I know I’ve shared this tip before, but within this Eat Healthy, Save Time series, I decided to say it again:
In an effort to easily and quickly provide a healthy breakfast for my family each morning, sometimes I find it helpful to get breakfast made the night before I plan to serve it.
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins and Blueberry Muffins with fruit and milk.
Fast, easy, and a total family pleaser.
This sometimes means that I bake muffins at night after dinner. Or it might mean that I multi-task while making our evening meal and stir together Giant Breakfast Cookies while our dinner casserole is baking. Or, it might mean that I put together an Easy Breakfast Casserole right before I go to bed so that all I have to do is get up in the morning and put the casserole directly into the oven.
And shucks, as someone quite goofy but very practical once said, “If you’re making one you might as well make two…” Therefore, you might even decide to make an Egg Casserole to bake in the morning…and make a second one to put into the freezer for another morning.
And when breakfast has been made, and dishes have been washed the night before? Clean up after breakfast in the morning is a breeze! Kitchen efficiency (and a healthy eating!) just keeps getting easier, doesn’t it? :)
What kinds of breakfast foods have you found to be easy to make the night before?
I actually made your sausage pancake muffins last night. Reheated them this morning as a quick grab and go on the way to school. I add some sucanat to the batter so they are already sweet and do not need syrup…makes them perfect to eat on the way!
Sounds like a great idea. I homeschool and that would be great for the morning.
I do have a question Laura. The eggs and the cream freeze fine in the egg casserole? Do you just pull it out of the freezer and put it in the oven or do you have to thaw it first?
Thank you for all your great ideas. I read your website every day.
Lori
I’m actually experimenting with this and will have to get back to you on that. But I do think it sould work fine, and I plan to put it directly into the oven while frozen to bake it. Maybe?? :)
I have done this before, and I felt like the result was mediocre. The texture was off, but the flavor was good. I think I thawed mine first, and then baked; so perhaps Laura’s idea will work better.
I actually got to try this last weekend. I froze an easy breakfast casserole to take on a trip and it hadn’t thawed much in the fridge by the time I needed to bake it. I put it in the oven at the same time I turned it on, in hopes that I would not make the glass pan shatter and it worked fine. :-)
Hi Laura,
I also love the Pancake Sausage muffins as well. We often have giant breakfast cookies too. Something I enjoy doing is making up a whole bunch of whole wheat waffles on Saturday, freezing them on cookie sheets, and then bagging them up. Healthy “eggo” waffles whenever we want them through the week!
Our family is a HUGE proponent of preparing as much as possible the night before. This is especially helpful on Saturday nights. No looking for that lost church shoe -5 minutes after we were supposed to leave- on Sunday mornings!
My husband used to eat 2 packages of Quaker fruit and cream instant oatmeal packets every morning :( A few years back I started making a batch of steel cut oats every Sunday and portioning it out in CorningWear storage bowls for easy heat and eat breakfasts. I also make and freeze homemade granola bars for when he needs a grab and go breakfast. (one of my bars replaced the 2 Quaker chewy bars he was eating)
Just wanted to tell you I made your turkey sausage and froze them last week. Huge hit! Thanks for a great blog!
I think soaking muffin batter the night before and measuring the rest of the ingredients beforehand saves me time. In the morning I add the rest of the ingredients to the soaked mixture and then bake. I also like using dehydrated shredded zucchini and dehydrated shredded carrots in muffins. Just measure out and pour hot water over and set all night. In the morning drain off any excess water and add to muffins. The 2-stage process (soaking) is a timesaver for me because it divides up the whole process which divides up the time. Another plus is the texture of the muffins are very moist.
I also love soaking overnight b/c it forces me the morning. No more
standing in the kitchen debating what to have. Just wake up and get
cooking :). Adding choc. chips to the soaked pancake batter normally
gives me the extra motivation I need. lol.
Yes, I couldn’t agree more making it ahead is tremendously helpful! We love making a oatmeal casserole.
I put all the dry ingredients in the baking dish and cover. All the wet ingredients I place into a large measuring cup, cover and place in the frig over night.
In the morning just turn on the oven mix the wet ingredients with the dry, cut some fruit on top, into the oven it goes for 25 minutes! :) Super easy and delicious. I got the recipe from the link below but streamlined it to make it even easier for mornings.
http://alwaysamrsforeverakidd.blogspot.com/2012/01/gluten-free-baked-oatmeal-casserole.html
Overnight oatmeal! Oatmeal, chia seeds, milk, yogurt, sweetener (honey, brown sugar, apple sauce etc) left to sit in the fridge through the night, with fresh fruit added in the morning. My whole family loves it so much that my husband has taken over making it every few nights!
I make a big pan of baked oatmeal or granola and that is our breakfast for several days until I make a new pan! Works great for us and we don’t miss the variety!
I mixed up the dry and wet ingredients for your orange muffins in separate containers last night so I could just mix them up and toss them in the oven this morning. Warm muffins….yum!! And a lot less time too. :)
I do something similar to your muffins above, although my army isn’t quite as big as yours. ;)
Each week I make something “special” on Mondays. The kids get to choose between the special (banana chocolate chip muffins, spiced carrot bread, etc.) or homemade oatmeal packets. We usually run out of the special mid-week (Tuesday if it’s especially popular), but I like the kids to eat their fair share of oatmeal too, so it’s a win-win.
I do overnight oatmeal in the crockpot. It makes so much I then portion it into cup portions and stick them in the fridge for future breakfasts. You top it your way on the day you eat it and only microwave it a short time when you eat it.
Thank you for the reminder on this. When I made muffins for our breakfast yesterday, I just kept going & made 3 more batches. Now I have muffins in the freezer for breakfasts! Speaking of muffins, the first 2 batches I made were your applesauce muffins. So yummy! And the other 2 batches were a family favorite… sweet potato streusel (well, we use pumpkin, but still). :-)
We have an overnight egg bake we like to make, although I’ve never tried to freeze it. Wouldn’t the eggs become watery?
Laura’s did not get watery. :)
Why did I never think of this!!! I always do breakfast for dinner because I am not a morning person or someone who wakes up ready to cook. So last night I made the casserole (I added spinach and onions), and the giant cookies. Loved it!!