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| Back to School Breakfasts - Quick and Easy |
by Kim TilleyIt's back-to-school, or homeschooling time! Whichever way you are going with your kids, schooltime means back to a structured schedule and back to the morning routine of gearing up for the day! Get the kids and yourself off to the right start with a cheap, delicious, home-cooked breakfast. Quick and Easy Ideas These are for those days when you wake up late, the kids are going slow, or you forgot to start something the night before. Whatever the reason, when you are pressed for time, you can still have a great breakfast! Fruit Shakes Try to keep some peeled bananas in the freezer (in ziploc bags.) There are tons of combinations to make. Serve with toast, muffins, cold cereal, or more fruit. Though these are filling, kids will get hungry later on. If they are in school, make sure they have something to go along with these so they don't starve before lunchtime. Here are a few shakes that go great with breakfast and are fast: Monkey Milk - blend a banana and 1 cup of milk, add a little yellow food coloring Purple Cow - grape juice and milk blended together Julius Shakes Basic recipe: 1 cup juice 1 cup water 1 egg white 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract 1/4 cup sugar 1 cup ice (crushed is best) Blend at high speed. Serves 2. Note: The egg white is to make the drink frothy, which it is famous for. You can omit the white, or use that powdered egg white (I think it's called meringue powder) that is sold in the Wilton baking section of most stores. Here's what I do I wait for a sale on eggs, then get them home, separate into whites and yolks and freeze. I freeze the whites in small ice cube trays. I put the yolks into juice cans with 1/2-tsp salt and once frozen, put in a Ziploc-type bag. When I want to make a Julius or meringue, I take out the white in cubes and throw them in. Variations Try any juice. Some of my favorites are pineapple, strawberry, lime or cranberry. Try mixing different kinds too. Cranberry and orange would be great together, and there are so many juice blends at the store - experiment to your heart's content! Fresh Fruit They even come in their own wrapper! Slice apples, bananas, and orange sections for slow and/or little kids. Not filling alone, so serve with toast, muffins, instant oatmeal or cold cereal. Our favorite speedy fruits are grapes, bananas and berries. Eggs, Bacon and Toast I can make eggs, bacon and toast in about 5 minutes. I buy the turkey bacon and have one of those microwave bacon trays with the grooves on them to drain the fat. I microwave 5 strips of bacon for 2 1/2 minutes on high, then turn once and microwave for another 2 1/2 minutes. The turkey bacon has very little fat and doesn't shrink. While the bacon is going, I put some toast in the toaster, and scramble up some eggs. Easy and classic! Horse Chow (from Simple Food for the Good Life) I had doubts about this recipe until I tried it. My kids now love this. Horse Chow is a combination of raw oats and dried or fresh fruits. You can also add nuts and seeds as well.There are about a million combinations. It's delicious, healthy and cheap. I road-tested this one several times before considering it for this article. The kids like to add their favorites, and eat this fast, uncooked oatmeal/granola. Here is the basic recipe: 4 cups rolled oats (old-fashioned, not instant) 1/2 cup raisins juice of 1 lemon dash of salt a little vegetable oil to moisen Mix all together and eat. Note: Everything but the oats is optional. I substituted blueberries for the raisins, which was great! We have also added apples and cinnnamon, and done strawberries with some milk. You can serve this with any fresh or dried fruit, and add a little milk. It then becomes a quick version of Muesli, a favorite European breakfast. Instant Oatmeal (homemade version) Did you know you can make your own instant oatmeal Here is one we came up with out of desperation: Kim's Oatmeal-in-a-hurry Per person: 1/2 cup instant or "quick-cooking" oatmeal 1/2 cup water or milk 1/4 cup or less of sugar (to taste) dried fruits of your choice- raisins, blueberries, cherries, apples, apricots, dates, etc. fresh fruit if you like- bananas, berries, etc. spices - cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, depending on what combination you are making Squirt of honey, jam, or chopped fruit for garnish 1. Combine all, according to taste. Microwave on high 1-2 minutes, until oatmeal is thickened. Garnish as desired (with honey, syrup, chopped bananas, marshmallows, sprinkles, whatever!) Possible combinations - apples and cinnamon, pumpkin pie (use canned pumpkin or pumpkin pie spice), peaches and cream, strawberries and cream, peanut butter and jelly, tropical (bananas, pineapple, mangoes, dates, coconut, whatever you have), lemon-blueberry, maple syrup and brown sugar, maple syrup and pecans. Someone sent this one to me: Oatmeal Packets (from Make Your Own Groceries by Daphne Metaxas Hartwig) Serving Size : 8 3 C Quick-Cooking Oats Salt 8 Plastic Sandwich Bags Put 1/2 C. oats in a blender and whirl at high speed until powdery; reserve in a small bowl and repeat procedure with an additional 1/2 C. oats. If you're using