Mornings are hard! Make them easier with these 10 easy school day breakfasts that fill your kids’ bellies and get you out the door on time.
Mornings were the big thing I was dreading when my son started Kindergarten last month. Not only was I concerned about getting two kids to two different places by myself in the morning, I was also worried about breakfast.
Well, dear readers, he has survived the first few weeks of school without having four breakfasts. How did we manage this? Why, easy school day breakfasts, of course! These breakfasts are yummy, hearty, healthy (ish), and easy. They get him going in the morning and keep him going until lunchtime. If you’re tired of your kids complaining about how hungry they are at school every day, start them off on the right foot with one of these 10 east school day breakfasts.
Easy School Day Breakfasts
Baked oatmeal
First up, I highly recommend baked oatmeal if you’re looking for easy school day breakfasts. You can make a big pan of baked oatmeal or individual baked oatmeal cups in a muffin tin. I like to mix it up, so I go back and forth. If you make a big pan, simply slice the baked oatmeal with a knife or spoon for individual servings.
My love for baked oatmeal comes from the multitude of mix-in possibilities. You can make baked oatmeal in basically whatever flavor you want. Some of our favorites include mixed berry, apple cinnamon, and pumpkin, but I honestly haven’t met a baked oatmeal variety my kids didn’t inhale.
Whether you go the pan or cups route, I highly recommend that you whip up a batch of baked oatmeal over the weekend that you can reheat for easy school day breakfasts. All of the baked oatmeal varieties I have tried reheat like a dream. After 30 seconds or so in the microwave, simply pour a little milk over the oatmeal and breakfast is served!
Overnight oats
Are your kids more into cold breakfasts? Then overnight oats might be a better choice for your family. And overnight oats are arguably even less work than baked oatmeal, so you have hit the easy school day breakfast jackpot!
All you need to do is grab some oats and whatever mix-ins you prefer, add your preferred milk, and stick the whole thing in the fridge overnight. In the morning, just pluck it from the fridge, add some fruit and breakfast is served! It’s really that easy!
My kids usually prefer hot oatmeal, but we have tried and enjoyed a few overnight oats recipes. The one that tops their list of easy school day breakfasts has to be these peanut butter oats. They are delicious and are sure to stick with the kids (and you) until lunchtime.
Muffin
Another really great option for easy school day breakfasts is the humble muffin. Just like baked oatmeal, I love muffins for the variety they offer. You can basically add anything to a muffin and it will still be delicious. Muffins also pair really well with yogurt and fruit for a well-rounded breakfast that’s as easy to get on the table as it is delicious.
Because muffins are endlessly customizable, sometimes it’s hard to decide where to start. Here are just a few of the muffin recipes we make over and over at my house.
Zucchini muffins
Zucchini muffins are a great way to sneak a veggie into your kids first thing in the morning.
Banana muffins
Every kid I’ve ever met inhales these banana muffins and they’re a great use of the overly ripe bananas that your kid begged you to buy then refused to eat.
Blueberry muffins
Blueberry muffins are a classic for a reason.
Pumpkin muffins
Pumpkin muffins are always delicious in the Fall, but we make these year round.
Bagel
You can’t go wrong with a bagel and cream cheese for an easy school day breakfast when you’re running short on time. I always keep a bag of bagels and a tub of cream cheese in my fridge. Bagels make great easy school day breakfasts, but they also work for packed lunches and after-school snacks. Do yourself a favor and grab some bagels when you’re at the grocery store this week. Any flavor your family likes is great. We are partial to blueberry bagels and plain cream cheese, but you do you, boo.
Yogurt
Another no-brainer easy school day breakfast is humble yogurt. Slop some from a giant tub into a bowl or hand your kid an individual pot. Either way, you can bulk up yogurt with a little cereal and some fresh fruit to make it feel more substantial. It’ll stick with your kids until lunchtime, especially if you choose a higher protein Greek yogurt. We really like the big tub of Greek yogurt from ALDI and the individual flavored Greek yogurt pots from Trader Joe’s.
Egg cups
If you want your kids to eat something a bit heartier but you’re still looking for easy school day breakfasts, you might try batch cooking egg cups over the weekend that you can heat up during the week. It’s the closest you’ll get to a traditional American breakfast on a school day in my house, but it does the job.
I like to keep egg cups super simple for my kids. The more stuff I put in them, the worse my chances are that they’ll eat them. Although I’d prefer a loaded version will all the yummy things, my kids do much better with just cheese and a meat of some sort (bacon, ham, sausage). If your kids are more adventurous eaters than mine are, or if you’re more ready for a fight at 7:00 a.m., egg cups are a great vehicle for veggies. Spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, whatever you have works well.
Breakfast sandwich
If your kid just must have a carb at breakfast, but you want your kid to eat something that will stick to his ribs a bit, a breakfast sandwich is a great compromise. Your kid gets his carb, in the form of a mini bagel or English muffin, and you get him to eat some protein so he’s not a hangry mess by lunchtime. Everyone wins!
How do you make breakfast sandwiches easy school day breakfasts? Make the eggs ahead of time! I like to spray a muffin tin with cooking spray, crack and egg in each cup (my kids like when I scramble it a bit), season with a little salt and pepper, and bake at 350°F for about 15 minutes. Then pop them in the fridge to wait for you to need them in the morning. Come breakfast time, just toast your carb, nuke your egg and a frozen sausage patty, add a slice of cheese, and you’re in business.
Waffle sandwich
Freezer waffles are every mom’s best friend when it comes to easy school day breakfasts. And although it’s perfectly fine to just pop them in the toaster and serve with a little butter and syrup, might I suggest you try serving a waffle sandwich instead?
Our classic version of a waffle sandwich is a PB&J with waffles as the bread. One waffle gets smeared with peanut butter, the other waffle gets smeared with jelly. Smoosh them together and you’ve got yourself a waffle sandwich. Although this version is delicious, we have been mixing it up lately and swapping the jelly for strawberry slices. I like this fresh fruit version even better!
Cereal
If you have a kid who is really resistant to the idea of eating breakfast before school, you might want to offer a classic bowl of cereal. Although cereal might not be the heartiest school day breakfast I can think of, it’s better than nothing. It’s also just about the quickest and easiest school day breakfast option out there. So it definitely has its place in your rotation.
When you serve cereal to your kids for an easy school day breakfast, just make sure you’re offering lower sugar options. Cheerios or Chex rather than Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Lucky Charms (although you can pry Lucky Charms out of my cold, dead hands). It’s also important to serve the cereal with low-fat milk that adds a bit of protein to the meal. It won’t be much, but it’s better than nothing!
Smoothie
If your kid would rather drink his breakfast, a smoothie is your best option for an easy school day breakfast. It’s truly an all-in-one powerhouse breakfast that can be made ahead, consumed quickly, and is travel-friendly.
I make a smoothie for my kids every morning. They drink it in the car on the way to drop off my 3-year-old at preschool. It’s usually not their only food in the morning, but it definitely adds some much-needed protein in the mornings. A smoothie is also a great place to add some vegetables to your kids’ diets. I make smoothies with a whole bunch of yummy fruit, of course, but I also never fail to sneak in some greens. Frozen spinach or kale is ideal.
Other blog posts
Need more helpful information about feeding kids? That’s basically my second full-time job, so I’ve got you covered with these posts:
I hope I’ve helped give you some ideas to make easy school day breakfasts accessible to your whole family. What’s your go-to breakfast during the week? Please share down below or over on Instagram @sarainseason!