I don’t know what the problem is around our house lately. Apparently the boys are all sick of breakfast food.
Oh, they all still want to eat breakfast. The boys are as hungry as ever in the morning. But for some reason nothing sounds good to them.
Grr
It’s not like I’m making gross stuff. Or the same thing every day. I make all kinds of yummy variety of pancakes, waffles, muffins, breads, eggs, smoothies, hashbrowns, oatmeal, milkshakes…. ALL kinds of things.
When the kids turn up their noses at my breakfast foods these days, I don’t hesitate to (lovingly) remind them that “back in the day” children got to eat the same breakfast of “a bowl of gruel” morning after morning after morning and if they didn’t eat it, they would just go hungry and so they ate it day after day and they didn’t ever complain because if they did complain their mother would (lovingly) give them a shovel and a bucket and send them out to clean out the privy…
That little speech is always so effective.
Yeah, whatever.
Well…I will admit that I understand the boys’ issues somewhat. I was a TERRIBLE breakfast eater when I was little. There was hardly anything I would eat, so my mom finally resorted to feeding me “last night’s leftovers” for breakfast before I left for school. I’d eat macaroni and cheese, meat loaf…whatever in the world Mom could get into me before time to leave for the bus.
So yeah…I get it. And I think we’re about to get over this hump. The boys tend to go through these anti-breakfast phases once in a while…then they get over it and start eating better again. (Probably because of my really, really good “back in the day” speech.)
My question for you today is: Are you a breakfast person? Do you love it? Do you skip it? And…what’s your FAVORITE breakfast food?!
Oooh, I get to be first to comment! I’m a breakfast eater and always have been. My soon-to-be-12 year old son has recently been doing what your boys are. My son???? How can he turn up his nose at oatmeal? I love hot cereal (oatmeal, cream of wheat, 7-grain) but I guess my favorite special breakfast is either an omelet or pancakes/waffles/French toast. I love getting up super early, having breakfast, doing something strenuous outside, and having a mid-morning snack of coffee and donut. I’m a sweet person for a treat. Oh, and I seldom have meat for breakfast, unless I order it. Bacon and sausage is NOT a staple food item.
I usually eat breakfast in the car on the way to work. My quick-grab go-to breakfast is a Fiber One Toaster Pastry or some dry cereal in a ziploc bag. I try to do something with fiber so that I’m not starving in half an hour!
I love breakfast! It sounds like you make yummy breakfasts. Do you ever make overnight french toast? Makes it so easy to cover the bread in batter over night in the fridge, then bake in the morning. I’ve been loving oatbran almost every morning with a big scoop of natural peanut butter, a little jam, cinnamon, banana, and chia seeds. Filling, different textures and flavors, and pretty affordable. My hubby doesn’t like breakfast and his stomach always feels weak in the morning. Do you have any ideas of what I could pack for him for later besides PB&J? Thanks! I read your blog constantly and rarely comment-thanks for all you share!
I make our own oatmeal packets during the winter and then my husband can eat his at work. You can use hot water from a coffee maker or a microwave. We put dried fruits and nuts, cinnamon,etc. in them. I usually make a week’s worth at a time – just line up ziplocs and make an assembly line!
Hard boiled eggs are a great portable food. I’ve also made breakfast burritos for the freezer, which is an easy grab and go breakfast. I use scrambled eggs, a little sausage, bacon or ham, cheese and salsa. Just put one in the frige the night before, and it’s thawed and ready to go. I’ve done the same thing using biscuits or english muffins to make a breakfast sandwich, with a fried egg, bacon, sausage or ham, and cheese. My husband loves all of these options.
I would love to get breakfast burritos in the freezer! How do you do them?
I usually make a batch of burritos in bulk, so I will scramble 2 dozen eggs, and add in a pound of pre-cooked breakfast meat (ground sausage, crumbled bacon or cubed ham). You can also add in diced pepper and onions or other veggies. It’s a great way to use up veggies from the frige! I don’t measure, I just add in what I have. Depending on your preferences, you can omit the meat and use veggies only, or vice versa. It’s a flexible method. :)
Once the egg/veggie/meat scramble is done, I place some of the mixture to one side of a whole wheat tortilla (again I don’t measure). I sprinkle on some shredded or sliced cheese. I usually use cheddar, but you can use whatever you like or have on hand. Then I put a little salsa on top of the cheese. I roll the tortilla into a burrito. It helps to contain things if you roll once over the filling, then tuck in the sides before rolling the rest. This method will make approximately a dozen burritos.
When they’re all done, I individually wrap them in cling wrap or wax paper, and place the entire batch into gallon sized freezer bags.
I will take one out the night before to thaw in the frige, and pack it for my husband in the morning. I know microwaving isn’t ideal, but that’s what he has available at work. He will microwave it for a minute or two, and loves them.
Good luck! I hope this helps.
My daughter is a very picky eater. She will ask for breakfast sometimes and then not eat it or just take a bite or two. It’s almost like her appetite doesn’t wake up til 10am And then it doesn’t stop til after dinner. This going to be a problem when she starts school.
I am not a breakfast eater at all. I like the foods, just in the evening. I have resorted to drinking protein shakes in the morning. They are easy to sip on while running back and forth getting things for the boys breakfast. Since I became a diabetic, I have found just how important a good breakfast is for balancing your sugar. So breakfast is very important (especially if you are trying to lose weight!)!
Mmmm… I love breakfast foods! I’m never hungry for breakfast right when I wake up, though, so I prefer to eat a late morning breakfast. But what I REALLY love is eating breakfast foods for other meals. I must have passed this on to my son, as he asks for grits for every meal lately!
I am totally a b-fast person. My favorite thing is chocolate oatmeal and a BIG glass of milk. I make instant oatmeal then I add in chocolate chips and peanut butter. It’s kinda like no bake cookies. It keeps me going all the way to lunch without making my blood sugar crazy.
Love breakfast but only homemade stuff; I’ve always hated breakfast cereals (though I do enjoy homemade granola w/ vanilla yogurt and fresh fruit). My fave is probably pancakes because they’re so versatile…banana walnut chocolate chip are an occasional specialty in my house ;)
In the summer I like to make smoothies using plain yogurt, juice, and fresh fruit. I have a magic bullet blender and it’s nice to be able to make it right in the mug. Really though I love all breakfast foods and will eat them at any meal. We especially like breakfast burritos at supper!
i like any meal that someone else cooks for me! ha!
My kids go through that too. Lately my eldest just wants a “cheese crisp”. They like bean burritos for breakfast too go figure.
A favorite nowadays is french toast using the cinnamon swirl bread.
I did make yogurt strawberry/banana smoothies that they seem to like.
I have done soup in the mornings too.
I was never a big breakfast eater until I got pregnant with my first child just over 6 years ago. Then I began eating breakfast out of necessity because I would get “morning” sickness if I didn’t eat every few hours, but it would be the worst in the morning until I got some protein in me. I don’t really care for breakfast foods for breakfast (I prefer them at other times of the day) but I do make sure I eat anyway. My thought is that I have to make breakfast for the kids, so I may as well add an extra serving for me.
My kids are picky about breakfast, too. Oldest only really wants cold cereal. Middle is in a phase where he will ONLY eat vanilla yogurt (with nothing added in) and the baby (12 mo.) seems to be the biggest breakfast eater, she likes every breakfast food there is!
As a child if I at breakfast it was always leftover supper from the night before. When I eat breakfast it needs to be high in protein other wise I feel sick to my stomach.
My little kids are happy with oatmeal or smoothies for breakfast. Maybe your kids just need a few different breakfast ideals for awhile.
How about:
breakfast pizza
bagels
peanut butter & jelly on crackers
cheese toast
toast with eggs and cheese
cottage cheese and fruit
yogurt
egg bake (assembled to night before)
sausage and biscuits (this could be made
ahead and froze)
fruit salad with dip
Must. Have. Breakfast.
Seriously! If I don’t eat breakfast within an hour of waking, I start getting nauseous (and no, not preggo!). ;) I’ll eat just about anything: oatmeal, cereal, biscuits & eggs, sausage balls, muffins- even pop tarts if that’s all I have! The meal of champions!
I love love love breakfast!! I enjoy blueberry pancakes, french toast, egg sandwiches, toast w/fruit, oatmeal, cream of wheat, waffles, cereal, bacon, sausage… golly. You name a breakfast food and I’ll eat it :)
I am a breakfast person. Sometimes I wake up as early as 4:30am and I am almost always ready for breakfast. My current favorite is microwaved instant grits with a microwave cooked soft boiled egg. Ready by the time the coffee is ready.
PB & applesauce on whole wheat bread is good. Oats with walnuts are good.