a food processor, powder the 1 C. of oats in one motion. Into each sandwich bag put 1/4 C. unpowdered oats, 2 T. powdered oats, and a scant 1/4 t. salt. Store in a box or airtight container. To serve: Empty packet into a bowl. Add 3/4 C. boiling water; stir and let stand for 2 minutes. For thicker oatmeal, use less water; for thinner, use more water. (I microwave for 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 minutes or until done on high) VARIATIONS Apple-cinnamon: To each packet add 1 T. sugar, 1/4 t. cinnamon, and 2T. chopped dried apples. Sweetened:To each packet add 1 T. sugar Cinnamon spice: To each packet add 1 T. sugar, 1/4 t. cinnamon, and a scant 1/8 t. nutmeg. Raisins and brown sugar: To each packet add 1 T. packed brown sugar and 1 T. raisins. Wheat germ: To each packet add 2 T. any kind of wheat germ Fruit and cream: (This is my own to satisfy the kids) To each packet add 1T. dry milk and 2T dried fruit or fresh fruit after cooking or jam. Cold Cereal Ok, I'll readily admit that even after being frugal for so long, we still buy cereal. Cold cereal is our "emergency food" for those really stressful mornings! We like to stock up when the prices are low and we have coupons. Once, we found Chex on sale for 99 cents and had a bunch of $1 off coupons. We bought 128 boxes of Chex for $1.28! (We had to pay the 1-cent tax per box). We did everything we could think of with Chex - party mix, muddy buddies, etc. We gave boxes away to friends and cases away to the local mission. My husband bragged that he could have taken a bath in Chex if he wanted to! We still get a good laugh from that. My point is, keep an eye out for great sales and keep the cereal coupons. I don't always have time to clip coupons, but I always try to clip the cereal ones and keep them in my purse. We have stocked up on Wheaties, bought for 25-50 cents a box with double coupons on sale, as well as Honey Comb, Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies, etc, all for under $1 a box. Kids love to shop for cereal, so make them practice math at the supermarket by giving them the coupons and a budget. I tell them they can only spend up to $1.99 a box, and if they can get something for under $1 a box, they can get more. Teach them frugality as a game, give them the challenge, and you will be surprise what they come up with! They may wind up to be more frugal than you! Snackmaster Turnovers If you have a "snackmaster" or "sandwich maker", you can make these really fast. Just butter up to piece of bread, and add a filling. For breakfast, we like to put in a beaten egg and some cheese, with chopped veggies optional. You can use sweet fillings too, such as pie-filling, but I would recommend those as snacks or desserts instead of as breakfasts. We've even done these as bacon, egg, and toast pockets. These "breakfast sandwiches" are hot and delicious, and only take a few minutes to make. The egg will cook right in between the bread. It usually takes a few minutes. Precook the bacon in the microwave, or use bacon bits. You could also try lunchmeat in these, or make an italian version with some pepperoni and tomato sauce. Voila! Breakfast Pizza Pockets! MORE IDEAS Yogurt Dress up plain yogurt with fruit and honey, or use jello mix to flavor. Presto- neon, cool-looking yogurt. Top with chopped nuts, dried or fresh fruit. Serve with muffins from the freezer. Cottage Cheese Place cottage cheese on toast and top with canned fruit. This is known as a "Weight Watcher's Danish". Mandarin oranges or crushed pineapple work really well. Leftovers Leftovers can be great for breakfast! Here are a few ideas: Rice or cooked grains - heat and serve just like oatmeal, with your favorite dried or fresh fruits, nuts, etc.. Mashed potatoes - make birds' nests! Plop small mounds of potatoes on a greased cookie sheet, making a well in each mound. Crack an egg into each well and bake for about 15 minutes at 375, until the egg is cooked through. Leftover meat and veggies - make omelets, or put into a tortilla with some scramble eggs. You then have yourself some breakfast burritos. I keep tortillas in the freezer for emergencies as well! Soups - great for breakfast on a cold day. Serve with toast and eggs. Biscuits and breads - serve with jam, or make breakfast sandwiches. Put some leftover gravy and reheated meat on top for a quick, filling breakfast. Noodles - Heat with some butter, toss with Parmesan, add any leftover veggies. Pasta Primavera for breakfast! Tell the kids they are eating brunch. Add scrambled eggs if they are not convinced. With a little ingenuity, you can make quick breakfasts for less. Remember, work smarter, not harder! |
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About the Author: Kim Tilley, a tightwad at heart, is a wife, a mother of three active boys and the founding editor of Frugal-Moms.com. Frugal by force and later by choice, Kim cut her income by 60% to stay at home with her children and discovered that anyone can live better for less. Her work has appeared in print publications such as The Tightwad Gazette. In her free time, she entertains herself by chasing kids and finding ways to create something from nothing! |
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Create My Own Soup 
