Getting ready for a new school year: breakfast menus

Yum...breakfast sandwiches-scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and cheese on sandwhich flats

I am getting ready for a new school year. I’ve been working pretty hard to make my lesson plans. I usually order my books in May and spend the summer leisurely making my plans. Because of our economic issues and unemployment, I didn’t buy books until two weeks ago, so I didn’t get my books til last week. That has meant cramming 8 weeks of planning into two. Yikes. I was going to try to start school next Monday, but I realized I simply couldn’t get it done. Now I can slow down and get the planning done at a sane pace, and enjoy the last two weeks of summer vacation. It also gives me time to ease us back into a schedule. We’ve kept up with our chores pretty well, but I’d like to start adding some new responsibilities to my children’s lists, and I’d rather spend time now, so they can be ready to go when school starts up.

One thing that I find really helpful during the school year especially is to have a standing menu, especially for breakfast and lunch. I choose a weekly menu and stick with it, so I already know what needs to be on my grocery list and freezer and it gives the kids an idea of what to expect. Here’s a link to a previous post with a recipe for breakfast cookies. The dough freezes well, so I’ve already made a quadruple batch and frozen it, so I have Wednesday breakfasts taken care of for the next month. It also shows my weekly breakfast menu.

Here’s a link to a Gingerbread Muffin recipe that’s yummy also. I like muffins because they smell really good and are portable. My friend makes batches of Morning Glory Muffin batter and freezes several batches of it;  then she thaws it overnight, snips the corner of the bag in the morning, squeezed out the batter into the tins, bakes and is done. No bowl to clean up, just throw away the bag. That’s great to make right now and freeze because who doesn’t either have zucchini growing in the backyard or a neighbor trying to force you to take some of their over abundant crop? Maybe that’s just a Southern thing:).

It doesn’t really matter what you want to serve for breakfast or lunch, what is helpful is having a plan–what to serve, what to buy on sale or weekly, what to freeze–that will make your mornings run as smooth as possible. If anyone has a favorite breakfast recipe please share a link with the rest of us!