How Do You Get the Energy? (Morning Breakfast)

Wait! People actually cook big breakfast on a weekday morning?? I was not aware this happened in real life - only on Leave It To Beaver.

We are the same as you - oatmeal (the 1 min cook variety - 5 makes us late), cereal, Eggos. My kids like toast with cinnamon sugar too, and whole fruit is quick. MAYBE, if we have a couple extra minutes I'll cook a couple scrambled eggs for the kids. My husband is on his own for breakfast, BTW.

The weekends are for waffles, eggs for everyone, pancakes, breakfast sandwiches etc.

We did the breakfast thing forever. I finally thought it wasn't exaclty the smartest thing to have eggs EVERY SINGLE day. Eek.

But when we did, I would start what took the longest first:
-hashbrowns in one pan
-then 1/2 through that I'd start the scrambled eggs
-then about 4 mins before the eggs were done I'd start the bacon
-putting the toast in at this time
-so it would all come out together
-I'd have 3 pans going

I'd set the timer so I got it down to precision
I'd have the plates out while the first item was being cooked. Had the butter out w/a knife ready to slather the toast when it popped out right at the end of everything being cooked.

I'd start the item that took the longest then get everything out & ready on the counter including plates, glasses etc.

I'd reserve pancakes & waffles for the weekend.

I cook all the bacon at one time on one flat skillet.

When pressed for time, we do oatmeal, cereal, toast, OJ etc.

I only cook breakfast on the weekends. I will bake muffins & freeze them. We have cereal, bagels, baked oatmeal, etc. on the weekdays.

Stop microwaving 4 pieces of bacon at a time. Throw under your broiler on a broiler pan. :D

12 scrambled eggs should take about 3-6min to cook. Add cheese when done. Or you'll be stirring melting cheese for 20 minutes!!! No bueno.

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I'm not a morning person... But cooking only takes me about 10 minutes. Tops. Most take 5 minutes. WEEKEND brunches are single serving affairs (Omlettes, etc.), or sausage/bacon that isnt cooked ahead of time. Or hollandaise/cream gravy/etc. from scratch. Weekday breakfasts?

4 minute Braised Eggs & toast & OJ

Crack eggs into hot skillet (high)
Add seasonings
Add water
Lid
Pop toast down
Plate Eggs
Butter toast
Pour juice

4 min Veggie Bacon Scramble

Crack eggs
Stir
Scramble
Handful of cheese & chopped veg & crumbled bacon
Plate

Belgian Waffles (*2 minutes... Not including preheat or overnight batter)
* Make overnight batter night before
Turn on machine
* Pee (& wash up)
Scoop out batter
Flip over
90 seconds later, flip back & take out

Eggs Benedict (cheater) 6-10 minutes
- Boil water for eggs
- Throw ham slices in oven
- Poach eggs
-Toast muffins
- ham on muffins
- eggs on muffins
- jarred sauce on muffins

French toast 10 minutes

- mix eggs
- heat pan
- soak bread
- fry

I have 3 kids, one in HS, one in MS and one still in elementary. Their hours are staggered, so I only have to make breakfast for one at a time, luckily. The VERY first thing that happens is mom gets her cup of coffee.

The easiest thing to do is have a quiche or fritatta ready to go, so we can just heat up a slice at a time. Add some berries and you've got a nice warm, filling breakfast. Or I'll make a pot of oatmeal. Scrambled eggs take 2 seconds to make - while the english muffin is toasting, slap on slices of cheese and ham and you've got yourself a nice egg, cheese and ham sandwich.

Everything takes a bit of planning - you've got to have all that stuff in the fridge. But it doesn't take too much effort, really. I absolutely hate my kids eating cereal for breakfast, I find it's just junk (even the so-called healthy ones), but every once in a while, they'll ask for frozen waffles. As long as they have it with some sort of protein like an egg or some plain yogurt, I'm ok with that. I'm a huuuuge fan of eggs in the morning. They're quick to make and filling.

High maintenance foods like bacon and from-scratch pancakes get saved for the weekends. BTW, you can cook an entire package of bacon on a jellyroll pan in the oven all at once (depending on the size of your baking pan and oven), none of this 4 slices at a time stuff. Bacon's gotten a lot easier to deal with since I figured this out!

I get up 30-60 minutes before my son, have a cup of tea. He gets a bowl of cereal or oatmeal and then I make scrambled eggs for both of us; I also have two veggie sausages (microwave!) and one or two pieces of toast to go with it-- I need a lot of protein in the mornings, and this ensures he goes to school with a full belly.

