The elders in your life may not be right about everything but they’re right about one thing (now consistently backed up by research): Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
Not only does breakfast break the overnight fasting period, it also replenishes your glucose stores, giving your cells the energy you need to perform at your best. Eating a balanced breakfast of carbohydrates, protein and fats will help with mental alertness and acuity, which is absolutely necessary for parents but even more so for school-aged children.
So if you want to feed your kids something healthy and nutrient-dense, here are some make-ahead breakfast ideas to start the school day out strong. I recommend starting with one or two options rather than trying to make a buffets’-worth of food. It’ll give you a better chance of staying consistent and you won’t be wasting food if it turns out your kids decide that the week you make apple cinnamon muffins is the week they hate apples.
Meal prep breakfast ideas for school days:
Hard-boiled eggs.
Yep. Cook up a dozen, peel them and pop them in a container for not only breakfast but a quick snack afterschool. I recently started making mine in an Instant Pot and it’s a game-changer (they peeled so easily!) Using the wire insert, add two cups of water and six eggs (anymore and they may split open). Set the instant pot to manual, high heat for five minutes. Release the steam immediately and when the valve pops, transfer the eggs to an ice bath. Once cool, peel with ease!
Breakfast cookies.
Try to get your kids to stay away from cookies for breakfast. Here’s another option for breakfast cookies.
Muffins.
I like these gluten free chocolate chip banana oat muffins, sourdough blueberry muffins and apple cinnamon crumb muffins.
Breakfast sandwiches or burritos.
Freezer breakfast sandwiches or breakfast tacos/burritos. The breakfast sandwich recipe does not include meat but you can easily add a few slices of bacon or sausage patty to get your protein in.
Baked oatmeal.
Baked oatmeal cups are a good alternative to muffins. This recipe has six different variations.
Breakfast biscuits.
Broccoli cheddar breakfast biscuits. The photos alone are drool-worthy!
Egg muffins.
This recipe is a riff on the Starbucks egg bites and this version is high in protein.
Overnight oats.
Overnight oats are always good, especially when they’re blended up for developing palettes with an opposition to “chunks” (just my kids?). More variations here.
Washed and cut up fruit.
I always think it’ll be easy to cut up a few strawberries or oranges in the morning but we are typically running behind so the fruit gets left behind. Making things as easy as possible, I try to cut up some fruit and store it in an airtight container so we can toss a few pieces on a plate.
The trick is to set aside an hour or so each week to make these ideas. I like to do at least one egg-based meal and one baked good. Don’t overwhelm yourself with too much and lastly, be sure it’s something you love to eat, too, mama.
