops of vanilla to some plain yoghurt and cut up some fruit to dip in and I’m done.
3. You can also go one step further with yoghurt and granola cups – just layer some yoghurt, with some fruit and top with granola. I’ve been making my own granola based on this recipe from Weelicious but if/when I perfect our version I’ll share the recipe.
4. Avocado on toast is also a great fall back plan – we like to make a quick and dirty guacamole by smushing some avocado with lemon and garlic and spreading it on toast.
5. Boiled eggs on toast is another toast option with added protein – you can even boil up a few eggs ahead of time and keep them in the fridge and just slice or smush them on to your toast.
Big batch ideas that last for a few days:
6. There are lots of muffin options that make a good breakfast, these Fruity Oaty Breakfast Muffins were my first attempt at something a little different for breakfast a few years back and they are great!
7. These apple muffins from Clean and Scentsible are also one of our favourite morning muffins.
8. These whole-wheat carrot applesauce muffins from 100 Days of Real Food are also fabulous.
9. We make these Cheese and Veggie muffins from Learn With Play At Home with wholemeal (whole-wheat) flour and they are delicious.
Muffins will keep in a sealed container for a few days, or you can freeze the muffin batter before cooking, or freeze individual cooked muffins.
10. Our homemade muesli bars are perfect for when you are running super late and you need the kids to eat in the car on the way to school and they keep really well in the fridge.
11. These carrot cake breakfast cookies from Greens and Chocolate are on my ‘want to try list’ they look so good and would be easily portable too.
12. I know, fruit crumble is supposed to be for dessert, but this Apple Crisp recipe from Mama Say What is refined sugar free and really it’s just like oatmeal with stewed apples, so I make a double batch and eat half for dessert and the rest for breakfast the next day and my kids think I the best mum ever!
13. My egg lovers will eat these Egg and Toast Cups from Clean and Scentsible cold so I make a batch and store them in the fridge for a few days.
Make ahead and freeze ideas:
14. There is no way I am making pancakes on a school morning, but these apple and oat pancakes freeze really well and if I wrap them in twos in the freezer the kids can help themselves.
15. These little fruit filled pancake pockets also freeze really well so I get my kids to make a huge batch when eat them on the weekends.
16. We are giving baked oatmeal a go this year – this Cinnamon Sugar Baked Oatmeal from Crazy for Crust is baked flat in a dish and you can freeze individual slices.
17. These Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal muffin-ey thingies from My Whole Food Life are also good.
18. I only have two egg eaters so egg options need to be something that can be frozen in individual serves. These scrambled egg muffins from Six Sisters Stuff work perfectly.
19. And since our favourite crust-less quiche is really just like a big omelette I freeze individual portions and they make a great breakfast for my egg lovers.
20. I’m hoping these french toast cups from The Wholesome Dish might slide by my non-egg eaters… but we shall see!
So that’s my list – twenty breakfast ideas, a whole month’s worth!
I’m not a crazy woman, I don’t plan to make a ‘fancy’ breakfast every day of the week, but I hope with all these ideas we can swap out the boring and not so great cereal or toast with something a little more healthy and filling at least a couple of times a week.
I’ll let you know how I go!
What do you feed your kids for breakfast on school mornings?
Who doesn’t need more breakfast ideas for busy mornings?! :) Great list – thanks for including my green smoothie recipe!
You’re very welcome…. my smoothie lover made one the other day and LOVED it!
Awesome! :)
A great way to beef up smoothies is to add oats, nuts and seeds. I bought a decent blender and my 21 month old has 2 per day with the above and banana and milk.
Oh that’s a great idea… I wonder if our old blender would cope. Might be time for a new one!
My littlest would happily eat peanut butter toast every day and the biggie “cheese on toast with vegemite under.” For myself I like porridge or overnight oats or baked oats (when I am organised enough!) Or leftover rice pudding is the best!
Nuts are such a good way to add protein to breakfast. My list doesn’t have may nut recipes because we have allergies but there are so many great peanut butter based ideas out there!
What a great list. Always looking for more ideas to mix things up. I just got a nutribullet for Xmas and I’m finding it great for smoothies for the kids that I can happily add a big handful of spinach or greens to, that they actually don’t mind! Thanks for including one of our recipes. I’ll have to give them a try with wholemeal flour too, to bump up the nutrition factor. Pinned for future reference!
PS: At the moment, our most requested breakfasts currently are, porridge (I buy the quick oats and microwave with water and it’s done in 2 mins. Bit of milk and honey or banana and good to go for a very filling breakfast) and cheesy scrambled eggs on toast.
Thanks for so many great ideas. To add to your list…I’ve been making huge batches of breakfast burritos that we freeze and reheat in the morning. I put scrambled eggs, cheese, chopped bacon or sausage, and baked hash brown potatoes in large flour tortillas and roll them up. My family often adds ketchup or hot sauce when they reheat them.
Thanks again!
Breakfast got a lot more difficult for us when Gigi who does not eat breakfast much came along. 2 of us are lactose Intolerant and Gigi will not eat breads of any kind except crackers. I’ll try several of these before school starts and see what I can do. I really need more protein options. Thanks.