I’m almost as passionate about eating a healthy breakfast as I am about eating lots of butter. They’re both super important. Therefore…feel free to spread butter all over your breakfast. Oh yeah.
But wait. You don’t have time to cook a healthy breakfast every morning? Me neither. I mean, if I felt like losing an hour of sleep, skipping my much needed Bible time, foregoing my morning work-out, or beginning my day by being glued to a griddle while flipping countless pancakes – I could make the time to cook a healthy, hearty breakfast every morning. But well…I don’t.
That’s what scares us away from making a healthy breakfast isn’t it? Time. Effort. School. Work. Schedules. I get it. I’m with ya. I have plenty of other things to do in the morning and I like sleeping. I don’t like the stress of trying to get everyone going in the morning while trying to keep breakfast from burning on the stove. So does that mean we take the easy way out and buy boxed, convenience foods for breakfast? Sure, if you want to feel like junk all day and start your kids’ school day off with a big, blurry bang that ends in a sugar crash by morning recess. But what if there is a way to have a nourishing breakfast without the morning stress?
Oh yes. There is definitely a way. I am loving this real food reality which includes a hearty, healthy, no brainer breakfast each morning.
I do everything possible to make healthy breakfast foods ahead of time so that all I have to do in the morning to get a nourishing breakfast on the table is open a container. Or boil water. Or maybe, just maybe, I’ll “go to the trouble” of scrambling or frying eggs, which takes about five minutes. (Or better yet, I assign that task to one of my boys. Hurray for kids who are old enough to use a stove!)
How do I put a healthy breakfast on the table without much effort each morning?
- I make breakfast the night before. Or…
- I make breakfast foods for the freezer. Or…
- I set out the Homemade Instant Oatmeal and let the kids make a bowl when they get up.
Seriously, making a healthy breakfast is not hard. We do not have to resort to boxed food. It’s just a matter of planning ahead and focusing on food that is real and nourishing. Real food – it is amazing.
Here are some of my favorite healthy, make-ahead breakfast ideas:
- Prepare an Easy Breakfast Casserole and simply take it out of the fridge and bake it in the morning.
- Make Simple Whole Wheat Pancakes or Whole Wheat Waffles, allow them to cool, freeze them, then toast them to warm them up for a convenient breakfast just like an Eggo Waffle…except cheaper and healthier.
- Mix up and roll out biscuits, freezing them for a quick breakfast.
- Cook bacon or Turkey Sausage, then simply reheat in the morning or cook it up with some eggs.
- Throw yogurt and frozen fruit into the blender for a smoothie.
- Make muffin batter and put it in the freezer for fast, fresh muffins in the morning (one of my favorite freezer cooking tips!).
- Bake breakfast bars in the evening before closing up the kitchen.
- Make a batch of Easy Granola, Dark Chocolate Almond Granola, or Grape Nuts Cereal to grab and eat in the morning.
And always, always serve fruit with breakfast. That’s the healthiest convenience food there is. :)
As soon as we start making some healthy foods ahead of time, and stop assuming that eating healthy food is difficult, we’ll be well on our way to saving money and keeping our lives so much simpler in the kitchen! Plus, when we begin our day with a nourishing breakfast, we get our body off to a great start – setting the pace for a great day ahead.
And there’s more!
Need some easy, healthy breakfast inspiration? We have a freebie for you!
To help us all along in this effort, I created a downloadable chart with 31 Days of Real Food Breakfast Ideas. It is internet linked, so all you have to do is click to find the recipe referred to on the chart.
Eggs and smoothies. Smoothies and eggs. Cereal. Cereal. Cereal. Snore. Need a change of pace? Want some fresh ideas? We’ve got a free printable for you that includes 31 Days of Real Food Breakfast Ideas!
All 31 ideas are recipe linked. Every recipe is made from real food: Whole grain, healthy fats, wholesome sweeteners. It’s all simple, it’s all delicious, and it will inspire you with fresh ideas for ways to feed your family each morning.
Unless you enjoy eating breakfast at night for dinner. (For some reason, waffles taste better at night. We don’t understand it. We just go with it!)
Mix it up. Substitute your favorite fruits – whatever is in season! Be sure to add protein to each meal if needed. There’s no right or wrong way to use this free printable full of ideas. We just hope you use it!
—> Want some simple real food dinner ideas too? Check out this huge list! <—-
By the way, want to eat cookies for breakfast? With bacon? Strawberries and cream? Life is good, and so is your health. Real food for the win! (Seriously. Stop being afraid of bacon and cream. It’s real food, our bodies can utilize it for nourishment, and when we eat real food in balance, we can be healthy!)
We’re happy to share this 31 Days of Real Food Breakfast Ideas printable with you to use in whatever way works best for your family. Adapt it, pick and choose what works for you, and enjoy!
BONUS: Using these recipes will save you big bucks! How? Well, have you seen the price of a box of cereal? Making a homemade breakfast is quite a money saver. We love it!
