breakfast ideas

[sarahr]

My dd (age 5) moves very, very slowly in the morning and is a particularly slow eater. Her most frequent breakfast choices are dry cereal and toast with butter, but she doesn't have time to eat anywhere close to a reasonable quantity before it's time to go. She can't take food with her, as eating isn't allowed on the bus, and we can't build in more time for breakfast because we're already waking her up earlier than she'd like (and putting her to bed as early as we possibly can).

Any ideas for breakfasts that are quick to make (or can be made ahead of time), quick to eat, and carry a big nutritional/caloric punch?

[ollyoxenfree]

Would she enjoy a breakfast smoothie instead? Something with yoghurt and fruit? It might be quicker to drink rather than chew. 

Is she a slow eater or just not hungry first thing in the morning? Lots of people aren't really hungry early in the day. If the school or daycare has morning break, perhaps she can have a  nutrition break at that time. I'm thinking of wholegrain muffins, fruit, cheese, hummus and pita, yoghurt....or even half of a sandwich or some soup.  

[pianojazzgirl]

I'd try to think what protein options she might go for.  A small amount of protein will serve her much better than a small amount of carbs.  I don't think it's important to stick with traditional "breakfast foods" either.  Would she like a slice of ham rolled up?  Thick slice of cheese?  An egg?  French toast would be better (would keep her full longer) than toast and butter.  In a crunch I've been known to give my kids a spoonful of peanut butter or a handful of nuts.  If she really just wants dry cereal you could try one of those protein rich ones.  I'm pretty sure Kashi makes one, and I'm sure other brands do too.  Or you could go with an energy bar like Cliff bars (or similar).

Also, the pp's smoothie idea is a good one.  If you make them with yogourt look for the "greek style" yogourt that has way more protein than the other stuff.  You can hide all kinds of nutritious stuff in a smoothie too.  ;)

[LuckyMommaToo]

I agree with the PP. My DD had shepherd's pie for breakfast today. My kids also love having "popsicles" for breakfast. I make a yogurt/fruit smoothie, then freeze it with those popsicle molds. May not be appealing if it's really cold where you are, but we're in SoCal, so most of the time it's not too cold!

-e

[CanBoo]

My 5 year old gets bored with breakfasts and I have to rotate to keep it interesting. Mine eats faster when the food changes. :)

I'd suggest a smoothie too.

Would she eat an egg? It is so quick to make. Panfried. Or a quick microwave scrambled egg with cheese? I know my daughter likes the gooeyness of eggs in the microwave better. Or just hard-boil them the night before...

Greek yogourt with a little granola in it.

Steel cut oats fill her up quite well. (I program it the night before in the rice cooker).

Muffins!

Couple turkey sausages with a slice of orange.

There was other good suggestions from PP:.

It is a good idea to give a bigger morning snack maybe... That's also when the hard-boiled eggs come in handy.

"Non-breakfast" food. I personally love reheated spaghetti and meatballs in the morning!

Have you spoken with the bus driver? Ours are also not "supposed" to have food in the bus according to the company operating it. But we have an understanding driver who he lets them have non-messy food because he knows how hard it can be on the kids... He is cool with them having a granola bar on the bus...

[~cassie~]

We do:

Banana/blueberry bread or muffins

mini quiches

boiled eggs

waffles with PB

These are the ones we do most of the time and they are big hits

[MountainMamaGC]

Pancakes. You can add healthy things to the batter, like flax or berries, or a banana, or protein powder, etc, and then they can be frozen and popped into the toaster for a quick and tasty breakfast.

[meemee]

i was like your dd as a child. my dd doesnt lke eating bfast.

so what my dad did was make me a glass of liquid whole grain oatmeal. there would be a little sugar and lots of milk that i would easlily slurp down. chewing takes time. i have to chew at leat 50 times each bite. when you have liquid oatmeal or cream of wheat its easy to just swallow.  

also another thing. we dont do traditional breakfasts when we do bfasts once in a while. dd does not like traditional bfast foods. 

so for bfast sometimes we have cream of x soups - butternut squash soup or mushroom or whatever is in season. sometimes i throw in some lentils to add some protein. warm soup is delicious on a cold winters morning. 

if we have time, dd also loves rice with roasted veggies in the monring. we rarely do cereal, pancakes or oatmeal. 

[Imakcerka]

Mine love warmed up muffins.  Apples and bananas if dd2 hasn't eaten them all already.  Sometimes grilled cheese.

[Ally Nathaniel]

I'm thinking eggs:

Pancakes - you can make time ahead and warm up in the morning.

Omelet - Fast and easy to make.

Hot Cereals / pouring - can be warmed up.

Drinks - hot milk / soy milk with a little bit of honey. (protein)

good luck :-)

Ally