Friday, October 9, 2015

How I Survive Breakfast



Did you know that if you eat three meals at home, 7 days a week, you are eating 21 meals a week at home?  If you are the mom fixing said meals, you are cooking 21 meals a week.  Now, that may not be reality for everyone's family, but it is pretty close for me.

Because we homeschool, my kids eat lunch - you guessed it, at home.  And because we do not eat out often for multiple reasons we hit pretty close to that number.  Let's just say we average about 19 meals at home a week.

Yes, the older girls occasionally cook, and yes, my boys can make their own sandwiches, but because of the makeup of our home, I am the primary cook in our house.  Again, three meals a day, 7 days a week.

It does get old occasionally.  And in this season of our life I have grown a tad weary.  I knew I needed a plan and sending the kids to public school just so someone else could fix their lunch was not really an option.  Not that it wasn't tempting.

Dinnertime for us equals family time, so breakfasts became my targeted change.

Here is how it has played out and how I am now surviving breakfast.

I wrote down menu choices that my kids like.  For three days of the week they have a choice between two similar items and two days are cereal days.  I will get to weekends in a minute, promise.  The method behind the madness was this- if I let my boys, ages 13 and 8, choose everyday on their own what to eat, they would choose cereal.  I do not like cereal.  Well, actually, I do like cereal, but I cannot stand how expensive it is, how fast my kids can go through one box, or the fact that it is not very nutritional.  Hence the 2 day limit!

Next, I put the choices on a chart with boxes for each boy and laminated the chart. (You KNOW how much I love charts!)  It hangs on the refrigerator where each morning they choose from the list in any order they want, and check off what they had.




Here is the key-
Each of the choices is pre-made by me and in the freezer for them.  All they have to do is pull it out of a bag in the freezer, pop it in the microwave for a minute, and eat.  They work as a team, have a good breakfast together, and are learning a little independence, while I have an extra hour by myself in the morning for work.



Instead of cooking each morning, I batch cook and freeze while I am already cooking on Saturday morning.  I originally thought I would do so every Saturday, but what I have found is that because they have a choice between two similar things, there is plenty in the freezer to last two weeks!  Yay me! Cooking time so far has only been about an hour each time.

I felt slightly guilty (for about a day) concerning the fact that I was not eating with them, but since I eat every lunch and dinner with them I got over myself quickly. 16 meals together is surely better than none!


Saturday and Sunday meals are prepared by me and are pretty standard - eggs and bacon on Saturdays (which dad will take back over when he returns) and Sundays are usually a breakfast casserole or coffee cake.

So what do their menu choices look like?

Waffles or Pancakes
Cereal (2 times)
Biscuits (ham and egg, and sausage) or Bagels
Muffins or Banana Bread and fruit


Notice there are several things missing that you could do as well-
Oatmeal
Yogurt
Smoothies
French toast
Toast and jelly
Cinnamon toast

No, I did not mention my girls.  Because of their ages and their crazy schedules, plus allergies added in, they have been on their own for breakfast for a while now.  I promise I am not starving them.

It is that easy!  Promise.  There was no rocket science involved- just a tired mamma trying to find a better solution!  No one has starved, there have been no kitchen disasters to date, and I am surviving breakfast!  And getting some work done too!

A win-win, wouldn't you say?

Blessings,


Linking up-

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6 comments:

  1. Excellent ideas Michele! I'm going to try and cook and freeze this weekend. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. That is a brilliant idea -- I wish I had freezer space. My freezer is the size of a mini refrigerator and my refrigerator is the size of a slightly larger mini refrigerator.

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  3. We are always on the lookout for ways to simplify breakfast. I like the idea of making the pancakes ahead of time!

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  4. I so agree with you. I have a much smaller family but breakfast and lunch have been my targets this year also. I have a little ebook on my hard drive for putting together breakfast they can heat up and eat. I haven't done that yet but I did make muffins and homemade instant oatmeal for the fam. They love that. They have been begging for more breakfast sandwiches though. Those go over too well and they end up eating 2 at a time! I drink smoothies myself but I've been freezing kale and spinach for them. Great post!

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  5. Love the batch cooking ideas! My son has Type 1 diabetes so we have to count carbs. We use frozen waffles on weekdays because I know exactly how many carbs they have in them. If I batch cooked pancakes on weekends, I could weigh them, put them in bags, and write the carb counts on them. We also love frozen sausage patties.

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  6. That is a great idea! My boys are slightly smaller so they are not quite ready to go solo. And yes, I think it is ok for you to have a little extra work time in the morning:)

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Thanks for commenting. I love hearing from you!