I must say that this post surprised me – I had just been wondering how your boys do it – my guys are picky and it is difficult for me to plan all our meals without some variation (I do not make separate meals but have lots of choices on the table all the time) Your meal plans are so wonderful – I long to be able to do that here!
That said, breakfast is never a problem at our house and I have always been a breakfast eater. My addiction is yogurt, flax seed and fruit, and I love other breakfast foods for dinner sometimes. It is lunch and dinner that I struggle with with (does that make sense?) my guys!
I am a breakfast eater but I do not enjoy the traditional breakfast foods as much as last nights leftovers(oooh last night we had pizza) oh sorry to get sidetracked just thinking about cold pizza for breakfast. My hubby however is a breakfast food and breakfast food only kind of guy. As for the children, my oldest generally follows her father but I can lure her every so often with cold pizza, my middle child isn’t much for breakfast so whatever she will eat before the bus comes I am pleased with be it breakfast food or leftovers. My youngest is only 2 so he is fickle on a daily basis and the best way to get breakfast in him most days is to make mine and he will eat mine instead of whatever I made for him.
All that being said I do plan and cook a variety of breakfast foods during the week and just hope that they like it. Some things are bigger hits than others and some days nothing works. Isn’t it fun to be the mom/cook!
Josette and I had the same idea, how bout reaching for nontraditional food for breakfast. Then my teacher brain took it one step further to the teachable moment. You could have breakfast be part of a lesson plan about another country. Your boys might enjoy learning about what children their age eat in Mexico, or what George Washington Carter would have that morning. Learning how little food children in poverty get to eat would be a powerful lesson on the importance of stewardship as well.
I am not a huge breakfast eater. Even so, I feed my kiddos a fruit, dairy, and whole grain every morning. HOWEVER, I would much rather eat veggies or rice. Not totally normal, I know, but nothing sounds better to me in the morning than stir fry rice and veggies :) And no, I am not pregnant :)
I never used to like breakfast…I’d either eat cereal or leftovers just to keep my stomach from growling. Now, I go back and forth…sometimes I like breakfast food, but after a while, I go back to the leftovers instead. :) My kids kind of do the same, although they like breakfast foods more than I do.
I can eat breakfast 10 times a day! Breakfast casserole, homemade yeast cinnimon rolls, waffles, sausage and buiscits. Yummy in my tummy!
I’m an odd one. I have never been a brig breakfast eater but I also don’t like grits, eggs, and most sausage! As I’ve gotten older, I do like more breakfast foods (breakfast casserole, french toast, oatmeal) but I just can’t eat them at breakfast time! My family jokes that, “Mom only eats breakfast when we’re on vacation.” Of course, I do like a good bowl of Cocoa Pebbles or Mini Wheats (for a night-time snack, heehee).
I am a breakfast eater. Usually just a homemade muffin, toast or something like that. But I have found that I feel crummy for the day if I don’t eat a little something first thing in the am.
I would die if I didn’t have breakfast. I usually have toast and eggs (my husband loves to just have cold cereal!) My favorite is waffles and sausage and eggs with fruit.
I eat breakfast every day. Usually it’s a bowl of Multigrain Cheerios. For a special treat I love French toast with hashbrowns. Love it!!
My kids current faves are;
-eggs-n-applesauce (or honey pear sauce)
-butter granola with milk
(this is very good and much like store-bought peanut butter cereals in taste and texture, ‘cept better for you)
-rugelach (NT)
-millet
-coconut rice
But mine are like yours and subject to change their faves on a dime. And they do whine for store-bought cereals so a couple of days a week, I will let them have them but I try to pick better kinds now, such as Cascadian Farms Organic Dark Chocolate Granola- ‘specially since it sounds good to me and there have been coupons for this lately! ;-)
I am not a breakfast person but I have heard all too often how it’s the most important meal of the day.
It’s not that I’m not hungry, I’m just not hungry *yet.* And that is usually because I ate so well the night before. Or it’s that I’m tired and am not really functioning 100% to make any decisions. This is me though, and by 10 or 11, I am READY to eat, and know what I want.
When I was a preteen/teen I wished I could have had smoothies or a hearty broth for breakfast with a piece of toast, but we did not have such things at our disposal. If breakfast pizza was an option I would have adored that occasionally too!
I’m ok with my kids having a few mornings that they are so indecisive, they miss out. This leads to less indecisiveness…lol
I am totally a breakfast person. And nothing to sweet for me. I love having something hot like oatmeal, fixed on stove or baked, and eggs of some sort. Doughnuts or something extremly sweet just sour my stomach and them I’m miserable the rest of the day.