For what it's worth, I usually make a bunch of steel cut oats during a 'snack' time and then refrigerate the rest and zap it in the mornings. Then he has hot cereal available as needed.

I don't even eat breakfast. I throw an apple and some instant oatmeal at my son and call it a day.

You can get an electric skillet, which is what I use to make breakfast foods...not a little skillet on the stove. Mine is large enough to make six pieces of french toast at one time, or a pound of bacon, etc. The precooked stuff is SO much more expensive...I refuse to pay for convenience. I don't even refuse...I can't afford convenience, but I have time. :)

I know this may seem silly, but make sure you're getting enough sleep. When you are truly well rested (don't drink any caffeine after lunch, get your blood moving, go to bed at a decent hour) you will honestly feel so much better in the morning.

When I get up I drink some water, which honestly helps me wake up more than anything else. One of my children is CD and one isn't so I don't make them the same thing for breakfast...ever...so sometimes it does take 15 minutes to make breakfast, but that's if I'm doing the whole shebang. I reward myself with my shower while they are eating...they can keep each other company without me for one meal a day, and I don't feel guilty about it. :)

Really, I think it's just about efficiency. I bet if you tried it with an electric skillet or a larger griddle, you'd see it's not so bad. After ONE TIME of making a dinner of pancakes for our entire family in a skillet, I said NO MORE. It took forever to get enough, and by that time, half of them were stone cold. It really pays to be able to make six at once.

Have I said get an electric skillet? :) Honestly, you can make so much more at once, they are easy to clean, and I have the one my mom had my entire life. It's almost 40 years old, and still works like a charm.

Since I have to be out the door with the kids by about 6:15 a.m., if it isn't way easy, then it is just not happening during the week.

I am not a morning person either, but I do make more than cereal for breakfast a few times during the week, plus both weekend days, typically. I use my crockpot for steel-cut oatmeal, make muffin batter the night before and just pop them in the oven in the morning, or freeze extra french toast/pancakes/waffles from the weekend and reheat them in the toaster during the week.

Smoothies with fresh and frozen fruit and Greek yogurt are also a bit hit with my kids and only take a minute to make.

I have a griddle, I can cook an entire pound of bacon at once, done in 10-15 min. Then I can cook 6 pancakes at a time - all the pancakes done in 10 min or so. :-) I can have pancakes and bacon, eggs done in less than 30 minutes. The huge griddle really helps. I hate cooking bacon in a frying pan, then , yes it does take forever. Oh, and this is maybe 1 weekend day per month lol - weekdays my daughter gets her own breakfast ready. Either cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, etc. Easy stuff.

weekends only!, and even then its not like im up at the crack of dawn cooking.. by the time everyones awake enough to want to eat its usually like 1030.. and when i cook its always eggs, toast, and bacon or taylor ham

Well, short response, being a working mom who's out the door at 7 a.m., I don't :) But we usually do oatmeal w/ fruit or a healthy cereal.

Weekends I have more time and that's when we'll do the scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, whatever.

Oh, quick tip on fast bacon ... wrap in paper towels and microwave. Grease is absorbed into the paper towels and the bacon turns out super crispy.

I'm a stay at home Mom so I have more time than alot of others. I "cook" breakfast about 4-5 days a week. All other times it's something quick. It's kind of a "must" because I have 2 tween boys and they EAT! I usually wake an hour before them and about 30 minute prior I preheat the oven etc/mix up the muffin batter, scramble eggs whatever so when they roll out they can fill up. They both wake early and hungry so I really have no choice!

Regarding the "energy", I just have 20 minutes with my coffee, eat some yogurt and I'm ready. I'm also a morning person so its really pretty easy. Now at 9 p.m. I'm exhausted so that's probably when you have your energy.

I'm with Kristin C. I hate cereal for breakfast. When my kids have it, I usually make them have a smoothie and banana with it.

And I wouldn't say I make "big" breakfasts every morning, just complete ones. Carb, protein plus fruit. I think it really makes them happy and cooperative throughout the day.

Anyway, here's one of our favorite kid breakfasts, and it's fast!

