If your motivation is zero when it comes to waking up in the morning, a great breakfast is bound to get you moving! As the first meal of the day, breakfast is about providing the body with enough energy to face the day’s tasks.
Since not everybody is a morning person, it can take a few tries before you stick to the habit of making something delicious enough early in the day. No matter your taste preferences, our guide to making the perfect breakfast can help you start every day with a smile!
Tools Of The Trade
Mornings can be made easier with the use of special appliances that can save on cooking time. You won’t need to shell out for a new appliance; it’s just a matter of repurposing the ones you already have sitting in your kitchen.
Coffee Maker and Grinder
This one is a must for those who need an early morning pick-me-up. If you’re more of a traditionalist who’s peculiar with their coffee preparation, a sleek and quiet grinder can preserve your peaceful morning. On the other hand, if you prioritize efficiency when starting your day, an automatic coffee maker can prepare a cup for you at a set time so you can wake up to the revitalizing smell of coffee.
Waffle Iron
Other than waffles, you can cook a wide variety of breakfast dishes on your waffle iron. Think omelets and hash browns but with less cleaning compared to when you’re cooking on a stovetop. All you need is a bit of creativity to find new ways to utilize single-use appliances.
Slow Cooker
Slow cookers can also become your new breakfast buddy. You can cook more than just meat and soup with it; French toast, oatmeal, and even eggs can be prepared as long as you have a recipe on hand in advance.
Breakfast doesn’t have to be hard, but it doesn’t have to always be on the go, either. Breakfast is an important meal of the day because it sets the rhythm of the rest of it. So create a breakfast that you love, and you can be sure that you’ll be starting a day that you love as well.
Prepare The Night Before
If you find yourself lacking enough time and energy to make breakfast in the morning, then you should get everything ready the night before to cut on prep time. There are a lot of hearty breakfast recipes that can be made with premade ingredients, so you won’t have a lot to cook the next day.
Hard-Boiled Eggs
When you think of breakfast, what better ingredient to use than eggs? Eggs are a staple for many breakfast meals, so hard-boil a batch the night before and store them in the fridge. Come morning; you can add them to a sandwich or on the side. Hard-boiled eggs are also easy to make for a big group of people, so it’s a great dish to serve when cooking for a family.
Egg Muffins
If you want a different spin on eggs, try making an egg muffin. Egg muffins are basically eggs mixed with a bit of milk, then garnished with whatever you like, such as veggies and bacon. This egg mixture is then baked in a muffin tin, resulting in muffin-shaped scrambled eggs. They can be prepared early on for you to reheat only when you need them.
Overnight Oatmeal
You can make your breakfast healthier by choosing to eat fiber-rich foods like oatmeal with milk. Add some more flavor with toppings like nuts and honey. You may not be too keen on having to cook them, but what you can do is place the ingredients in an airtight container, let them sit overnight, and your oatmeal will be ready by tomorrow.
Pre-Cut Fruits For Smoothies
No breakfast is complete without a delicious drink to go with your meal. Smoothies are a good option since it’s packed with nutritious fruits. If you are using an assortment of ingredients, you don’t want to use up too much time cutting them up to fit your blender. A solution would be to cut the fruit in advance, then pack them into resealable bags to have a set of pre-measured smoothie ingredients that you can get from the fridge or the freezer.
Coffee Ice Cubes
For iced-coffee lovers, you can make your favorite drink in the morning last longer with iced coffee cubes! Just pour some brewed coffee into an ice cube tray, then let them freeze. You can then add them to iced coffee without the worry of watering it down. These coffee cubes can also be added to smoothies if you want to add a nice caffeine kick.
Shop Smart
Breakfast meals tend to use hardy and simple ingredients that you can find in the supermarket. Take the chance to use ingredients that are well-balanced in both nutrition and flavor.
Pre-Mixed Is Okay
Pancakes made from scratch can be a fun and creative endeavor, but it’ll also take you a lot more time than if you use a pancake mix. Don’t worry about using a pre-made mix since they can save you a lot of effort, letting you have great pancakes no matter how early.
Eggs For Leftovers
Here, we emphasize the versatility of eggs in making a delectable meal. All you need are last night’s leftovers then you can add an egg on the side to transform it into this morning’s breakfast. Your eggs can be cooked however you like, be it scrambled or sunny-side up.
Veggies Into Smoothies
Fruit smoothies are delicious and good for your body, but to level up its nutrition factor, have some veggies in the mix. Fruits can be high in sugar so if you want a truly healthy smoothie, add greens like spinach or kale. Veggies won’t change the smoothie’s flavor all that much, and they can help make the smoothie keep you full for longer, too.
Emergency Protein Bars
Sometimes just being able to have breakfast makes for a good breakfast already; if you’re running late or find yourself having nothing to eat at home, you can fill yourself up with a handy protein bar. These can give you just enough energy to last until lunch, so have some on-hand, though try not to rely on them too often!