Back-to-School Breakfast Ideas: Make-Ahead Recipes and Prep Plan

Every August I become convinced that fall can be handled in advance.

Not all of it. Practice times will move. Someone will need to be driven somewhere at the exact moment dinner should be happening. And by October I will have no interest in making this much breakfast at once. I know this because I have lived here before.

But right now I am extremely motivated.

So I am using it on breakfast. A lot of breakfast. Enough that I do not have to think about what anyone eats before school until sometime in October.

Want the whole thing in one place? Get all five make-ahead breakfast recipes plus the color-coded grocery list at the bottom of the post.

Big batches of each recipe, frozen individually, with enough variety that nobody eats the same thing five days running.

This is not a new weekly routine. Soccer is starting and I am about to be in the car a lot more, so the prep I can keep up with is planning dinners, ordering the groceries, and chopping something when there is time, which is exactly what this month's plan looks like.

Breakfast is different because these recipes freeze well. I make a lot now. The boys reheat what they want before school without me.

I did not do this in one afternoon. It was a few days, a recipe or two at a time. It all goes in the freezer, so it does not matter when any of it happens.

Old favorites only. If something is getting freezer space, I already know they will eat it.

sausage, egg and cheddar breakfast biscuits

A breakfast sandwich, except the sandwich is the biscuit. Sausage, egg and cheddar are all baked right in, which is exactly what I want from a school morning breakfast.

One batch makes 14. I am making 28.

Freeze them, bag them, microwave one straight from frozen for 60 to 90 seconds, then let it sit for a minute. The boys can handle that themselves, which is exactly why 28 feels like the correct number.

watch me make them  ·  read the full post

equipment: cookie scoop (#12) and crow canyon large rectangle tray

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freezer friendly egg muffins

These have been on my site since 2019, and I have made enough versions of them to know the recipe is really more of a suggestion. Sausage, cheddar, peppers, no peppers, whatever makes sense for the people eating them.

The bread on the bottom makes them sturdy enough to pick up, and once frozen they keep for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight, microwave in the morning, done.

read the full post
equipment: silicone muffin liners or silicone muffin pan

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blueberry protein muffins

This recipe has been viewed more than a half million times and is still the number one Google result for blueberry protein muffins. Which feels excessive for a muffin, but also correct.

They are soft, packed with blueberries, have about 9 grams of protein each, and freeze beautifully. One batch makes 12 large muffins.

Freeze them once completely cool, then move them to a freezer bag. Thaw overnight or let one come to room temperature on the counter.

read the full post
equipment: silicone muffin liners or silicone muffin pan or caraway muffin pan

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no bake peanut butter power balls

I have been making some version of these for years. Oats, peanut butter, honey, vanilla, salt, then whatever is currently winning in my house: chocolate chips, mini M&M’s, crushed pretzels, or a combination.

No food processor, no baking, one bowl. Which is probably why they have survived this long. The recipe makes 12 - 16 balls depending on scoop size.

Pull one out and give it 5 to 10 minutes on the counter. That is it.

read the full post
equipment: small cookie scoop

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These are less of a recipe and more of a system. Pick 2 or 3 smoothies, portion the fruit, greens and add-ins into individual containers, freeze, then add the liquid when you are ready to blend. The whole point is that everyone can have a different smoothie without me measuring six things at 6:30 in the morning.

I usually make 6 to 10 packs at a time. The guide has five of our regular combinations, including strawberry banana, cherry limeade, spinach apple, the best green smoothie and wild blueberry, plus printable labels that tell you exactly what to add when blending.

read the full post ·  download the smoothie guide

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our favorite pumpkin muffins (mini or full size)

I make a lot of things I call our favorite. These actually are.

They are the first-day-of-school muffins. Soft pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips, and the one breakfast all three boys would choose. I have made them for years, and I am hoping this is one of those things that sticks. Someday they come home older and ask if I made the pumpkin muffins.

Make them mini or full size. Both freeze well, both thaw quickly, and both disappear at about the same rate.

read the full post
equipment: silicone muffin pan or silicone mini muffin pan or caraway muffin pan

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That is the freezer.

Will this actually get us to October? Unclear. There are four boys involved.