Mornings with children going to school can easily feel chaotic!
Between getting everyone ready for the day and packing lunches, breakfast is often the first to become rushed. However, as the most important meal of the day, breakfast plays a crucial role in giving children the energy they need to start their school day. Set children up for success by implementing our favorite time-saving breakfast hacks that boost nutrition.
Time-Saving Breakfast Hacks for Busy Parents that Value Nutrition
- Batch-cook pancakes and waffles: An easy way to have breakfast ready in 60 seconds, make pancakes and waffles over the weekend and freeze them. Then pop them in the toaster or microwave in the morning for a homemade breakfast that can be eaten as-is or topped with nut butters and fruit!
- Make smart use of leftovers: Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box to save time! Leftover roasted vegetables can be added to scrambled eggs to add extra nutrition, and cooked quinoa or brown rice can be transformed into a warm breakfast bowl with milk, honey, and fruit.
- Try whole-grain options and assemble wisely: Swap white bread, bagels, and muffins for their whole-grain counterparts to boost your child’s nutrition without adding steps. To turn this into an easy breakfast, simply add a healthy fat like a nut butter or avocado.
- Prep breakfast over the weekend: Save time by making reheatable dishes like breakfast burritos, muffins, overnight oats, and egg cups beforehand. This also gives you time to carefully add healthy whole foods like seeds, nuts, veggies, and fruit for the busy weekdays ahead.
- Create DIY breakfast stations: Empower kids to make their own breakfast and save time by creating breakfast stations. Lay out greek yogurt, granola, seeds, and fruit for a DIY parfait, or create a toast station with nutritious spread options like nut butters and cream cheese.
- Master the smoothie: A great way to pack breakfast with nutrients, prep individual smoothie bags by filling freezer-safe bags with fruits and veggies like spinach, kale, berries, and bananas. In the morning, simply blend the contents with milk or yogurt.
- Use bento boxes for on-the-go breakfasts: When there isn’t time to sit and eat, portion out nutritious foods like a hard boiled egg, sliced fruit and veggies, crackers, and nuts into a bento box. We even love to get kids involved in filling their own boxes.
- Utilize a slow cooker: A warm breakfast can be both time-saving and delicious! Prep a slow-cooked oatmeal, breakfast casserole with eggs and veggies, or a quinoa porridge at night so you can wake up to a nutritious, warm meal.
- Get creative with protein: Protein helps keep childrens’ energy up and bellies full until lunch, so lean into this by adding small amounts of flax seeds to overnight oats and muffins, mixing cottage cheese with eggs, and adding chia seeds to smoothies.
- Keep a grab-and-go breakfast section of your fridge topped up: When all else fails, it’s good to keep healthy, ready-to-eat packaged options like DeeBee’s Organics’ Freezer Pops (the perfect anytime treat made with 100% fruit juice and pureé!), cheese and crackers, yogurt cups, and oat bars in the fridge. Simply choose three and go!
