Help! I Need Healthy & Quick Breakfast Ideas for Kids!

Hi M.:

My little guy loves organic cereal bars and I don't worry that he wants to eat them ALL the time. We also love organic 'smooshed fruit'. Like a fruit roll-up but it has nothing but the good stuff.

Mine get an organic banana - eaten in the car! or a bowl with Ezekiel bread toasted with real butter - plenty of goodies in that, cut apple, grapes and occassionally when I have baked something, they can have that as a treat for breakfast.. they also get a drink to wash it down with.. organic lemonade, apple juice or milk. All of this is eaten and drunk in the car as I don't want them rushing it down as I try to get them out the down. My goal is to have a stress free leaving the house then they can quietly get on with eating while we chat about their upcoming day... it works for us..

There are a lot of great ideas already given. However, anytime you are eating processed food-even if it's organic-you're getting a lot of hidden sugars, not to mention preservatives, that are just as bad for you. Store bought flavored yogurts are very high in sugar as well.

If you plan ahead you can make some homemade granola or fruit muffins for the kids to munch on. Bananas are always great, as are hard-boiled eggs, fruit slices and whole grain bagels.

Keep it simple and you'll be fine.

Baggies of trail mix save us many mornings!! We put some kind of dry cereal, dried fruit, and a variety of nuts. Sometimes the kids go to sprouts and look through the bulk foods and create some interesting concotions, but they eat it! Also, yogurt with something crunchy on top is good around here too. Do you have a muffin recipe that everyone agrees on? If so, make a bunch one day, freeze them, and pull them out for crazy mornings. Of course, eggs are also a big must around here, or even a bowl of grits. We dont like oatmeal, but you could try that too. Good luck, it is hard to solve this problem for sure! ~A.~

We have limited amount of time on Sunday mornings. We have started buying "ClifKid organic Z Bars". They are baked whole grain enery bars. They have no HFCS and no transfats. There are several flavors. We also buy Van's waffles, and Nature's path instant oatmeal. EnviroKids makes some crispy rice bars, that the children love, as well. We usually buy these things at Sprouts, but we see some of them at Walmart on occasion.

Quaker Breakfast Cookies are high in fiber and were recommended as a quick breakfast in Heart Healthy magazine recently. My kids love them when we are pressed for time. I, also, give them food they can eat in the car like pretzels, whole wheat Goldfish, toasted whole wheat English muffins, and Triscuits. What about a peanutbutter or cheese sandwich on wheat bread or a banana. These are my favorites because they are filling and stay with me until around 1 in the afternoon.

On days that we need to be out the door quick I give the kids an organic cereal bar made by Healty Valley (you can buy them at Krogers) along with an organic yogurt tube(horizon) or fruit.

Hey fellow Cali! :)
If you guys can do breakfast sitting down, that would be great, but if not...try prepping the night before. Do they like cut up fruit? You can do a mixed fruit bowl and just sweeze oranges over it to keep it fresh. Kashi cereals are wonderful! They have some pretty good breakfast bars too and their stuff is whole grain! PB on whole grain, Simply Orange juice b/c it doesn't have any extras. Organic is a great way to avoid the junk...Kroger has a good supply. Kashi is at Walmart. Trail mix is a good way to get protein by using nuts - walnuts give Omega 3, dry fruit (watch sugar), Kashi cereal, also some string cheese to get dairy and a banana to get loads of vitamins (even cut up with PB on it if time). Good luck!!

My 4 kids love my "parfaits". I usually make them the night before, saving even more time. In a bowl (or footed bowl if we're being fancy), I layer plain yogurt, cottage cheese (for extra protein), and frozen fruit (usually mixed berries). I stick in the fridge until morning. Just before serving it I add a drizzle of honey on top & sprinkle some healthy cereal over that. The berries thaw overnight & the juice mixes with the yogurt. They LOVE it, it's healthy & SUPER FAST!

I hated breakfast as a kid so my mom gave me Carnation Instant breakfast. Now as an adult I like to drink ensure. I don't know if those fit into your diet though.
Good luck!

Remember that a balanced breakfast includes fruit, grain, milk and protein. Our quick breakfast is usually a Hard boiled egg (can make them ahead of time and keep them in a baggy), 2 pc fake or turkey bacon nuked in the wave for 1 min, small bowl of Cereal or 1/2 slice of toast (whole wheat, Cinnabon raisin bread has corn syrup, but not High Fructose..so I tolerate that, or English Muffins) and some fruit or juice. Other quickies that fill them up are peanut butter and banana sandwiches & Milk. Took a while to get my young ones to try it...but they love them.

