Secrets to a quick, nutritious breakfast on busy school mornings

School mornings are just busy. That’s all there is to it. Here at tiny tummy tales headquarters (aka-my kitchen), one school goer is joined at the table by 2 hungry right now little brothers.

Easy make and plan ahead breakfasts for kids

To begin with, school mornings can be a scramble of gathering last minute papers, putting lunches into a backpack, finding shoes, brushing teeth, and deciding that the dino shirt ‘isn’t what I want to wear’ after all. In the midst of all this, finding ways to pull together a tasty and nutritious breakfast might seem next to impossible!

I’m going to tell you though; it’s not impossible! And done right, it can even be easy.

Here’s how.

Tiny tummy tales trade secret number one:

Morning is not the time to start thinking about what to eat for breakfast.

‘What?’ you say. ‘When else would I bother thinking about breakfast? That’s when we eat it around here…’

It is!

But because you’re not going for ‘just any old breakfast will do’ but a ‘tasty, kid approved, nutritious start to the day that will help with your child’s energy, concentration and mood throughout a busy school day’, you are going to think of it either:

1. a) each evening, planning for tomorrow, OR
2. b) once per week when you add it to your daily meal plan!

See ‘why every busy mom needs to be meal planning’ 

You’re also going to take a few precious minutes before heading to bed yourself to do some quick prep so that breakfast comes together in less than ten minutes in the morning.

Sometimes, you can get it down to one minute flat. For real.

But dry cereal wearing a sugary coat with cute pictures on the package isn’t involved in this game plan, so that’s not the answer. Read on.

The nitty gritty:

Here are some prep ahead ideas for you. This will hopefully lead to you scheming more ideas so that it is, as promised, easy to make a nutritious breakfast that your kid will love- even amidst the busy ‘where’s my library book?!’ scramble.

Oatmeal Porridge

Put dry oatmeal and any add ins your recipe calls for that are shelf stable into a pot in the evening. This could be nuts, seeds, coconut oil, honey, etc. Pop a lid on the pot. In the morning, all you need to do is add your liquid and turn on the burner. Done deal.

See: Apricot Coconut Oatmeal

Tip: Even if your recipe doesn’t call for seeds or nuts- add them on top! For pre-schoolers, kindergarteners, and early elementary aged kids, it’s a lot of fun to add “sprinkles” of any sort to oatmeal porridge! It also gives them a sense of ownership and independence, meaning less ‘I don’t like this’.

We love adding sprinkles in the form of coconut flakes, chia seeds, flax meal, hemp hearts, or any nuts or seeds.

Veggie Scrambled Eggs

Prepare a few veggies in the evening to mix into scrambled eggs.

Small chop: (The smaller chopped these are, the quicker they’ll cook. I often use a small food processer).

• Peppers
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Spinach or other greens

Shred:

• Carrot
• Sweet potato

Add a bit of oil to your pan in the morning and let the veggies sauté over medium heat a few minutes while you whisk together your eggs and milk (plus salt and pepper if you wish, or a salt free spice mix like herbamare).

Add your egg mix to the veggies and you’ll have breakfast a few minutes later! You’ll likely even have time to cut some orange wedges while the eggs cook.

See: Rainbow Scrambled Eggs

Smoothies

Gather your necessary ingredients together in the evening.

• Measure any frozen fruit/veggies into a freezer container or bag.
• If your recipe has dry ingredients measure them into the blender to save time. (Oatmeal, chia/flax seeds, etc).
• Put any fresh fruits/veggies together in one spot for easy grabbing from the fridge.
• Even finding the correct measuring cup for adding any liquid or yogurt will speed things up in the morning!

Smoothies can be loaded with nutritious goodness for breakfasts. Green smoothies, oatmeal smoothies, or just a delicious fruit and veggie mix can be a fun and delicious breakfast! Add a container with a screw on lid, and you now have a breakfast that can head out the door!

This ‘gingerbread oatmeal breakfast smoothie’ is delicious and loaded with nutritious ingredients!

Trade secret number two:

Make a list of family loved favourites that can be frozen or batch prepped and aim to make one each week or two. Then stash them for pulling out on busy mornings!

This can be a batch of tasty granola, or muffins, pancakes, waffles, or breakfast bars, made without cups of sugar and that use whole grains, nuts, or seeds.

Trade secret number three:

Think outside of the (cereal) box. Get creative!

Smoothies with some protein and oatmeal make a great breakfast for a busy morning! So do overnight oats rather than hot oatmeal. Reheating quiche only takes 2 minutes from start to finish!

More of tiny tummy tales quick breakfast ideas

• Cottage cheese with diced fruit on top
• Yogurt and homemade granola (or a store-bought variety that isn’t packed with sugar)
• (My favourite granola is this crunchy quinoa granola– it stores in a mason jar for up to a month!) 
• Overnight oats (Like these Lemon Meringue Pie overnight oats) 
• Trail mix bags
• Waffles/pancakes frozen with wax paper between each. Reheat in microwave or toaster
• Homemade breakfast bars or muffins (low in sugar, made with whole grains)
• Bonus: I’ve put together a little cheat sheet for anyone who wants a reference for their fridge or recipe binder! Click on the image to download.

We love these Chocolate-cherry oatmeal muffins that are sweetened only with fruit!

So there you have it! Those are my little hacks for getting a delicious, nutritious breakfast onto the table even on the busiest school mornings!

About Kendra Parks

She is the recipe creator and author at tiny tummy tales, where she shares healthy, kid loved recipes along with engaging adventure stories for preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary school aged kids!

Her children’s adventure stories introduce new recipes and healthy eating habits in a fun, engaging way for imaginative little readers.

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