Breakfast Prepping for the Week

When I first started meal planning, my goal was to lay out the menu on Sunday for the entire week. Once I got the hang of it, I started prepping as much as I could ahead of time. This saved me so much time during the week. Being pregnant from December 2012 to August 2013 and working full time would exhaust me. So when I had more energy on the weekends I would get everything ready for the week so when I would come home from teaching, I could just grab dinner from the fridge, put it together, cook, and go.

Now being a working mom I am much more exhausted and have much to prepare for the next day, so prepping for the week is a must! Not only do I prep dinners but we also do breakfasts and lunches on the weekend.

Here is what our weekend schedule looks like:

• Friday night: Meal plan and make grocery list
• Saturday day: Josh grocery shops
• Saturday night: Breakfasts made for the week
• Sunday: Lunches packed--prep for dinners for the week

I'm not going to lie--this is not easy with a 4 month old. Josh also works most Friday and Saturday nights until 11 pm or 12 am, so I am prepping after Hadley is in bed. On Sundays we prep while she is napping or we take turns watching her. We try to do as much as possible together but sometimes it's not possible.

Breakfasts

We have been trying really hard to eat breakfast during the week. Since I am still nursing H, it is a must for me. I'm usually starving by lunch when I do eat breakfast. I'm perfectly satisfied with eating the same thing every day for breakfast, but I'm trying to change it up a bit to get in more nutrients, especially protein.

My breakfasts 

{one of the three}

• Yogurt with granola and flax seed:
• Ingredients: Yogurt, favorite granola, ground flax seed (optional)
• Directions:
     Easy to make! I scoop out all of the yogurt (from a big container) into plastic tupperware containers on Sunday. Then in the morning, I scoop in 1/3 cup of granola with a tablespoon of flax. I've used the single serving yogurts before and prepped the granola in separate containers on Sunday, but the larger container is cheaper. I never put the two together on Sunday because it makes for soggy granola. Yuck!

• Breakfast sandwich (homemade)
• Ingredients: English Muffin, bacon or microwave sausage patties, eggs, cheese (optional), aluminum foil
• Directions: 
1. Lay out 5 sheets of aluminum foil that will cover the English Muffin.
2. Set out an opened EM of each piece of foil
3. Place a piece of cheese on one side of the muffin (optional)
4. If using a microwave sausage patty (like Bob Evans or Jimmy Dean) place the frozen or refrigerated patty on top of the cheese. DO NOT microwave this!!
   If using bacon or any other type of meet, cook while setting up foil and muffins, then place on top of cheese.
5. Cook the egg any way you like {I do a flat scramble meaning I scramble it in the bowl but cook it like an omelet. It's much easier to put on the sandwich}. I also add a little salt and pepper. You can add any kind of seasoning to the egg.
6. Once the egg is cooked, allow it to cool before you place it on the EM. I will let one cool and cook another. 
7. After eggs are cool, place them on the EM. Wrap sandwiches up tightly and store in freezer until you are ready to take them out!
   
   TO EAT: The best way is to separate the sandwich and cook the egg and meat in the microwave first for 30 seconds to a minute. Then put the entire thing together and cook for 30 more seconds. If you can't get the sandwich apart (that happens to me usually) put it in for a minute and try to separate it after so much time. You can also microwave the entire thing for 1:30 minutes, but it will be very hot!!
   
   
• Breakfast Wraps {homemade}-I like these better     
• Ingredients: Wheat wraps, eggs, mushrooms, bell peppers, spinach, breakfast meat, cheese, and any other veggies.       
• Directions:
1. These are going to be similar to the breakfast sandwich. Start out with five pieces of aluminum foil and place your wraps on top ready to go.
2. I use bacon in my wraps so I placed the bacon in the oven while I was cooking my eggs.
3. Next I made the scrambled eggs--not flat eggs. I'm still trying to find the "perfect" number of eggs to use. This week I tried seven and it was a lot! My wraps were really full and kept me full for a long time! I'm thinking six would be a good number.
4. Once the eggs are scrambled, turn the burner down to low and saute the veggies in a separate skillet (you can use same, but take eggs out). I put all veggies in except for the spinach. When everything is done, toss the spinach in and put the lid on top for about a minute.
5. Combine the veggies with the eggs and stir together.
6. Finally I placed the cooked bacon on to each wrap. Then, like an assembly line, I added the egg mixture on top of the bacon. Then I finished with a sprinkle of cheese on each.
7. Wrap each breakfast wrap up tightly and place in freezer. They freeze perfectly!
   
   TO EAT:  These took a lot longer to microwave than the sandwiches, probably because there is so much inside of them. I started out with 1:30 minutes, flipped it over and turned it back on for another 1:30.

                   

Next week: Lunch prepping for the work week