Mornings. Ugh. The mere thought of mornings still makes me want to burrow under the blankets and refuse to get out of bed till noon. I have three kids (two in school) and a husband who leaves for work most days before the sun rises. To say mornings are hectic would be an understatement.
The only perk of mornings that’s changed in the past few years is that now I’m a stay-at-home mom. I.e. I can drop my kids off in my 15-year-old Victoria’s Secret Pink hot pink sweatpants 4/5 days and no one says a dang word about it. #truestory #hotmessexpress.
Besides coffee and gross neglect on appearance, what simplifies our morning? BREAKFAST MEAL PREP. We’ve been a meal planning and prepping family for years. Yet, we honestly didn’t start meal prepping breakfasts until the past few months.
Lindsey opened our eyes to the beauty of simplifying our morning routine. We’re sharing our BEST easy breakfast meal prep ideas on constant rotation in our homes.
WHAT DO YOU EAT FOR BREAKFAST?
We’re a family who LOVES our breakfast. We love eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles, toast, cereal, ALL the oats, yogurt, etc. There isn’t much we WON’T eat for breakfast.
We save the fancy breakfasts for the weekend to keep things as simple and budget-friendly as possible. Daddy loves to make pancakes from scratch. (This is the same guy who called microwaved pizza rolls dinner most nights when we first met. So I’m telling you #theresachance.) He also makes omelets, waffles, etc. We typically only eat bacon or sausage one weekend day a week as well.
My “fancy breakfast” specialty is scratch-made biscuits and gravy. We save that dish for special occasions, like daddy’s birthday, Father’s Day, etc. and they get rave reviews.
JUST TELL ME YOU MEAL PREP FOR BREAKFAST ALREADY!
Okay, okay! I have three young kids, I tend to ramble a bit when given the freedom to do so. Anyway, let’s get down to the weekday meal prep nitty-gritty. I’ll list out our regulars and break down how we do each dish a bit later.
Easy meal prep breakfast ideas
-Overnight oats
-Baked oat cups
-Oatmeal bake
-Egg Muffins
-Egg casserole
-Yogurt
Overnight oats
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We do overnight oats about once every week or two. They are the ultimate easy breakfast meal prep ideas and my FAVORITE dish to make in advance. You can prep about 10 jars (what we need for two days ?) in less than five minutes.
There are a million overnight oats variations. Our favorites vary season to season. They include apple cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and blueberry.
Here’s our favorite right now:
Grab however many Mason jars or containers you need.
- Add about a half cup of oats.
- Sprinkle some cinnamon over the oats.
- Pour enough milk (any variety) to cover the top of the oats.
- Finely chop an apple and add to the top of oats. (We split one regular size organic apple, any variety, between five containers and it’s plenty.)
- Cover the jars, give a little shake, and refrigerate.
- Remove lid, heat about 45 seconds-1 minute, add a drizzle of honey, if desired, and enjoy!
Baked oat cups
Baked oat cups are a GREAT grab-and-go option. They’re like a muffin, but most of the time we don’t even add sugar to sweeten. Our favorite baked oatmeal recipe is these chocolate chip
Sally’s Baking Addiction has these Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal cups. We’ve used different variations of this recipe (pumpkin-spice, etc.)
Oatmeal bake
Baked oatmeal is awesome for a million reasons. Our family of 5 usually gets two breakfasts out of one casserole. Most recipes only call for one bowl to mix, and it tastes great warmed up with a bit of milk or yogurt on top.
Some of my favorites are:
This Cookie and Kate baked oatmeal. (Her recipe, my version pictured!)
Budget Bytes’ baked oatmeal recipes (she has several delicious recipes!)
RELATED: 51 Oatmeal Recipes for a Budget-Friendly Breakfast
PRO TIP: You can easily make 10 serving of no-cook breakfasts if you choose one main ingredient to focus on for the week in less than 10 minutes. For example, say you pick pumpkin (canned). Grab 10 containers (I love wide-mouth Mason jars for this). Scoop out 5 servings of yogurt. In the other five jars,add five scoops of rolled oats and add your favorite milk to cover. Sprinkle cinnamon over all the jars. Scoop a spoonful of pumpkin in each jar. Drizzle with a bit of maple syrup or honey if you like it sweet. Put the lids on jars. Shake the oats. Add them all to fridge. Done!