Our kids on the other had are a different story. Our boys love any kind of cereal, preferably sweetened. Our girls have a variety of likes: oldest daughter likes poptarts or toast; middle daughter loves oatmeal or eggs; youngest daughter preferes cereal or toast.
Hubby usually only has time for coffee and something quick like a cereal bar or homemade muffins that I premake and freeze for convenience. When he can relax for breakfast, he will usually ask for homemade biscuits and gravy, oatmeal, or eggs.
My strange children would rather eat cold cereal than anything else. They still get something warm, but I can’t imagine meatloaf for breakfast… What kind of day would that make?
I like breakfast, but except when I’m pregnant (which I happen to be right now) I tend to skip it, and just have a huge cup of coffee with flavored creamer. But right now, since I tend to wake up around 3:00 AM, hungry, and eat a bowl of cereal, I like to wait until 10:00 or so to have a cereal bar or muffin or something small for breakfast and then have a sensible lunch at noon. My favorite breakfast is an omelet, but I like it best when someone else cooks it. My kids prefer waffles or cold cereal for breakfast, except for the youngest girl, who prefers eggs and bacon. Go figure.
Love breakfast—every day (except maybe on Sat.) I eat oatmeal with raisins. On Sat. perhaps eggs or french toast. All with coffee, creamer (chocolate creamer) and sweetener.
I have to admit my favorite all time breakfast food is…. TRIX! HA! But, I rarely let myself (and even more rarely!) let my boys eat that sugary yummyness! (Only when I am pregnant, and even then, only once or twice.)
But, we are definitely breakfast eaters– oatmeal, homemade yogurt with granola, french toast, baked oatmeal, eggs and toast (with bacon sometimes!)– you name it, we eat it for breakfast!
mmm… all this talk is making me hungry for breakfast!
I love breakfast, but just cannot stand sweet food in the morning. Any other time of the day is great, just not first thing. I usually eat the leftovers from the night before just as you used to do! We went out to a fantastic restaurant tonight and I am really looking forward to my breakfast tomorrow!
I love breakfast and would happily eat it 3 meals a day! My kids and husband…not so much. Our rule is that whatever you eat for breakfast has to have some sort of protein in it (otherwise they’re all cranky). Breakfast sandwiches, the popular supper leftovers, smoothies with a little ground oatmeal and kefir, and yogurt and granola parfaits are some of the solutions we’ve found.
And my favorite – soaked oatmeal with a little sucanat, dried cranberries, flax meal and cinnamon. Keeps me going all morning long!
Thanks everyone for the great ideas! I will have to try those! Only problem is he doesn’t have a microwave accessible since he’s in construction. I could warm the burritos and put in tin foil for later probably? And heat the oatmeal and put in a thermos? Thanks again!
I think warming the burritos and wrapping in foil is a good idea. You could also put a warmed one into a thermos, if it will fit. Thermoses are great for keeping things warm.
Good luck!
We LOVE breakfast. We prefer savory meals over sweet, so it is usually eggs prepared in various ways: scrambled, fried, “dip eggs”,hard boiled, etc… Recently I’ve been making baked eggs– I got the idea from The Nourishing Gourmet. Basically crack two eggs into a buttered ramekin, add cheese, and whatever else you like and then bake at 450 degrees for about 8-10 min. I love this recipe because it allows me to work on getting fruit cut up, toast toasted– without having to man the eggs. Plus, they’re sooo yummmy! Your boys might like this because they can personalize their ramekin any way they like. Another thing we enjoy is cheese toast, breakfast burritos, egg sandwiches, leftover pizza, hash brown potatoes tossed w/scrambled eggs and chicken sausage. Oh, corn bread muffins w/cheddar cheese are good. I hope you find some options that your boys like. :)
We have the opposite problem. My oldest son would eat nothing but breakfast foods all day long, every day, if we let him but he goes through periods where he turns up his nose at everything else.
I’ve been trying to get better about eating breakfast. It started in high school, and remember the doc told mom that pizza for breakfast was fine (had dairy, protein, etc.) if that’s what we (me and brother) would eat. So, lived on pizza for several years, lol.
I know you posted this a while ago, but after observing what my daughter chose to eat for breakfast today, I was reminded of it and had to respond. Her breakfast of choice: Potato soup and a green pepper. lol She isn’t much of a breakfast food person either, I guess!