Sep
10
2012

5 Ideas to Make Breakfast Easy

Posted by:  | Category: International

10

5 ideas for making breakfast easy
Now that we’re in full swing with our new life as parents of a kindergartener, we’re readjusting many of our daily routines — or lack of them, in some cases — to better accommodate the new needs of our girl. Before, we could take more time in the mornings and didn’t feel pressured to have to arrive on time to preschool every day. That’s certainly changed now and the adjustment hasn’t been without its bits of chaos.

One of the things that concerns me the most is making sure my girl actually has breakfast before heading out to school because I’m just not sure how much of her snack and lunch she’s eating during the day. Since she stays in after school as well, I need to make sure she’s feeding herself, and, from the looks of her lunchbox lately, she prefers to play and socialize than actually eat. This makes breakfast even more important to make sure she’s got the calories and nutrients to keep her going and energized all day.

According to Dayle Hayles, an award-winning author, educator and nutrition coach from the Kellogg’s Breakfast Council, it’s important that kids have breakfast to start out their day in the best possible way, even more so because “when students haven’t had breakfast, they’re listening to their stomachs, not the teachers.”

Not only that, but for my family of three with the crazy schedules, breakfast has become probably the best time for us to eat together, albeit not the most serene moment, but even if it’s only for 15 minutes, it happens a lot more often than dinner does. Plus, it’s not only a good habit for my girl, but also for my husband and I since research shows that people who eat breakfast tend to have healthier weight .

Now, how do we actually make sure that we get in the four essential nutrients we need — calcium, potassium, vitamin D and dietary fiber — every day for breakfast? Yes, a simple bowl of cereal with fruit does provide those four nutrients, but how do we make sure we add variety to every morning while making breakfast easy and simple?

5 Ideas to Make Breakfast Easy

1. Set the table night before and have one less thing to worry about during the morning rush. Seeing the table ready also encourages the little ones to sit and feel it’s part of a comforting routine.

2. Keep fruits like berries, mangoes and even unpeeled bananas frozen and ready to pop into a blender for a nutritious smoothie anytime.

3. Make pancake and waffle batter and freeze it in small batches. We love crepes, and they are so easy to make and even perfect for on-the-go!

4. Make hard boiled eggs in advance. My girl loves helping to peel and put salt on them. They’re also easy to grab and go for those mornings when sitting down at the table just isn’t an option.

5. Have a stock of nutritious cereals in the pantry and serve a bowl with berries and/or slices of bananas.

Would love for you to share in the comments below how you make breakfast happen at your house during the school year?

{Photo by goforchris on flickr}

Disclosure: We are  one of the  Kellogg’s Champions of Great Starts bloggers and proud to have Kellogg’s as a SpanglishBaby sponsor.

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