In case the title made you think I have 365 Simple Breakfast ideas to share with you, I have to apologize and let you know that while I do have many simple breakfast recipes, I do not have one for every day of the year. (After all, we do eat eggs pretty regularly at our house.) Rather, this post will share how I’m planning to keep our breakfasts as simple as possible this year! I bet the ideas shared here WILL get you through an entire year, with plenty of variety, and all kinds of simplicity!
Take, for example, the breakfast shown in this picture.
One morning last week, I made and served Giant Breakfast Cookies, Bacon, and Strawberry Parfaits. Sounds involved right? Not at all simple! Complicated and time consuming, even!
But it wasn’t! It was so simple! Here’s how I did it:
- I had pre-made Breakfast Cookie dough balls in the freezer. (Read the details on how to do that here.) I simply pulled some out, put them on a baking sheet, and slid them into the oven to bake while I continued my morning Bible reading time.
- I had pre-made Bacon. (Read the details on how to do that here.) Just after I woke the boys, I threw some bacon in a skillet to reheat and crisp up. It took 30 seconds, no joke.
- I had already made the Cream Cheese Parfait filling for another meal a few days before. I pulled out what was left, washed and sliced some berries, and put them on the table.
The boys LOVED this breakfast (who wouldn’t?) and I loved having such a great meal to serve. What I loved more than anything is how simple it was to put on the table.
But what about taking all that time to prepare simple breakfasts ahead of time?
Sounds like the before-hand prep can negate the “simple” in all of this, huh? Sure, it’s easy to put it on the table if you’ve done all the work ahead of time – but who has time to do all that work ahead of time?
I get it. I don’t always have the time to get ahead either. But I’ve found that if take an hour or two in the kitchen sometime during the week – whenever I can find the spare hour or two – I can knock out quite a bit of cooking which saves me all kinds of time and energy later.
And…while I could fall back on boxed breakfast food if I really wanted to keep it simple, I don’t like doing that unless I’m desperate or especially over-scheduled. We love homemade food. We love a hot breakfast. There really are great ways to keep it simple!
How to Cook Bacon in the Oven, Freeze, and Warm Up Fast
When to find a spare hour or two for cooking ahead?
It varies, and will be different for all of us depending on our work and family situation. Here are some time slots that sometimes (but not always) work for me:
- In the morning after breakfast after I’ve gotten my kids going on their school work. This only works on mornings I don’t have any pressing blog work needs or deadlines. And it only works if my youngest is sitting at the kitchen table doing his work so I can bounce back and forth between cooking and helping to keep him on task.
- In the late afternoon or early evening while I’m cooking dinner. After all, I’m in the kitchen then anyway. If the dinner meal is simple enough (and at this point, all my meals are kept simple) – I can sometimes stir up something for the freezer or put something into the oven to help me get ahead for another day.
- Anytime I’m cooking something for today, I consider if I can double or triple up so I can have extra for another time. I do this with almost everything.
These “cooking ahead” methods work for any meal, but here are some specific breakfast ideas for getting ahead that help keep our morning meal times super simple!
1. Cook several pounds of Bacon Bits ahead of time.
I freeze these to pull out as needed. For a simple breakfast, pull out a scoop to quickly make Scrambled Bacon Cheesy Eggs.
2. Make 5-Minute Stove-Top Granola.
Store it in a jar. Save it for a morning you have no time to cook. Serve it with a variety of your family’s favorite stir-in options.
3. Make Dark Chocolate Almond Granola.
Use the 5-minute stove-top method if you like! This is our favorite granola and making it at home saves quite a bit of money compared to buying it at the store.
4. Make Homemade Grape Nut Cereal.
This is super tasty and super easy! I typically double this recipe and keep it in big jars so we can have it on busy “no time to cook” mornings.
5. Make Homemade Cracklin’ Oat Bran.
This is our favorite of the homemade cereal options! It’s also super easy to make and stores great in jars in the pantry.
Wait! Do I ever buy cereal at the store and serve cereal out of a box?!?
Of course. Remember this post? Just because I can, doesn’t mean I always do. Store bought cereal saves my neck some days. No guilt. ;) Now back to the Simple Homemade Breakfast ideas…
6. Make Breakfast Cookie Balls for the freezer.
As mentioned above, these are awesome to have in the freezer. I usually double the recipe, and freeze the dough in balls so I can pull out just enough for one meal. These can be frozen after you bake them too, but we like eating them fresh out of the oven!
Here’s our White Chocolate Cranberry Breakfast Cookie recipe too. :)
7. Make Homemade Poptarts for the Freezer.
Like the Breakfast Cookies, we like eating these right out of the oven. Again, I usually double the recipe, then freeze them and pull out just enough for one meal. They bake easily from their frozen state. I can throw them in the oven while I’m reading my Bible in the morning. So simple!
8. Make muffins ahead of time and freeze them before baking.
This idea is my favorite. I often mix up several different batches of our favorite muffins, freeze the batter, then quickly bake them as needed!
If I have this bread on hand (usually I make it the day before instead of the morning of) – we can make Peanut Butter Honey Toast or Scrambled Egg Sandwiches.
10. Have cheese shredded to make it easy to make Scrambled Cheesy Eggs.
We love melted cheese on our eggs. If I have some shredded already, this makes breakfast so much simpler!
TIP: We use our Food Processor to shred cheese. I LOVE THIS!!! We can shred a huge 5-pound block of cheese in about two minutes. It’s worth owning a food processor just for the cheese shredding capability! (We have one like this.)
11. Make any of these 49 Breakfast Freezer Food ideas.
Frozen breakfasts are awesome to have on hand for simple meals!
12. Make big batches of Turkey Sausage.
I almost always make 12 pounds at once (the entire case of ground turkey I get in my Azure Standard order!). I bag it up in 1-pound bags. Since it’s precooked and crumbled, I can throw it in scrambled eggs or make a quick batch of Sausage Gravy.
I would love to hear your ideas for Simple Breakfasts at your house!
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Simple Meals will save you so much time and energy, giving you more time to enjoy your family!
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I use a slow cooker on keep warm overnight to make oat groats once a week. I love doing this! It is so simple! I put 4 cups of water and 1 cup of oat groats into the slow cooker before bed. Then I turn it on the keep warm setting and in the morning I have nicely cooked oatmeal that I serve with fruit and mixed nuts. I use quick mix several times a week to make biscuits or pancakes (or pancake muffins). Also pre made cornbread mix for cornbread once a week. I always serve fruit and some form of protien. For protien we have eggs, slices of cheese, nuts or nut butter, or we make a fruit smoothie with yogurt and chia seeds. :)
I like egg bakes. I will mix them up in the evening and bake them in the morning. Other favorites are muffins, pancakes, french toast and breakfast burritos.
My favorite, favorite breakfast (which I’ve commented on so many blogs, so if this is a repeat, just carry on) is raw oats, a banana, some peanut butter, and milk. It keeps me going until lunchtime, and I’ve noticed that the days I don’t have this I get grumpy. Molly needs her banana and peanut butter!
Whenever I make French Toast or Pancakes I always make lots extra. When they cool, they go into the fridge & reheat super quick for breakfast the rest of the week. Always serve fresh fruit with both those meals to lighten them up.