Sprinkle cheerios in the bottom of a bowl, add torn pieces of buttered toast, and put a poached egg on top. Then mush it all together. My kids love it! And the recipe to poaching eggs is: boil water, add a shot of vinegar, add egg, cook 3 minutes, done. :)

lol i am the exact same wayy i can not wake up earlier than i have to and make breakfast . i am usually already rushing and going crazy in the morning .toaster waffles and cereal are my best friends . so i can't help you find the energy but you are def. not alone

My son loves pancakes....even the whole grain variety :-) I make a regular sized batch on Saturdays...he eats 2 sometimes 3. I have so many others that I let cool completely on a plate. Once cool, I put a pice of waxed paper in between each pancake and throw in a freezer bag. He ends up eating these 2 or 3 more days that week before I need to make another batch on the next weekend. I just throw them on a piece of foil in the oven for a few minutes to thaw/warm them. The days in between he eats oatmeal or cheerios. He usually has a yogurt smoothie every am too for protein.

Here's another suggestion for the bacon...

I buy the pre-cooked bacon, and then warm it in the pan... it is really yummy, and doesn't taste really fatty, like some of the other bacon.

If you think it is "expensive", take a look at the slice count, not the cost per ounce.... because it is pre-cooked, you aren't paying for all that fat.....

I prefer the "Tyson" brand pre-cooked bacon.

Also.... I realize you aren't a morning person, but if you get up 30 minutes before you get the kids up, you have a chance to get a quick bite and coffee before you have to start cooking.... and then get them up just before the food is done.

I find I do better with a high protein breakfast... minimize the carbs, and the full feeling lasts longer, also.

We have cereal every morning. I've never cooked a breakfast. I would think a "big, nice breakfast" (with the items described) is just a ticket to obesity. As a treat once in a while maybe french toast. Toaster waffles would be a big deal for us!

So don't feel bad. I've never made breakfast (maybe once or twice a year). Many days we have cereal for lunch or dinner, too. And snack on healthy stuff during the day.

I make double recipes of pancakes and waffles (even crapes) and freeze them. Most mornings we have oatmeal or corn flakes, or something out of the freezer (including muffins, banana bread) but occasionally we will have smoothies and omelets and eggs, etc. I'd like us to eat more eggs with veggies, but since I've been pregnant, I just have no desire to cook breakfast every day! So I do it twice a week. But after baby comes, I'll probably go back to making an actual breakfast 3 or 4x a week. I do make my son French toast whenever he asks for it, since it takes almost no time.

I only cook breakfast on Saturdays, or school vacations. I line a big cookie sheet in foil and cook the whole pack of bacon at once in the oven under the broiler. During the week we have toast, cereal, muffins, toaster waffles or oatmeal. I always have the coffee on a timer, so it is ready when I get out of bed.

I don't generally make large breakfasts at all. I do it occasionally on the weekends. However some of the time when I notice my children are becoming bored with cereal, toast and juice/milk I will make up a whole batch pancakes and freeze them. This way they're really easy to throw into the microwave in the morning and heat through then they can add whatever fruit or toppings they'd like.

We eat a big breakfast every day. I am definitely not a morning person. Here is what we do. We make the majority of what we eat for breakfast the day before. We also don't mind eating the same foods everyday.

Here is our breakfast menu (Monday-Friday)

pick any 2 vegetables (steamed carrots, steamed broccoli, cucumber sticks, bean sprouts, spinach, a small salad- shredded cabbage, lettuce, kale with a little dressing, sweet potatoes with apple and cinnamon)

pick any 2 fruits (apple, pear, kiwi, watermelon, banana, mango, tomato, peach)

1 egg/person (hard boiled, egg soup, scrambled, egg roll, omelet... Some styles can be done the night before. )

80g silken tofu/person served with a TBSP of either mango, blueberry, or cherry preserves or the same flavors in a yogurt sauce

1 of the following (Whole wheat toast either buttered or with cinnamon and honey or peanut butter, oatmeal, or my homemade banana/oatmeal/carrot bread)

A slice of cheese or 80g plain yogurt

We get four servings of veggies/ fruit with our breakfast. Plus I include protein and some complex carbs in our breakfast. Since I started doing this a few years back, we have all become much healthier and have more energy throughout the day. My husband and I even lost a few pounds just from eating breakfast.

Those veggetables and fruits can be cut the day before. To keep apple from browning, slice it and rinse in water that contains a small amount of salt, then rinse the salt-water off and store in a bowl, tupperware, or plastic bag.

Every once in a while we will eat sandwiches (made the day before) or curry rice, ratatouille or one of my stews for breafast instead of our regular breakfast, and then have a lighter lunch that day. We reserve the French toast, homemade muffins and scones for the weekend only. By the way, pancakes can be frozen and popped in the microwave.

