On-the-go Breakfast Ideas?

No. I don't advocate any kind of multi-tasking any more, no matter how slow you think you're doing it. Better to do what you're doing really well, and be in the moment while it's happening. My advice would be to get up earlier.

Breakfast burritos. I like to scramble eggs with hash browns and make burritos out of them. I mix in diced ham or cooked bulk sausage but you could add onions, peppers or mushrooms. They freeze pretty well and reheat nicely - not sure how car friendly they'd be though.

I have made these before.

If you don't like raisins, then substitute cranberries, craisins!

BACON BREAKFAST COOKIES
1/2 pound bacon
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups of multi-grain flakes or corn flakes
1/2 cup raisins

Cook bacon until very crisp, drain well and break into 1/2 inch pieces. Beat together butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Combine flour and baking soda; stir into butter mixture. Stir in bacon, mult-grain flakes and raisins.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Space 2 inches apart. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Remove to rack to cool--about 2 minutes, then remove from rack.

I had cold leftover spinach ricotta fritata for breakfast this morning. ;-)

I do make breakfast muffins that I freeze and reheat for the quickest of breakfasts. They can be anything; sweet or savory. I also eat pizza for breakfast quite often, or roll up a pb&j. My husband takes cereal in a bowl with a banana, and pours the milk in right before he leaves. (Shredded wheat benefits from softening in milk.)

Preferably, eat your breakfast when you get where you're going if you don't have time before you leave. It's civilized. Live Well.

I don't want to be in my car watching people trying to do anything other than DRIVE. It's one of my absolute worst pet peeves, as I have to be doubly aware of what I'm doing When They Are Not. I don't want to pull up to anyone's car and see them trying to believe they can multi-task. How much time are they really saving? Really? Is having an accident or taking a life worth the belief it's important to do two things at once?

Slow Down and DRIVE. The life you save may be your own.

I will only eat a fry or two while driving - ha! But what about trying a crustless quiche recipe, putting the mixture in greased muffin cups, baking, cooling, then reheating in the morning. I don't know if these would freeze, but they might - at least short term for a few weeks. Just google "crustless quiche recipes" for some out there on the internet.

I make different quick breads all the time. After cooling completely, I cut thick slices and slide each slice in it's own sandwich bag. Then freeze. Easier to store and grab than a muffin.

Kim takes one out of the freezer every morning and slips it into her briefcase. By the time she eats it (about 2 hrs later) it's thawed and as fresh as the day baked. Been doing this for several years.

I used to make homemade egg muffin type sandwiches but the quick breads give more variety and are healthier.

Nancy

DH used to make what the kids called Bus Stop Parfaits. They were clear plastic cups with layers of cereal or granola, fresh fruit and yogurt.

I drive a Jeep Wrangler with manual shifting, so I can't eat or drink or talk on the phone and still drive. I do, however, walk to work, so a "to go" breakfast is a good idea for me, if I actually ate breakfast!

I do not advocate trying to eat very much while driving, and everyone, please get the heck off the cell phones and drive will you? We've had more accidents here caused by people who are too busy talking and not paying attention. You're going to pay when you run over that first grader on their way to school because you were too busy yakking...

but I digress. For Ashley I've frozen breakfast sandwiches, either with English Muffins, bagels or biscuits. Egg/bacon and cheese are her favorite fillings. She also likes a sandwich made of french toast with cream cheese and jam, I make french toast out of stale homemade bread and freeze it, two slices per bag.

Her favorite is a "power shake", made of a cup of milk, a banana, a big spoonful of peanut butter and a squirt of chocolate syrup.

She likes breakfast burritos with all types of filling, various muffins and things like banana bread or pumpkin bread.

Her all time favorite breakfast food on the go, though? Grilled cheese sandwiches. Yup, they aren't just for lunch anymore, LOL. She'll also take warmed up fish sandwiches, or nearly any kind of panini.

Hey, people eat Huevos Rancheros, which are eggs with salsa as far as I can see, and many people I know put salsa or hot sauce on eggs or those breakfast burritos, or their hash browns. I think if you can eat hot sauce for breakfast on hash browns, you can eat a baked potato with chili, or whatever.

Grandpa liked a piece of pie for breakfast, he said it wasn't much different than toast and jelly, so I say make whatever you like, think outside the box and have something non-traditional for breakfast!

Heck, I might even make something to eat while I'm taking that walk to work, enjoying the spring morning and eating my grilled cheese....

