Breakfast time usually comes and goes at our house. Admittedly, I’m the last one to get up so my husband and daughter have already eaten by the time I get downstairs. And, if I’m being honest, all mama wants is a cup of coffee.
Fruit, cereal and yogurt are the breakfast standards found in our kitchen. Some weekends, I might be inspired to bake cinnamon rolls, fry bacon or make waffles but most mornings everyone makes what we have on hand and we’re out the door.
Whether it’s a lazy summer day, or a busy school morning, we want to make sure everyone in our family eats. We love the idea of making breakfast fun with a breakfast bento box!
How could I change up our normal breakfast routine?
I wanted to keep using all the things we normally eat but needed to make it more exciting. I know that sounds ridiculous because how exciting can breakfast get? But, the thing is, I get excited when we order room service and it arrives so beautifully prepared. I decided I would deconstruct our cereal and reimagine it in a breakfast bento box.
What goes inside a breakfast bento box?
A bento box is simply a small plastic container with a few paper liners or silicon cups. Mini wooden skewers or toothpicks are fun, along with miniature shapes to cut out fruit, toast or pancakes. The idea is to make the breakfast cute.
I used our regular family favorites to fill the box. I whipped up a very small batch of homemade pancakes and cut them into squares because they fit better inside with the other items. Anything goes, really. Keep them as circles, cut them into a shape or roll them up.
I filled a silicon cup with a berry flavored yogurt and added a paper cup filled with the new Raisin Bran Cranberry Almond Granola. We go through a lot of granola in our house because yogurt topped with granola is my husband’s go-to breakfast. The Raisin Bran Cranberry Almond Granola is one of our new favorites because it has both raisins and dried cranberries but also this wonderfully sweet puffed rice and bran flakes. We eat it by the handful.
In a random grocery store find, I stumbled onto watermelon steaks at my local Vons. I’m not a fan of cutting up watermelon so I grabbed several packages when I was shopping knowing how easy it would be to press them into heart shapes.
I filled up the box with mixed berries and a mini-container of pancake syrup but wanted to recreate one of my guilty pleasures: toast with peanut butter and bananas. I sliced a banana on a diagonal and sandwiched a touch of peanut butter in between two pieces. I then gently rolled them in Kellogg’s Corn Flakes cereal for the crunch. This might be one of my new favorite snacks.
I couldn’t believe how easy this all came together that I felt inspired to create even more. Remember I was whipping up the mini-pancakes? I wondered how they would taste if I added the Raisin Bran Cranberry Almond Granola to the batter. You guys, these were delicious.
I love how little changes make such a big difference. I can definitely see us making more breakfast bento boxes throughout the summer and we will have the cranberry almond granola pancakes this Sunday morning.
More Fun Breakfast Ideas
Easy Breakfast Ideas to Start Your Day
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This is SUCH a cute idea! I love what you did and I know my kids would love it too! Who doesn’t love room service and with a breakfast like this it works for everyone because it looks super easy to make and eat. Great job mom! [client]
Great post! Very inspirational – I get caught up in lunchbox ruts all the time. This definitely helps!