Get your free printable 31 Days of Real Food Breakfast Ideas. Signing up to receive this will connect you to our Savings Club, providing you with relevant money-saving tips, recipes, ideas, and inspiration!
There you go – 31 healthy, make-ahead, family friendly, money-saving, real food breakfast ideas!
What are your favorite ways to get a healthy breakfast on the table quickly in the morning?
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I don’t mind making the healthy breakfast; it is the cleaning up that keeps me from cooking most mornings. The quick way for us is homemade granola and toast on weekdays and an egg breakfast on Sat. followed by a ‘syrup’ breakfast on Sunday. We are in a rut but it is what works best and we like it. We are not fans of sweet things for breakfast so things like muffins are a no go here.
That’s a great idea to have a system like that. Then you don’t have to think hard in the mornings!
When it comes to some of the freezer options, such as biscuits and muffins, how long do you find they freeze well for? I have a baby due in 3 wks, and am working on getting things stocked up. I don’t want things to go to waste either though!
If I freeze biscuits and muffins unbaked, they last 2-3 months. I find that if I bake them, then freeze, they dry out in just a few weeks. :)
My son and I definitely do the granola/oatmeal thing most weekday morning as well as reheated pancakes or waffles that my sweet husband makes usually on Sundays. Usually I make one special thing a week as well such as muffins,homemade poptart,quick bread,etc.My husband mostly eats eggs or oatmeal during the week. So mostly it goes well until the week has gotten crazy and I had no time to make my batch of granola and we are just about out of eggs,the frozen pancakes and waffles have run out and there is no mix-ins for the oatmeal-then I am srambling to come up with something and usually me looking for a recipe takes as long as it does to make it and suddenly we are way behind for the day. Hopefully a handy list like this might make it easier for me to find something quickly on those days :)
Breakfast is rather rushed at our house also. Plus, my husband leaves for work about 45 minutes before the kids get up. In order for everyone to eat real food for breakfast more often, one day a week as part of school (we homeschool) we bake something like muffins for breakfast for the whole week and some other things. At breakfast, we just pull out our baked goods, mixed nuts or peanut butter, and sometimes fruit. A “real food” breakfast ready in no time!
We need a portable breakfast on weekdays, I eat breakfast at work and my daughter eats breakfast at daycare, she’s just not hungry before that. I make banana bread, sliced and individually wrapped, breakfast bars, waffles in big batches once in a while. I use different recipes all with real ingredients. Everything is individually wrapped and thrown in the freezer. I take one out for me and one out for Mini before leaving and they are ready to eat by the time we are humgry. We pair it with fruit and yogurt and it makes for a complete hearty healthy breakky. On weekends we have more time and are home so I’ll typically make pancakes or french toast. If we really indulge it’s toast, eggs, bacon and pan-fried potatoes. Breakfast is sooo important so I take extra steps to make sure we are set before the week starts. Thank you for this post!
What is the calorie count of these breakfasts? Within a healthy range of around 300?
I don’t count calories so I can’t say. When feeding my family, I simply go for real foods that will fill them, stick with them, and most importantly – nourish them. :)
300 is a bit light for most (900 calories a day plus snacks?), breakfast should give you solid nourishment for the day, and the purpose of eating real food is to nourish your body. Be careful about calorie counting, it can be a real trap.
I go a step further with my smoothies by putting everything in the blender the night before. That way in the morning all I have to is grab it and put it on the base and blend! Saves me a few more minutes in the morning, and with 5 kids, I’ll take every minute I can!
I go a step further with my smoothies by putting everything in the blender the night before. I stick the blender pitcher in the fridge so that in the morning all I have to is grab it and put it on the base and blend! Saves me a few more minutes in the morning, and with 5 kids, I’ll take every minute I can!
I can’t get the links to work on the calendar. I click on it and has me download it. Once I have downloaded then the links dont work either
Once it’s downloaded, you should be able to click on each link on the calendar and it will take you to the individual recipes. I just checked and it is working for me. I can’t figure out why the links are messing up for you. Ugh!
I downloaded it on my Phone..that might be the problem. I will try on my computer when I get a chance
Have you tried Baked Oatmeal? I think you would like it because it is made ahead of time and is hearty.
Yes, good stuff!
When I click the link, it takes me to a page that says Your Freebie Awaits and has me enter my email. Then I get an email about downloading Health Challenge Worksheets. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks for this breakfast list. We’ve gotten away from real food breakfasts with a new baby and getting an early start to our homeschooling day!
I’m sorry about that!! I had the wrong links in there. I’ve fixed them now so you should be able to download the document easily!
Hi Laura, I have been in a great big breakfast slump the last few weeks, so I was super excited to find this article today. I am a big fan of making breakfast in advance. (night before or in freezer batches) It really does make for easy mornings. I plan to try your pancake and sausage muffins soon. (using gluten-free pancake mix) I loved this article and posted it to our facebook page for our readers to enjoy as well.
Thank you!
Tara (Sisters with a System)