Annie

Make your bisquits, cook your bacon, scramble some eggs. The eggs can be done in muffin pans so they are about the size of muffins and a bunch made at once. Make a weeks' worth & refrigerate. You can make them up all at once, or keep everything seperate, then assemble the day you eat them. As I hate to cook for just one, I quite often do this for my breakfast at home, not for on the road. If I remember right, I baked the eggs for about 10-12 minutes. They can be ham or sausage patties, too. And this works great for breakfast in the motor home before we leave the camp ground. DH hates to wait for me to cook breakfast in the morning. He is happy with cereal, but I never did learn to like it. So I do this or make a breakfast cassarole to reheat.

Tami

I make several healthy things for quick breakfasts. NOT because I eat in the car, but so they are easy to grab 'n' go in the morning. I eat them later (safely sitting in my chair at work) when I'm actually hungry for breakfast.

"McMuffins": Double Fiber or Thomas Light English muffins, canadian bacon or sliced turkey, scrambled egg and a slice of fat free cheese. I "scramble" my egg in a Corel bowl sprayed with canola oil and cook them one at a time in the microwave, about 35-40 seconds. I like the fact that they come out round and fit on my muffin!! LOL

Parfaits: Plain yogurt sweetened with either Splenda or a sugar free pudding or coffee creamer. Add fruit and a handful of uncooked oatmeal. I make these up in a big bowl, then split into individual portions (Ball makes a 1 cup freezer container just about the same size as a regular yogurt cup).
The oatmeal softens in the yogurt and I can make 5 at a time for breakfast all week!

Bran or whole wheat muffins with fruit and a banana. Make the muffins ahead and freeze. Pop one in a reusable container and it thaws in just an hour or so (or nuke it).

Mix your favorite fresh fruit with some fat free cool whip (or not). Just a bowl of bite-sized fruit is good too.

Breakfast burritos are a great suggestion already mentioned.

Make very small pancakes that include some chopped apples, maple syrup and cinnamon. Brush with melted butter (or low fat sub) and press 2 together with the butter inside. You can toss in some type of lean meat for a snacky type breakfast. Pancake sandwich!!

I agree with the non-traditional stuff too.
Try a container veggies (pre-prepped ahead of time), string cheese, hard boiled eggs, pickles, etc.

Granola bars are a good choice as are homemade Breakfast Cookies (check the hungrygirl website for a good one).

Deanna

Oh yeah, if you don't mind eating the same thing for several days in a row, those breakfast casseroles work pretty well, especially if you can reheat them at work and eat at your desk.

Deanna, I also make the Irish steel cut oats on Sunday, portion them out into 5 tupperware bowls and then reheat in the microwave when I get to work. Those get just a drizzle of Grade B maple syrup. If I feel the need for protein a hard boiled egg goes well on the side, or some yogurt gets mixed in.

Thankfully, I have a fridge and microwave available to me at the office, so I can warm something up about 10 am, when I finally get around to breakfast.

And I can even "soft cook" an egg in those little round tupperware containers and they fit nicely on those toasted 100 calorie high fiber Thomas' English Muffins that Deanna talked about.

But, for Ashley, I usually just make the sandwiches with all the cooked components, wrap them well and freeze them. She grabs what she wants from the freezer before she takes her shower and takes it apart, the bread thaws and she sticks the egg/cheese/meat in the microwave for a minute, then puts everything back together. Oh, she usually adds A-1 sauce!

Annie

I always forget about oatmeal, cooked! Thanks Annie!
Do you do yours in the crockpot?

I reheat my sandwiches the same way Ashley does sometimes. Other times I just nuke the whole thing (if it's thawed).

I don't eat until around 9:00 so plenty of time!

Deanna

For the commute in, nothing beats a smoothie, especially in the warm weather. I have started using Alton Brown's Buff Smoothie and it is tasty, quick and simple. The trick is to buy the fruit frozen (and freeze the bananas), so there is no ice needed and the ingredients are always ready to go.

Buff Smoothie (1 serving)
4 ounces plain, low-fat soy milk
4 ounces acai, grape, or pomegranate juice
4 ounces frozen banana
4 ounces frozen strawberries
4 ounces frozen blueberries
4 ounces frozen peaches

Directions
Combine the soy milk, juice, banana, strawberries, blueberries, and peaches in the carafe of a blender. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 8 hours.
In the morning, put the carafe on the base of the blender and blend on medium for 1 minute. Increase the speed to high and blend for an additional minute.

Put in a travel cup with a straw and you are ready to go.

