McKel Hill Kooienga, MS, RDN, LDN
Founder of Nutrition Stripped and the Mindful Nutrition Method™
These healthy meal prep breakfast ideas are perfect for busy mornings or when you’re on the go!
Having a variety of ideas for breakfast that you can meal prep in advance will help you maintain your healthy eating habits, start the day off with a nourishing meal, and keep your breakfast ideas fun and exciting.
In this article, you’re going to learn how to make a balanced breakfast, plus several ideas for what you can make for breakfast along with a few things to consider when planning your meal prep.
The Key to a Healthy Breakfast: Feeling Full and Energized
The purpose of breakfast meal prep is to ensure that you have a healthy start to your busy day. So a key thing to keep in mind is making sure you have a balanced meal.
The simple formula I use is called the Foundational Five.
The Foundational Five is a made up of a variety of nutrients to refer to whenever you’re creating or building a meal. It’s made up of five elements: protein + fat + starchy carbohydrates + non-starchy carbohydrates + flavor factor.
This helps ensure you have a variety of nutrients on your plate that keep you full and energized and also support your digestion and overall wellbeing.
You can grab my free guide for creating healthy eating habits, where I share examples of what foods are included in each of those groups and how to use that at every meal!
As you’re putting together your meal prep breakfast plan for each week, be sure that you’re making each breakfast a Foundational Five meal.
Meal Prep Breakfast Ideas to Grab and Go in the Mornings
Meal prep is such a great tool to use to support you in maintaining healthy eating habits. Our lives are busy and being able to plan and work around our schedules is important to be able to eat well on a daily basis.
Here are a few ideas for breakfast that you can meal prep in advance that both store well and travel well for mornings you’re on-the-go.
Smoothies
Everyone loves a good smoothie!
There are so many varieties of smoothies you can make, which makes them an perfect option for breakfast meal prep because you can rely on always making a smoothie, but simply changing up what ingredients you blend together so you don’t have to have the same thing every day or week.
When you’re making smoothies for your breakfast meal prep, there’s a couple of methods you can use!
- The Night Before Option: The first is to simply make the smoothie every night so it’s ready to go in the morning. You blend all of your ingredients and transfer into a to-go cup so that all you have to do in the morning is open the fridge!
- The Freezer Method: The second option is to wash and prep all of your ingredients and put them in the freezer into individual reusable bags or glass jars. You first need to freeze your ingredients on a baking sheet with parchment paper so they don’t get stuck together. THen you can evenly divide all ingredients out for each day/each recipe into a reusable freezer bag. Then all you do is literally grab the bag out of the freezer, put the contents in the blender, add liquid, and blend! Breakfast in less than 5 minutes.
Here are some recipes to try:
- How to Make Your Own Smoothie Bowl (this is great for learning to mix and match your own combos!)
- 5-Minute Spinach Smoothie
- Almond Butter Pink Beet Smoothie
- Smoothie for Supporting Gut Health and Immunity
Yogurt Bowls
Another great option is the yogurt bowls.
They differ from smoothies because the density of the yogurt makes it a little easier to add toppings which can be a great way to add texture to the meal.
When you’re making yogurt bowls as a grab-and-go meal prep breakfast, keep the toppings separate from the yogurt until you’re ready to eat to keep them fresh and prevent them from getting soft or soggy.
In one meal prep container, add your yogurt. Make this container a little larger, so on the day-of, you can add your toppings and mix together.
In another container, add fruit toppings, like sliced peach, mango, strawberries, blueberries, etc.
In a third container add in the crunchy components, like homemade granola, a sprinkle, or flax or hemp seeds.
Chia Pudding
Chia pudding is a fun way to add variety to your day and it’s super simple to make. Chia seeds are great for gut health, and an excellent way of increasing your fiber intake.
The base is 1/2 cup of chia seeds and 1 cup of non-dairy milk. Mix them together with an optional sweetener in a mason jar and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour until gel forms
Then add in fresh fruit or superfoods and you’re good to go!
A few of my favorite combinations are:
- Pear + Pistachios + Honey
- Almond butter + Cocoa powder + Maple syrup + Dark chocolate chips
- Strawberries + Banana slices + Vanilla protein powder
Veggie Egg Bake
Eggs are an excellent source of protein, healthy fats, and egg yolks are mineral-rich. Eggs are also versatile — enjoy them for breakfast or for dinner.
This Veggie Egg Bake is incredibly simple to make and relatively quick to cook and it reheats really well, which isn’t common with egg dishes.
Always store in an airtight glass container that will keep it fresh and make it easy to reheat.
Overnight Oats
Overnight oats are another meal prep breakfast option to keep in mind.
Similar to the chia pudding, you can make the base using oats and plant-based milk and then change up the toppings and add-ins each day to keep things fun.
To make the base, mix 1/2 cup of gluten-free rolled oats with 1 cup of plant-milk in a mason jar.
Then you can add any toppings you’d like, like fresh fruit, seeds, nuts, and a sweetener.
Here are a few of my favorite combos:
- Tropical Mint: 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup + 1/2 kiwi fruit, chopped + 1/2 mango, diced + hemp seeds and fresh mint to garnish
- Berry Chia:1/2 tablespoon maple syrup + 1 cup blackberries + 1/2 cup blueberries + chia seeds to garnish
- Citrus: 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup + juice of 1 lemon + 1 blood orange + bee pollen and a pinch of sea salt (optional) to garnish
How to Put Together the Perfect Week of Healthy Meal Prep Breakfasts
There’s a couple of ways you can put these meal prep breakfast ideas into practice and it’s really up to your personal preference!
Here are some steps I recommend to help you find what works for you!
1. Which Days Do You Make Breakfast in the Morning
How many days each week do you have time to make your breakfast in the morning and eat a home? On those days, ideally, what would you love to have for breakfast?
On those days, try to have something planned, even if you’re making it fresh.
Maybe you really enjoy a healthy egg dish or gluten-free chocolate waffles with fresh fruit for brunch on the weekend. Or maybe that’s when you fully enjoy a smoothie bowl post-workout.
Based on what you’re eating those days, that can help you pick something different for the days you have to prep.
2. Choose How Much Variety You Enjoy For Your Breakfast Meal Prep
Some people can easily eat the same thing every day for breakfast, while others can’t stand that thought. What do you prefer?
If you don’t mind having the same thing every day for breakfast, each week, you can pick something different to meal prep for breakfast. That way you have some variety, but it makes it easy for meal prep to make the same thing for one week.
If you don’t like having the same thing every day, pick 2 or 3 breakfast recipes. That way you don’t need to have the same thing more than twice in one week.
3. Breakfast Meal Prep for On-The-Go vs. Eating at Home
The last thing to consider is if you simply need to cut down on the time it takes to make breakfast in the morning or if you truly need an on-the-go option.
Ideally, we’re sitting at a table being fully present and mindful while eating. So ask yourself, if I meal prep this breakfast ahead of time, would I be able to take even just ten minutes to sit at a table and enjoy it.
Of course, not every situation allows for that and that’s okay. But be honest with yourself and use meal prep as a tool to give yourself that time if possible.
NS Recommends
Additionally, here are some of our favorite tools to help with breakfast meal prep:
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