The Best Types Of Food To Meal Prep For Breakfast

Breakfast may or may not be the most important meal of the day, but there seems to be evidence that skipping breakfast could be tied to poor medical outcomes. Science-y stuff aside, it just feels better having something in your stomach besides coffee when you're off to work or school or whatever other activities your day has in store. Unfortunately, few of us have the time to eat, much less prepare, a leisurely morning meal most days, which is why we rely on weekend meal prepping to prepare for the busy week ahead. Dietitian Lindsay Livingston RD over at The Lean Green Bean endorses this practice and has several breakfast dishes to recommend that lend themselves to being made in advance.

Breakfast sandwiches, burritos, and egg muffins are always a great make-ahead breakfast. Livingston advises, "Prep several... all at once and freeze them, then just pull them out one at a time to reheat as needed." She puts in a good word for breakfast casseroles as well, telling us that these can be cut into individual portions perfect for reheating in the microwave. As she also notes, "They're a great vehicle for adding things like chicken, sausage, and lots of veggies." Egg bites, too, can be improved by such embellishments. If you enjoy the ones sold at a certain mega-coffee chain, check out this recipe for copycat Starbucks egg bites with gruyere and bacon.

Unless you're in one of those countries where cheese plates are considered a dessert, breakfast seems to be the only meal where there's an ongoing debate: savory or sweet? While the egg-based dishes endorsed by Lindsay Livingston fit into the former category, sweet breakfast lovers also have meal prep options extending beyond coffee and doughnuts or a bowl of sugary cereal. Overnight oats are nutritious as well as tasty — try our pumpkin spice version if you're a fan of fall flavors. If you're looking for something long-lasting, try homemade granola bars, which can stay fresh for up to a month.

Next time you make pancakes or waffles, double or even triple the batch, then freeze the leftovers. These can be heated up quickly in the microwave or toaster, and you don't even need to thaw them first. (You don't thaw your Eggos, do you?) Even a fancier dish like our pumpkin spice baked blintz breakfast casserole is also freezer-friendly. While muffins are both freezable and portable, might we suggest our lemon-less poppy-seed or chocolatey breakfast stout muffins? Yes, those are made with beer, but there's only half an ounce per muffin and about 60% of that small amount of alcohol should evaporate as the muffins bake.