Freeze french toast by the loaf for quick weekday toaster breakfasts

Jill's simple tip makes french toast easy and quick enough for weekday mornings:

Occasionally on a weekend, we'll make a whole loaf of french toast, then freeze it. During the week, we just snap off a frozen slice and put it in the toaster. Egg and whole grain bread right there. If you add vanilla to the egg mixture you get a sweet flavor without having to add syrup.

YUM. Warm and comforting on a chilly morning. It's even portable without the syrup.

To simplify this hack further:

1. Add the maple syrup to the egg mixture.

If your kids love that maple-y taste but you don't want to deal with sticky fingers in the morning, add the syrup to the egg mixture.

2. Bake french toast instead of pan frying.

Much faster to make large batches of french toast in the oven. Good Housekeeping's baked french toast recipe is a good place to start. The picture above was my solution to a stale baguette and the result was delicious. (I know, the French invented the concept.)

3. Quick-freeze individual slices rather than freeze as a loaf.

If you bake your french toast, your finished toast is already sitting on a lined cookie sheet. Let the pan cool on a rack, then pop it into the freezer. (I slide mine right on top of food that's already in there.) After a short time the toast will be frozen enough to transfer a Ziploc freezer bag for longer-term storage, and the pieces will stay separate and easy to grab.

Now I'm hungry.

What's your best warm weekday breakfast shortcut? For the kids or for yourself?

Leave a comment, or post on Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #parenthacks.

I'm in Parent Hacks book research mode: a deep dive in the archives looking for gems among nine years' worth of hacks. Many of the best ideas are hidden in the comments. This tip -- left here in 2006! -- is one example. -- Asha

Comments

[Kristi Wallace Knight]

I like my French toast much richer than the Good Housekeeping recipe instructs, so I'd either double the eggs or halve the milk.

Breakfast stratas are really great in the winter months, and freeze well. The way I make mine is to cut up some good white bread (like French bread, not Wonder) and lay it in an oiled baking dish. Scatter half a cup of breakfast sausage and half a cup of cheese (whatever cheese tastes good with your kind of sausage, I use apple chicken sausage and Emmenthaler cheese, but spicy sausage and cheddar are great, too.) Mix eggs and milk (four eggs and 1/2-3/4c milk are usually good), and a little salt and pepper, and pour that over the whole thing. Either bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes, or better yet, refrigerate the whole thing overnight and bake it next morning. Serve hot, and cooled leftovers can be frozen and microwaved for a quick hearty breakfast.

[Megan]

I make healthy/hearty (but still tasty!) muffins in large batches and freeze. Pop one in the micro for 30 seconds (or in the lunchbox to thaw). My kids are partial to zucchini, banana and carrot/date. Not warm, but I love overnight oats (basically soaked raw oats with milk, chia seeds, yogurt and flavor/sweetner like jam, pumpkin, fruit or maple syrup). We also make big batches of steel cut oats and reheat individual portions- not as good for on the go, but quick, easy and warm.

[polopoly]

I make up huge batches of pancakes (with several different mix-ins). Cook, freeze, pop in toaster / toaster-oven or microwave to reheat.