Small Wins shares one simple change that makes feeding your family easier. Choose the high, medium, or low effort version depending on the week you're having. Arrives in your inbox every Wednesday.

the breakfast prep

one less thing at 7:29AM

BAILEY SISSOM

April 1, 2026

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I did not make that up. Someone else did, and I have chosen to believe them completely and without question.

Why no further research? Well because, it is the easiest one.

I like to think the person who first said it was a tired mother who needed exactly one thing to go right. I understand her. I think about her often.

I wake my boys up exactly 30 minutes before we have to leave. It takes them 37 minutes to get ready. I know the math. I do it anyway.

Someone is always missing a sock. The dog won't come inside. There is homework that needed three more minutes since yesterday.

Daily, at 7:29AM, I am standing in the middle of the kitchen repeatedly telling everyone to get in the car. No one is getting in the car.

But breakfast is on the counter. Most important meal of the day. Eaten in the car. I'll allow it.

The small win this week is deciding ahead of time what breakfast is, which turns out to be most of the work.

Two options, one sweet and one savory, made before the week starts.

Pick the effort level that matches your week. A high effort week and a low effort week end up in exactly the same place. Breakfast done.

Change it up week to week so it stays interesting.
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All the recipes shared below have been made at my house no fewer than 100 times. They are tested, approved, and eaten without complaint.

Each effort level shares one sweet and one savory option, both made ahead, both car friendly. If your kids would not touch them, or you want more options, the resource page has you covered.

This is the full version: Two from scratch recipes, both freezer friendly, both made whenever you can find the hour. The most involved version of the week, which is a relative term. Swap anything on the resource page>

​Freezer Breakfast Burritos Sausage, eggs, white cheddar, a flour tortilla rolled tight and wrapped in foil. Two minutes in a microwave is not cooking breakfast, it is retrieving breakfast, which is a meaningful distinction at 7AM.

​Strawberry Oatmeal Muffins Whole wheat, honey sweetened, fresh strawberries, oats soaked in milk so they bake up thick instead of chewy. My kids eat these without complaint, which is the highest praise I can give a muffin.

equipment A muffin tin and paper liners. Nothing else required.

the order

1. Cook sausage and scramble eggs first
2. let everything cool while you mix the muffin batter and get it into the oven
3. assemble and wrap burritos while the muffins bake

good to know

Remove the foil before microwaving, which sounds obvious until it isn't. Damp paper towel, two minutes.

This is the simplified version. One recipe in the oven, one in the blender. No raw meat, no stove. Done in about 30 minutes. Swap anything on the resource page​

​Baked Egg Muffins Same idea as the breakfast burritos but faster. Pre-cooked sausage, no wrapping, no stove. The only rule is silicone liners. Eggs will stick to everything else with a stubbornness that will genuinely impress you.

​Chocolate Blended Overnight Oats Everything goes in a blender, gets poured into jars, and sits in the fridge overnight. In the morning you hand someone a spoon. Blending is what makes these different from regular overnight oats. Two of my three boys won't touch the traditional version. All three eat these.

equipment Silicone muffin liners for the egg muffins, no substitutions. For the oats, 8 ounce Ball jars. Any jar with a lid technically works. I have never used anything else.

the order

1. Get the egg muffins in the oven first
2. Make the blended oats while they bake
3. Cool egg muffins completely before freezing

good to know

Egg muffins keep in the fridge for 3 days or the freezer for 3 months. The fridge is convenient. The freezer is a better long term plan.

• Fridge: reheat in 15-30 seconds
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• Freezer: cool completely, sheet pan for 2 hours, bag them, reheat in about a minute

Some weeks the recipes just don't happen. That's fine. This is what the low effort version is for.

Pick up fresh berries at the store. Wash and dry them when you get home. If you're using strawberries, de-stem and slice them and get them in a container in the fridge. Grab your favorite granola bars. Pick between cheese sticks or yogurt. Set it all out in the morning. You did not cook anything. Your kids got breakfast. Five minutes.