Thanks everybody. You reminded me of a few meals that I had forgotten about, especially the smoothies. Sorry if I offended anyone. I'm still gonna eat on that 30 minute stretch of commute that only covers 3 miles (it used to take an hour so I really shouldn't complain). No kids, no pedestrians, just a bunch of people trying not to fall asleep. If eating bothers you that much you better not ever come to my town during 'rush' hour. The freeway is a parking lot and you see all kinds of stuff.

trsinc, you didn't offend me. We don't have traffic to speak of and people still run over each other when texting, talking on the phone, fixing their makeup. We even had one guy that was watching television on one of those little TVs that plugged into the cigarette lighter, couldn't understand how he hit that fence. I had a secretary who was born with one arm and I swear she drove with one hand while smoking AND drinking a cup of coffee! I don't know how she didn't kill someone. A breakfast burrito is a minor distraction compared to some of the things that people do.

If they were stopped in traffic it would be one thing, but they are driving down two lane roads at 55 miles an hour (or more), along with the school busses, the tractors hauling hay, the Amish buggies and all the zillions of deer.

Deanna, I do make the Irish oats in the crockpot sometimes, but a lot of the time I just stir up a big batch on Sunday night so I have it for the rest of the week.

Annie

Forgive me please. I just got home from a 4603 mile three week road trip and saw it all. Truck drivers weaving down the road, cars venturing into the other lane, drinking, eating, texting, talking, *grooming*, and who knows what else. I hate the feeling of having to label everyone as an As***le when they get in their car, but there it is. If I just expect it (because it happens) I won't be surprised. People won't quit until there are laws which are actually enforced. It's my constant reminder to be vigilant while driving, because nobody else is!

I buy toaster strudel - bacon, egg and cheese or sausage, egg and cheese. Quick and easy to eat, though I rarely eat in the car. I can't multi-task well anymore, so I usually eat one at home before I leave for work along with my coffee and blood pressure medicine.

momj47, you reminded me, I make "calzones" too, and they freeze well and reheat easily in the microwave.

I just cut bread dough into rounds, roll them flat and fill them with whatever we want, from pizza ingredients to ham and cheese to scrambled eggs with bacon and vegetables.

Don't let them rise, put them right in the oven after they are filled and bake until golden. If you can manage to wait, stick them in the freezer, they reheat well in the microwave.

Annie

Annie, do you cook them before you freeze them or can you do it either way? The whole calzone, not the filling - I'm assuming you cook it, let it cool and then fill them.

Beth

There are only two breakfasty things I've managed to eat in the car successfully--oatmeal cookies, and quick breads. I do two thin slices of the quick bread, put cream cheese in between and press together. Even those english muffin sandwiches I end up slopping all over. I always make the driving come first, so if I ever do eat in the car, I usually end up spilling whatever it is all over myself.

Nope, I bake them first, then freeze them. The fillings go right onto the round of dough, which then gets folded over like a tart or a homemade "hot pocket". Like this:

So the cooked fillings go onto the unbaked dough, and since it's rolled out thin enough to fold, it doesn't take long to bake, maybe 20 minutes.

Annie

Thanks Annie. I'm going to have to show that one to my Mom. It would make her life a lot easier if she could make those up ahead of time and freeze them for lunches. She makes some stuff ahead but this is one they would enjoy.

Beth

Beth, they work well with that frozen bread dough from the store too, in a pinch, and probably would be fine with pizza dough too.

I hope your Mom likes them, I can't seem to keep them in the freezer. The kids like "shopping at Mom's", LOL.

Annie

I found some individual oval casserole dishes with lids at the Dollar Store. I made Sherry's Spinach Brownies and froze them for DH to make in the toaster oven. Basically a crustless quiche.

*Driving while multi-tasking: First, it makes me crazy. I saw a woman eating a BigMac (or other mulit-layered burger), smoking, taking on cell, while driving. DH got very mad at me when I rolled down my window and chastised her (he contends that I'm going to get shot on day).

Well, I thought that was outrageous until I heard the news that a lady was stopped for driving erratically. The officer reported that she was shaving--and it wasn't her legs!!

Another "takeaway" breakfast is to make devilled eggs as you usually do but add ground ham or crumbled bacon to them. It's ham and eggs but in different packaging.

Toast and peanut butter, with a fruit topping like sliced oranges or apples, and a sprinkle of cinnamon and a drizzle of honey. I'll run that under the broiler real quick.

I eat supper while driving from work to my volunteer gig cleaning cat cages at the local rescue. I'll take cubed cheese, celery and carrot sticks, nuts, and fruit such as grapes, basically finger foods, and only eat while stopped at traffic lights. There's a real long one about half way there, where I can eat about half my dinner while stopped at the light. Then, I finish up once I reach my destination, and am parked in a parking spot. I sometimes wonder if people wonder why I'm eating in the Pet Smart parking lot. lol

Sally