When I make a big breakfast on the weekend I will first eat half of a banana and a little juice to get the blood sugar up so I have some energy.

Bacon tip: lay bacon out on paper towel on top of a folded paper grocery bag. Then put a paper towel on top to catch the splatters. You will have to change the paper towel and bag probably once, depending on the amount of bacon. You may have to rotate the bacon so all gets cooked evenly.

Where are you seeing all these people, all the time making a big breakfast LOL!
I love to do a big breakfast on Sundays, it's become a tradition and a habit for me. But I sleep in, then drink lots of coffee, stay in my PJs and read the paper before I even begin (the kids nibble on something while they wait.)
Weekdays my kids usually like a toasted english muffin with scrambled egg and cheese. Wholesome, cheap, protein packed and done in less than five minutes, plus they can take it to go if we're running late! I eat later, around 9:30 or 10:00, and I may have a bowl of oatmeal (the good, steel cut oats) but more often than not I'm heating up leftovers from the night before.
I bet you could easily warm/crisp an entire cookie sheet of bacon in the oven, just turn the oven on before starting anything else so it gets nice and hot.

We often have breakfast for dinner, and have a Carnation Instant Breakfast Drink for breakfast. ;)

Weekends I always make a big breakfast...that I can't eat! Such is the steps towards a healthy lifestyle!

I am an early to bed, early to rise person. That's how I do it. Sometimes I just flat not in the mood though. Don't feel bad!

We do "breakfast bakes, once a week.

Butter a baking dish.
Crack a dozen eggs.
Cut up a bunch of veg, your choice, we use tomato, peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, olives, onions, garlic, zucchini or any combination of these.
Add meat of your choice- bacon, turkey bacon, sausage, roast beef, ground beef, turkey, pork, fish etc, or any combination, or none.
Add cheese- we like cheddar, but we also use swiss, mozzarella, edam, gouda, blue, cream.
salt & pepper to taste.

Bake at 450 untill the eggs are set.

Cut into squares, about the size of the palm of your hand. re-heat in the morning and serve on toast or a burito.

can be served with hashbrowns, rice and beans, tater tots, baked potato, roasted tomato and onions, cereal, or nothing at all.

the brilliance of breakfast bakes is you get a home cooked breakfast, its convenient, and there is no daily fuss, muss, or cleanup.

you can also cook up a silly amount of pancakes, or waffles on the weekend or at night, and refrigerate/ freeze and reheat these.

you can make cornmuffins with crispy bacon and cheese mixed into the batter. serve with butter.

breakfast lends itself to all sorts of shortcuts.
Just move past the idea that you need to cook it fresh in order to make sure it is wholesome and hearty.

good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

No one in my family are big breakfast eaters.
Their tummies are also not awake yet.
So... that means, I do not have to make those "Mary Poppins" type restaurant worthy big breakfasts.
So, I don't.

We eat, what we eat.
And that means, fruit or yogurt or whatever is left over from last night, and some sort of healthy beverage or cereal or a croissant.
In other words, quick things... but things that WILL be eaten. Why have battles in the morning over breakfast anyway.

If my kids are full, they are full. I don't force them to eat... big breakfasts.
As long as they eat something, before going to school. Fine.
My Husband feeds himself. Its fine with him, fine with me.
Me- I feed myself whatever. I am not picky.
But I drink coffee too. I need that.

I am not about, to cook huge fancy big breakfasts in the morning, when I don't have to, nor wake up 1 hour earlier just to do that then have a sink full of dishes to wash later, all before taking my kids to school.
The kids eat fine at lunch, and at dinner. So I don't fret over it.
As long as they are full with something in the morning before going to school, fine.
I don't feed them junk food things in the morning anyway. We don't have it in the house. It is regular food.

We all eat fine in the morning.
And we all function fine, after.
Its all fine.

I wake up way before anyone else in my family anyway. So that I can prep/clean/get myself ready before everyone else wakes up.
But I am pretty alert upon waking up anyway, even if I am tired.
I just hit the ground running. Anyway.

I am a SAHM.
I also work part-time weekdays.
I cook Mary Poppins breakfasts on the weekends.
But again, my family are not big breakfast eaters.
And, my kids know how to cook too. Even my 6 year old son.
On weekends, we/they/we all, cook breakfast.

Prep it all the night before - make a breakfast casserole the night before and bake it the second you get up. It should be ready by the time you get out of the shower!

put your bacon on a cookie sheet in the oven. For real. But I never make all that crazy stuff for breakfast. either. we are simple.