Hi M.,

Have you ever checked out Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook? It's the one where she provides tons of recipes where she's "hidden" veggie and fruit purees into everyday dishes to maximize the nutritional value. Granted, not all of it is "on the go" but she does have a banana bread recipe (with bananas, obviously, but also some hidden cauliflower). Maybe make a loaf of something like that at the beginning of the week (or muffins or something else healthy) and have it on hand for the weekday mornings?

Well when I make pancakes I make extra and store single servings in freezer bags and freeze, so in the morning before school I just pop in the microwave and hot pancakes in about a minute or less, works like a charm. I work in a grocery service deli and we sell bacon by the pound a sweet little old lady told me she first fried her bacon and then froze it, so I gave it a shot, it worked a couple of strips of bacon fast and ready via microwave! You can make whole wheat pancakes and turkey bacon. When I was much younger and when it was just my dad and me I used to make his breakfast and I used to make him home made wheat biscuits and he would eat egg, cheese and sometimes veggie sausages ( Morningstar Farms ). We could make these ahaead of time because of morning rush and belive me they stayed with you! I also like instant oatmeal. Pre sliced fruit in a container. I use mostly the single serving sizes of the zip lock or reynolds tupper ware for quick grab and go for my child's lunch. I make up ranch dip or peanut butter in the frige and then cut up veggies or fruit and place in baggies. We buy natural apple sauce in little cups and we like it better than the sugar laden apple sauce. I hope this helps you out!

Hi M.,

100% whole wheat english muffins are great, my teenagers like them. I always have boiled eggs ready, bananas are great brain food. Microwave single serving oatmeal. You can even make your own the night before and put in individual bowls for heating up in the mornings. Tortillas with eggs and cheese in the microwave. Hope these ideas help.

Frozen whole wheat organice waffles (found at Sprouts or Central Market, or even Kroger in their health food section).

organic cereal bars

organic oatmeal squares bars (found at Sprouts)

Hi M.,

Kudos to you for being so conscientious in what you feed your family! I'm sure you know this, but another biggie to add to your list is monosodium glutamate which is in tons of processed foods and can cause neuruological damage. I love it when other moms spread awareness of these ingredients that are killing our society amd especially our children.

Off my soapbox now...A delicious, nutritious meal-on-the-go that my family enjoys is called "Juice Plus+ Complete." It comes in chocolate or vanilla and is great mixed with 1 cup of milk, soy milk or juice. It is soy-protein based, low in sugar and fat, high in fiber and contains the fruit and veggie powders of Juice Plus+ capsules along with a whole list of other great things like spirulina, etc. It tastes great by itself or blended with a banana or any type of fresh or frozen fruit.

If you'd like to try a can, let me know. I live in Grapevine so could easily deliver it to you. You can email me at ____@____.com.

Blessings,

M.
"Our family doctor misses us. So does the pharmacist."
View my Mamasource profile to find out why!

Yogurt (organic) and a fruit (apple or banana). Vanilla yogurt is YUMMY with banana and apple. I actually eat this every single morning.

M.,

Banana or Apple with peanut butter?

Hard Boiled egg (or egg salad) with toast and tomatoes?

Toast with fresh Avacado spread and salt with egg?

Walnuts, apples, and cheese?

Just a few thoughts.
Good luck.

I use Fiber Wise bars or whole grain waffles. Both are easy and no mess on the go.
H. M.

Great morning snack. get a hot dog bun and toast it and put a banana on it (just like a hot dog) and then spread some peanut butter on it. Quick, easy, and healthy. My kids love it.

Good for you for wanting your children to eat good, HEALTHY breakfasts before departing for school. My three-year-old and I usually have high fiber, whole grain English muffins I grab from the local bakery outlet. They're called Oroweat Double Fiber and each one has 8 g of fiber in it - very filling. We usually put natural peanut butter on top for some protein.

Fruit is frequently a component as well to get some vitamins and nutrients in. When in season, we have berries cleaned and ready to be put in bowls to eat. Otherwise, apples, bananas, pears are all easy to have clean and ready to eat.

Another thing we eat sometimes are boiled eggs. I buy a dozen and boil them all together and then they're in the frig and just have to be peeled (which the kids can do themselves) to eat. (And, if you want to avoid the yolk, it is easily removed.)

Of course, organic milk is the beverage we serve with breakfast.

Oatmeal is another favorite of ours.

There are also good, whole grain cereals available - just read the labels. They'll likely be up on the top shelf in the grocery store. Mfrs pay to have the pricey, sugar-laden kid-appealing cereals right down at their eye level and other, less healthy and filling options right at OUR eye level!