School started for us this week so it’s time to say goodbye to our leisurely summer breakfasts or even eating breakfast together at all…at least in my family. There is no way I could stomach food at 6 A.M. in order to eat with my daughter, but if she’s going to have a good day at school she has no choice. According to Parade Magazine, “Children who eat breakfast perform at nearly a grade level higher than those who do not.” So don’t even consider allowing your kids (or yourself!) to skip and instead implement some of these non-processed “on-the-go” breakfast ideas, which have been broken down into three categories:
Make, Freeze, Reheat…
There are quite a lot of breakfast foods you can make in advance, store in the freezer between sheets of wax paper, and then quickly reheat on a busy weekday morning. Just be sure to supplement these homemade breakfast ideas with some fresh fruit!
- Whole-grain banana pancakes
Whole-Wheat Banana Bread…Yum - Whole-grain waffles (make it into a waffle sandwich with cream cheese, raisins, & cinnamon in the middle!)
- Whole-grain biscuits with pieces of cooked bacon & cheddar added to batter
- Homemade breakfast burritos (with scrambled eggs and cheese on whole-wheat or corn tortillas) frozen in individual bags or containers
- Whole-grain breakfast cookies made with pecans (or pumpkin seeds as a nut substitution)
- Whole-grain fruit muffins or zucchini muffins
- Whole-grain banana bread (pictured)
- Smoothies frozen in reusable freezie pop holders (these are an exception in this list because they don’t have to be heated up!)
Prepare Night Before…
With a little preparation the night before these breakfast ideas could come together fairly quickly before running out the door.
- Hard boiled eggs
- Little baggies of fresh berries, sliced apples or other fresh fruit
- Homemade granola bars
- Fruit smoothies (with or without peanut butter) that you can store in an insulated Thermos cup in fridge
- Oatmeal that you reheat in morning
- Cereal with milk if you set out all the supplies at night including bowl, spoon, napkin, cup and a whole-grain cereal like homemade granola
- Individual portions of homemade trail mix (nuts, seeds, raisins, dried apple rings, and dried apricots)
- Little baggies of whole-grain cereal like store-bought corn puffs or shredded wheat
Grab and Go Morning of…
These are some great pre-packaged “real food” items to have on hand for those mornings where there is literally not a second to spare. Hopefully these ideas will convince you to leave those highly processed “milk and cereal bars” at the store!
Lara Bars (pictured – these bars have no added sweeteners and the “cashew cookie” variety only has two ingredients!)- Bananas or apples (with or without those store-bought individual packets of peanut butter)
- Little boxes of raisins
- Individual pre-packaged bags of freeze dried fruit (like Funky Monkey brand from Target or Crispy Green from Earth Fare)
- Small prepackaged bags of nuts found in baking aisle
- Applesauce squeeze packets
For some “real food” school lunch ideas check out this link: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/category/children-adapting/school-lunches/
I can’t have the kids do anything peanut or tree nut related due to both being banned at their school. I do love some of these for giving them to eat in the car on the way to school though.
I know this is a really late comment, but with a little one that has severe nut/peanut and egg allergies, the granola and some whole wheat items are out due to cross contamination! She loves her pancakes in the mornings, so I am pretty sure that I can wing that one.
Thanks for the suggestions!
I woukd be mindful about oromoting lara bars. I believe they are owned by kelloggs or general mills- big companies pro gmo
General Mills purchased them in 2008
I saw this recipe on the Kitchen Aid site, too, that fits in the real food lifestyle. It looks delicious. Pancake Muffins!
http://blog.kitchenaid.com/grab-and-go-pancake-muffins-back-to-school-recipe/
These all look delicious but I choose to eat low-carb, and one of those muffins would be my entire days worth of carbs. Any low-carb ideas?
Hard boiled eggs or mini quiches baked in muffin tins would be a good low-carb option. If your diet allows sweet potatoes, a pre-baked sweet potato could be heated up quickly in the morning.
I’m on low carb also. How can bread and tortillas be real food?