Mornings can be stressful. During the school year, during the week, over the holidays…pick a time. If you’re trying to get your family fed, dressed, and out the door on any schedule, time can feel like your enemy.
Before school and church is when I feel the time crunch the most. Those mornings are made up of unmatched pairs of shoes (because there’s always only one), cranky, non-morning people, and coffee that can’t brew fast enough. Add in the pressure of putting together a nutritious breakfast, and mornings become a headache waiting to happen.
My kids are currently on break, which means that my mornings are a little more laid back. Everyone can sleep in if they want and breakfast is not a rushed affair. Making fresh pancakes wouldn’t be a big deal. But when school starts up again, who wants to sacrifice a decent breakfast for the sake of being on time?
So here are 5 freezable breakfast ideas that can be put together during your free time and brought out for a quick and nutritious morning meal:
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Pancakes. Pancakes freeze great, can be made weeks in advance, and can be made with almost anything you have on hand. You can get creative with the combinations: peanut butter-banana, blueberry-orange, apple-cinnamon. Whatever you and your family like (or have). This recipe makes about 18-20 pancakes. Once we’ve eaten our share, we let the rest sit out and cool. Then, I stack them in a zip lock freezer bag with wax paper between each layer to keep them from becoming one big block-o-pancake. This is my favorite recipe (it looks long, but mainly uses pantry basics):
- 3 cups whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup plain, non-fat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup blueberries
Mix the dry ingredients together before adding in the wet ones. Add water if the mix is too thick, or a little more flour if it’s too thin. We cook ours on a cast iron griddle, but a pan will work fine, too. Depending on your stove, it may take anywhere from 3-5 minutes to get that golden brown color. These are delicious and pretty nutritious.
- Muffins. Anyone who has been on Pinterest knows that there are about a million different muffin recipes and variations. I like this one from SeeAimeeCook because it’s not a calorie bomb or overly sweet. Plus, you can tweak the recipe to reflect your taste. But these Power Muffins are delicious as is. I usually make a double recipe and freeze the half we don’t eat in a zip lock freezer bag.
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Photo by Tavallai 
Breakfast Burritos. These are easy to assemble and don’t take up much room in the freezer. Just set out some 8-inch tortillas (I prefer whole wheat flour) and scramble up some eggs. I like to add diced Spam or sausage to mine, and some shredded cheese. Once I’ve rolled them up (here’s a quick tutorial if you’ve never done it before), I wrap them individually with plastic wrap and then seal them in a zip lock freezer bag.
- Yogurt and Granola. This one is not technically freezable, but can stay fresh in your fridge for quite a while. I try to keep a container of plain, non-fat Greek yogurt in the fridge (it keeps for weeks, but mine is usually long gone by then) and we make our own granola. I got this recipe (and modified it slightly) from Mary Ostyn’s Family Feasts for $75 a Week. I like to mix the granola in with the yogurt and add any fruit I have available for a healthy and fast breakfast.
- 12 cups quick-cooking oats
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 4 cups “goodies” (nuts, raisins, chocolate, etc.)
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup honey
-Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
-In a very large bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
-Combine the oil and honey in a glass measuring cup and microwave on high for 2-3 minutes, until hot.
-Pour it over the dry ingredients and mix well.
-Spread the mixture over three greased baking sheets.
-Bake for 15-20 minutes, until light to medium brown in color. (She suggests doing one pan at a time on the center rack of your oven, unless you have a convection oven. I cheat and just do all three in my regular oven, though I do bake them a little longer, for 30-35 minutes.)
-Let it cool before breaking it up into chunks. Store them in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks.
- French Toast. Like pancakes, these can be unhealthy if you’re not careful. Look for recipes that aren’t loaded with sugar. But, either way, a once-in-a-while treat isn’t a big deal. I like this recipe from TastesBetterFromScratch. It’s simple and delicious. Once they’ve cooled, I stack them in a zip lock freezer bag with wax paper between to keep them from sticking to each other. Depending on the size of your family, you may need to double this recipe if you want it to feed them while you cook and still have enough to freeze for later.
I hope you find these recipes helpful when stocking your freezer for those busy mornings. Enjoy them, get creative with them, and use them to give you and your family a little breathing room for a less stressful morning.
Do you have any go-to freezer recipes that keep breakfasts fast and easy in your house? Let me know in the comments!
[Disclaimer: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a commission, at no additional cost to you. All opinions are my own and I never recommend anything I haven’t used myself and loved.]
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