9 Quick and Easy Breakfasts for Families
Confession: Lately I have been giving my kids cinnamon rolls, Hostess coffee cakes and chocolate milk for breakfast. I like to rationalize that the food items are traditional breakfast fare and the milk is a great source of protein. Obviously, I’d prefer that they ate a healthier breakfast. But finding a breakfast meal that is healthy, tasty and quick to make on busy weekday mornings is basically like finding a unicorn, right? Well, we put that theory to the test and searched for the impossible. Here is what we came up with:
Make-Ahead Meals
If you are willing to put in a little time on Sunday night, you could make your Monday through Friday mornings so much easier. These are our favorite breakfast dishes that you can make ahead and eat all week.
Frozen Banana Yogurt Bites
These tasty treats have it all. With just three ingredients—banana, yogurt and banana chips—they’re beyond simple to make. Kids love the taste of them and parents can feel good because they’re healthy. Plus, this may or may not be relevant: they are totally adorable.
Mini Egg Cups
Most humans love eggs, even kids. But who has time to scramble up an omelet on a Tuesday? Not busy parents, that’s for sure. If you want to get some protein-rich eggs into those little tummies, whip up these mini egg cups ahead of time and keep them in the freezer all week. Then you can just pop them into the microwave and voila, breakfast is served.
Breakfast Pizza Bake
Pizza for breakfast? Pure brilliance. This one has crescent roll dough, breakfast sausage, eggs and cheese. The kids can have a square a day and their bellies will be full until lunch time.
On-the-Go Grub
Sometimes mornings are so crazy, families don’t even have time to sit down at a table and eat. For those days, try throwing together one of these quick meals that kids can eat in the car or while waiting for the bus.
Peanut Butter Banana Roll-ups
Peanut butter and banana go together like well, peanut butter and jelly. But since PB&J isn’t quite as acceptable for breakfast (but hey, we won’t judge), try this twist. You just take a whole wheat tortilla, spread some peanut butter, add the banana and you’ve got your roll-up (or burrito or whatever you want to call it).
Breakfast Kabobs
Kids get a kick out these fun kabobs. Full disclosure: it involves a tiny bit of prep. You have to cook (or just microwave already cooked) sausage, cut up some fruit and heat up some frozen pancakes. But after that, you just put them on kabob sticks. Kids can take them on the go or, if your children are likely to gouge each others’ eyes out with the sticks, maybe eat them at home and give them syrup for dipping.
Smoothies
Sometimes kids aren’t ready to chow down in the morning. But usually they’ll be down with drinking. For a filling and easy on-the-go option, try smoothies. No, not complicated ones. And not ones that call for expensive blenders. Keep it simple with some of our favorites: chocolate peanut butter banana shake, strawberry banana pineapple smoothie or almond butter and jelly smoothie.
Frozen Favorites
We get it. Sometimes you won’t have time to make breakfasts ahead on Sundays or cook up a kabob. For those times, you will want to have your freezer stocked with some healthy, yummy breakfast options.
Jimmy Dean Delights
We are crazy about this line of food from Jimmy Dean—for ourselves and our kids. All of the products have lean protein like egg whites, turkey sausage and veggies. If you have two minutes, you can cook up one of their yummy breakfast sandwiches, bowls and did someone say frittata?
Kashi Waffles
Waffles (and pancakes for that matter) are usually a home run breakfast for kids. But before you grab just any old waffles from the frozen section, you should know that not all waffles are created equally. Kashi, the brand synonymous with seven whole grains and fiber, makes yummy waffles you can feel good about serving to your kids in the morning. Well, as long as you go easy on the syrup.
Looking for more ideas to make mornings easier? Read our post on best parenting hacks for getting your kids out the door.
