Hello Everyone,
We are almost few months into the school year here in our area. I'm not sure about your area. Have you all started school yet? Even if you Homeschool, have you started and how is it going? This routine doesn't just apply to when school is back in session. This can apply to anyone having busy mornings and have to go places before work. Even when school is out, parents still have to work and the kids may have to be taken somewhere until you get home. If your kids are old enough to be home by themselves and you would rather them not use the appliances without an adult present for fear of something going wrong, they still have access to breakfast. This can work for couples working opposite shifts and are like two ships passing in the wind. This hack is for anyone that can use it and it benefit the flow of the routine no matter what your mornings look like or the time of year it is.
In our area, I'm seeing families already struggling to stay above water and the chaos with the busy mornings. It is frustrating to think your back into a routine and schedule after being off all summer. It goes fine for a few days and then, BAM!!!!!!! It gets you. I completely understand. I think I can help.
When we Homeschooled, we were more relaxed, but I was still self-disciplined and made sure we stayed on track. We didn't have a lot of time for lolly gagging. Especially since our boys at the time were in extra curricular activities. We still had to be on some what of a schedule.
I was and still am adamant about starting our days off with a good breakfast. I wanted my kids to have full bellies so they could focus and concentrate and not be hollering, "I'm hungry!!" a few minutes later. Although they still did this just because they wanted to get out of some school work sometimes. That's kids for ya.
Here is the way I combated hunger and boredom. When we Homeschooled, I would get them into the kitchen with me to make our breakfasts. This got them on their toes, and got them busy. I would let them choose what they wanted. After we made breakfast, I would let them sit down to eat it while they had their first class which was BIBLE class. So while they were eating, they were also listening. WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER FOR ME. If they were finished eating but class was still going, I would take their plates and glasses and clean the kitchen quietly. In doing this, I was also teaching Home Economics, Life Skills, Math, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Responsibility.
There are lessons to be taught and things to be learned even in the simplest of things.
Now, when they went to Public School, not only did they have to learn to transition but so did I. This is where I came up with a plan to make our mornings go smoother and still get a healthy nutritious breakfast in them. Hence, what I call....MAKE AHEAD GRAB AND GO BREAKFASTS.
I would come up with a breakfast meal plan and rotate them every so often. I planned things that were easy to heat up, sit down and eat or they could be grabbed as they were heading out the door and eat on the way.
Sit down, heat up, quick breakfasts can be: pancakes or waffles, with some kind of breakfast meat, muffins, breakfast bowls, yogurt with fruit and granola cups, or complete breakfast that could be placed into meal prep containers. Basically anything they had to eat with a utensil.
Grab and go breakfasts can be: breakfast sandwiches made with any bread of your choice like biscuits, toast, english muffins, bagels, croissants, crescent rolls, chaffles, layered with eggs, cheese, and a breakfast meat. Breakfast burritos stuffed with any thing breakfast related they wanted to stuff them with. I have seen them use waffles and chaffles used as the bread layer for the sandwiches. Eggbites breakfast muffins, filled with eggs, meat, cheese, peppers, etc. Basically anything that they can grab, heat up, keep it wrapped and open it in the vehicle and eat it without it being messy. As they became teen drivers, they appreciated this effort I put in so much.
This made our mornings run smoother and they went to school with full bellies.
Fast forward to the next generation, and it is no different for me. I help get out grandchildren to school some mornings. Some of the parents have to be at work before the school doors even open so they can't drop them off on their way to work. This is where Poppie (dear hubby) and I come in.
Their Daddy or Mommy brings them to our house and drops them off. All they need to do when they get to our home is eat, brush their teeth, grab backpacks, put their shoes back on, and head out the door once again.
This is the way I solved my dilemma. I would plan these meals one day. Then I would take one whole morning and batch cook (that means doubling or tripling some recipes or making over abundance) breakfasts. Then I would prep them according to whether or not they needed to be wrapped or put in meal prep containers. Then I had a choice of keeping them in the refrigerator or if it was a big quantity, I could put them into the freezer. Hence, MAKE AHEAD FREEZER BREAKFASTS.
Another person who benefits from this now is my dear hubby. When we are at home, I can do the same thing for us. Especially during the busiest time of the year for us which is early spring to late summer. That is when we are planting our garden, harvesting our crops, and preserving our bounty. There are times when we get up before the rooster even wakes up and we are out the door beating the heat. Dear hubby will grab something and get on the tractor and I in the garden. If it is a slower time of the year, we can leisurely sit down and enjoy a breakfast at the table using some of the items like waffles, pancakes, breakfast bowls, etc. Whether they are in the refrigerator or freezer, we enjoy a healthy breakfast whether it is grab and go or sit down and eat.
When we go on a work trip, I will make him some breakfasts and put them into meal prep containers and all he has to do is grab one in the mornings and put them into his lunch box. He likes to eat his breakfast at his desk when he gets there. He is all settled in, and has a microwave. His options are very open. I let him pick his menu, then I take a day and make what he has requested, and I will make enough to last for at least two weeks.
Batch freezer cooking and storing in the freezer lasts longer. If you are going to be in the kitchen anyway and making a meal, why not double or triple it and eat some now and have some for later. Or make enough to last a few weeks. You are spending one day out of every two to three weeks, sometimes a month, heating up the kitchen stove one time, cleaning a kitchen one time. See where I'm going with this? Just pick a designated day.
My grandchildren even love to help prep breakfast as pictured below. They love pancakes, waffles, chaffles, sausage, bacon and fruit. I will batch cook the pancakes and such and put them into the freezer. I label them with a P, C, W, S or B and they pick the bags out, lay them on the counter and tell me what they want. All I do is take what they want out, heat it up and fix their plates. This teaches them their letter too.
Here is an extra tip: I sneak things into items as well. I will sneak in butternut squash, sweet potato, or pumpkin puree into muffins, waffles, pancakes, etc. I will sneak spinach, kale, shredded zucchini and squash etc., into egg bites and chaffles. Use your imagination and creativity to get some extra veggies into your kids. They will never know what hit them. I forgot to mention, you can add some kind of potato like hash browns, tater tots, or even left over cut up french fries in burritos and breakfast bowls.
Remember to rotate things out and make different substitutions each time you rotate. For example, switch out the meats like sausage, bacon, ham, etc., so they don't get bored with the same thing all the time.
Pictured below is one breakfast idea. We had an assembly line going. These were for me and poppie to eat.
This is what a day can look like when I am done and happy:
I will leave you with more breakfast ideas, prep work and the finished products. I hope these will motivate, inspire, and encourage you to make your mornings go by more smoothly in your home:
Tracy
Keeper of the Home
