One of my goals for this school year is to have some better alternatives for breakfast than cereal or toast. The nice thing about cereal is that it’s quick. But my kids are starting to get bored of just eating cereal, so I’m needing to get a bit creative and find some other ideas for breakfast.

Pinterest of course is a WEALTH of information, and I’ve found a lot of really great recipes on there that I’ve tried and am planning on adding to our mornings. I have found that it helps to do most of the prep the night before so that in the morning I can quickly pull out or put together the remainder and serve up a great, healthy breakfast for my family.

Top Ten Favourite Make Ahead Recipes for Breakfast

1. Everyday or Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

I have tried a bajillion cinnamon roll recipes, and these are finally the ones I have landed on as being my favourite. Whether you make the overnight version the night before or the regular version the morning off, these are sure to be a hit!

2. Baked Oatmeal

When I was at Capernwray Bible School in New Zealand, one of our favourite breakfasts was baked oatmeal (or as we called it there, muesli). The oats soak overnight and you bake it in the morning – so delicious! The Baked Oatmeal Casserole looks DELICIOUS and I can’t wait to try it out!

This is the recipe we use the most:

Baked ABS Muesli

½ cp veggie oil (substitute coconut oil!)
¾ cp sugar
2 eggs
1 cp milk
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp bak. powder
3 cp oats
½ cp raisins
2 tbsp b sugar
½ tsp cinnamon

Beat oil and sugar. Mix in eggs, milk, salt, powder and oatmeal. Beat well, stir in raisins. Pour into lightly greased pie pan. Sprinkle w/ b sugar and cinnamon. Refrigerate overnight. Bake @ 350 for 35 min til firm.

3. Crock Pot Oatmeal

Whether you use steel cut oats or old fashioned oats, it’s quick, easy, and SUPER healthy! Add in some cut up fruit and it will soften overnight. Our favourite recipes for crock pot oatmeal are using Steel Cut Oats and an Apple Pie Oatmeal.

If you want something for hubby to take to work, try making your own Instant Oatmeal Packets! Way healthier and way less sugar than the ones you buy prepackaged. Not to mention you’ll save a good deal too :0)

4. Muffins

Muffins, muffins, and more muffins! There’s a FANTASTIC recipe going around that is called Magic Muffin Mix where you mix up the base, keep in the pantry and add to it as you need it. And it’s a HEALTHY recipe too!

My cousin also gave me a great recipe for whole wheat muffins with oatmeal that are so delicious – you’d never know they were whole wheat! They’re a recipe to make the morning of and we rarely have a lot of leftovers from the pan!

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 cup oatmeal
1 cup boiling water

Mix and let stand for 20 minutes

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup chocolate chips (dates, raisins, etc.)

Cream sugar and butter together. Add eggs and beat. Add the chocolate chips to the dry ingredients and add to wet. Add vanilla, and stir in oatmeal mixture.

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

5. Egg and English Muffins

Make your english muffins the day before, or when you make a batch, freeze them and pull them out the morning of when you’re cooking up the eggs. The possibilities of toppings are endless! Check out this idea for making the eggs in advance and freezing for an even fast breakfast! This is our favourite English Muffin recipe.

Another idea is to make these Egg Muffins. You can make them in advance and freeze them, then pull out to defrost for a quick and healthy breakfast. Serve it with toast and fruit or just on their own.

6. Granola

Yes, granola technically cereal. But it’s healthier than boxed because you know EXACTLY what’s in it! Plus, it makes a great breakfast cereal or snack food :D I grew up helping my mom make it and she always wondered how it disappeared so quickly! This is my Mom’s Granola recipe we LOVE.

7. Smoothies

If you make your own yogurt and keep fruit in the freezer, you’re going to love making smoothies in the morning! To speed up the already quick process, put together smoothie packs in the freezer so you can just grab the fruit already measured out, dump and go!

8. Breakfast Casserole

There are tons of recipes out there – of course, use your crock pot when possible! :D You can keep it simple or fancy it up a bit!

9. Whole Wheat Waffles

Ok, I’m cheating a bit here – it isn’t make ahead per se (only because I haven’t figured out the instructions to keep dry mix on hand and add the wet later!), but they ARE yummy :D This is the recipe we use and we’re almost needing to double it for how much we go through at a time! If you can, triple or quadruple the recipe and keep the extras in the freezer to pull out for quick meals another day! (These also work great for suppertime ;D)

10. Scones

Scones are a great make ahead breakfast idea because you can freeze the dough before you bake it or freeze the scones after they’re baked. Try these Basic Cream Scones. We like Lemon Poppyseed and our FAVOURITES are definitely Raspberry Scones with Orange Glaze. So delicious!