“What nicer thing can you do for somebody than make them breakfast?“
– Anthony Bourdain –
A few years ago, in an effort to open up more time for myself in the morning, I started prepping four-to-five days of breakfast meals on Sunday afternoons for my family of five. The result has been a cleaner kitchen, fewer bowls of cereal consumed, and kids who’ve learned the value of starting the day with a hearty, protein-rich breakfast.
Here’s what I make:
Scrambled Eggs
It sounds simple, but it’s not. It’s magic.
Before I head to church on Sunday morning, I scramble 24-32 eggs (you read that correctly) with some onion and whatever breakfast potatoes I have on hand in the freezer. I usually use these, or these, or these. Sometimes I’ll throw in spinach or leftover green/yellow/red peppers. I always add bacon because…do I really need to explain this to you?
All of that goes in a giant bowl in the fridge to cool while
we’re at church.
When we get home, I move a bunch of it to a glass container that I keep in the fridge, making it easy for us to pull out, scoop into bowls, add some cheese, salsa, avocado or whatever, and reheat throughout the week.
The rest gets rolled up in burritos.
Breakfast Burritos
My love for breakfast burritos is three-fold:
1. They can be eaten on the go.
2. They freeze well (and travel great on vacation to VRBOs and what have you).
3. They can be easily customized.
I plop a couple scoops of the cooled scrambled egg mixture onto tortillas, add cheese, roll up in tinfoil and store in the fridge or freezer. I don’t like sausage, but my family does, so I toss some precooked sausage (something I cook up every Sunday) into a few of them, roll them up, and Sharpie “sausage” on the tinfoil so that I don’t accidentally eat one.
Pancakes
My middle son loves to make pancakes, so a few Sundays a month he’ll make a couple batches and divide them up in three labeled Ziplocs—one for him, one for his brother, and one for his sister. In the morning (or for an after school snack), they warm a couple up with whatever cooked bacon or sausage is in the fridge.
Egg Bake
I make a version of this egg bake every, single week. Most weeks it looks like a layer of:
White Bread
Smoked turkey breast (regular doesn’t taste as good, trust me here)
Green Onions
Whatever grated cheese I have on hand
Bacon pieces
Tomatoes (whatever kind I have on hand)
You can really throw anything in. I’ve used mushrooms instead of bacon, ham instead of turkey, etc. Don’t overthink this. Use what you like.
On Sunday I assemble all the dry ingredients in a square or 9×13 glass dish and store it in our outside refrigerator until Wednesday or Thursday. I pour 8-10 eggs over the top and bake on 375 for 35(ish) minutes.
Egg Muffins
I don’t make these every week but, when I do, the process
goes like this:
I put five reusable, jumbo silicone muffin cups (I got mine from IKEA a thousand years ago, but you can find them anywhere like here) on a baking sheet and fill them with the hashbrown/cheese situation this recipe calls for. I cover them with a paper towel (because it’s fast, not fancy), stick a small container of precooked bacon or sausage on the baking sheet, and slide the whole thing onto a rack in my outside freezer. If space is tight for you, stack everything in a plastic container and store ‘em that way.
On the morning I want to bake them, I crisp up the hash browns and cheese for 10 minutes on 425. While that’s happening, I mix up a few eggs with some milk in a measuring up to make it easy to pour into the cups. (I found this tastes better than just cracking an egg into each muffin cup). I toss a few pieces of bacon or sausage into each cup and finish baking at 400 until they’re cooked through.
Smoothies
I like to pre-fill two-to-three Mason jars on Sunday with frozen berries, protein powder, juice, spinach and yogurt to quickly dump into a blender with ice in the morning. Recipes abound. Share yours in the comments.
Hungry for more meal planning inspiration? Grab the free guide: