Mornings can be tough enough without adding in the additional challenges that making a nutritious and filling breakfast can bring. Here are two common challenges moms face on school mornings, and ideas for how to solve them:
There's not enough time to cook in the morning!
Yes, we could get up earlier, but come on! We all know that's easier said than done. So here are some more realistic ideas:
- Pre-make pancake or waffle batter. Then all you have to do is spoon some batter onto a skillet and it'll be ready before your kids can say "where are my shoes?"
- Prepare extra breakfasts on the weekends. In my house, we fix extra pancakes, waffles, and french toast whenever we cook them on the weekends. Simply store in the fridge or freezer to pull out and quickly pop in the toaster or microwave on rushed school mornings.
- Use your slow cooker for overnight oatmeal that's ready when you are in the morning.
- Make MacDaddy Eggs: Toast Split English muffins with cheese on one side in your toaster oven. Pop Canadian Bacon in microwave for 30 sec. Add a scrambled egg in a buttered ramekin to microwave for 1 minute, then assemble for a delicious hot breakfast sandwich in less than 5 minutes!
Kids aren't hungry for breakfast
My youngest simply doesn't like to eat first thing in the morning. But I don't want to send him to school without breakfast, so I've found a few ways to make sure he goes to school with something yummy in his tummy:
- Get completely ready for school before sitting down for breakfast. This gives kids more time to be awake ... which means they are more likely to actually eat something.
- Make a smoothie. While my son might not want to eat, he is often happy to drink something. So I've found a fruit and veggie smoothie with protein powder is a perfect solution.
- Give him a cookie! What? He doesn't need to know this oatmeal breakfast cookie is actually a nutritious breakfast!
Try out these tips to see if any of them help your mornings go a little easier. Now if we could only get the kids out of the house on time...
Jennifer Hill is the publisher of Macaroni Kid Fremont, Calif.