It works with berries (fresh or frozen), dried fruit, peaches (I cook mine from frozen with a bit of cinnamon and coconut sugar.) The options are nearly endless. If you’re short on time but love the idea of having something ready to go, this is a great place to start!
Egg Muffins
We make egg muffins weekly. I love this option for several reasons.
- I can add a TON of extra veggies to breakfast, a meal where we typically don’t eat many (if any).
- They’re portable, store great in the fridge, and are ready to serve after just a quick microwave zap.
I usually process about 5-6 cups of greens (for real) in my little 20-ounce personal blender or food processor with a cup of milk (any unflavored, unsweetened variety). Then I add about 8-10 eggs, a pinch of organic turmeric, salt, and pepper to a blender and mix everything together.
I add a couple tots in the bottom of my favorite silicone muffins tins, then simply pour mixture over tots and bake on 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. (Making sure they aren’t mushy in the middle)
You can use cubed sweet potatoes, sautéed peppers, onions, and/or mushrooms, a sprinkle of cheese, chopped broccoli, cooked sausage, etc.
Egg casserole
Egg casserole is basically the same recipe as the egg muffins, but everything goes in a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish instead.
Yogurt
Portioning out yogurt servings is a another easy meal prep breakfast idea. Our favorite way to do yogurt is to mix either a tub of plain yogurt (we use dairy-free for this all the time) or vanilla (tubs are typically about 4 cups) with a 15-ounce can of pumpkin and a teaspoon or two of pumpkin spice (just cinnamon will work too). If the yogurt is unsweetened, you can use a bit of honey or maple syrup if you want.
We serve with a sprinkle of granola. (Our favorite is the Aldi brand of Simply Nature Organic Pumpkin Flax)
BONUS IDEAS FOR BREAKFAST MEAL PREP
Jodi’s favorite meal prep is to make DIY protein powder for easy breakfast smoothies. Protein powder is EXPENSIVE! Jodi and her family share this simple recipe to make your own:
HOMEMADE PROTEIN POWDER
2 cups oatmeal
1/2 Chia seeds
Blend in high-powered blender and use about two tablespoons per smoothie serving.
Simply blend the protein powder with your favorite fruits and veggies and a bit of coconut water or milk option.
CHIA SEED PUDDING BREAKFAST MEAL PREP
Lindsey’s household is egg and gluten-free, so breakfast options can be challenging. Besides a ton of oatmeal, they also like to make chia seed pudding a couple days a week.
Here’s her favorite recipe:
CHIA SEED PUDDING
2 cups canned organic coconut milk
1/2 cup organic black chia seeds
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Use an immersion blender to mix everything together except chia seeds. Once everything else is combined, whisk in chia seeds and let it sit for 30 minutes. Stir once more and store in fridge.
(Divide into jars for easy grab-and-go option.)
Eat plain or top with granola, fruit, preserves, etc.
Helpful Breakfast Meal Prep Tools
If you want to nail your breakfast meal prep routine, there are a few essential meal prep tools that can really simplify your life.
We wrote this post here to explain HOW each of these tools helps save you time and energy with your meal prepping routine. Check it out if you want to find out a bit more. 🙂
So tell us, what’s the most frustrating part of your morning routine? Finding your keys? Trying to get your kids dressed? Finding everyone’s shoes? Waiting on your dog to do its “business” (for real… just go already!!) Packing lunches? I feel like my mornings are a culmination of ALL of these events! That’s why easy breakfast meal prep ideas area SUCH an important part of our regular weekend routine now.
Now, if we could find a magic tool to get everyone’s shoes on by the time we needed to leave the house…
I love the breakfast meal plan ideas. That is usually the meal I need the most help with.