Healthy Breakfast Meal Prep Ideas for Different Diet Plans

It has long been argued that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. One reason is that it helps you keep your hunger under control. (Go too long without eating and you may face some intense cravings, causing you to overeat.) Another is that it makes it easier to meet all your nutritional needs. 

Perhaps the most compelling reason to start your day with breakfast is that some studies have found that skipping this meal increases your risk of death from cardiovascular disease. But let’s face it, most of us don’t have time to make a healthy breakfast every morning. That’s where meal prep comes into play.

Why Take the Time to Do Healthy Breakfast Meal Prep?

Meal prepping allows you to gain the benefits that breakfast has to offer without having to get up any earlier. It keeps your busy morning from becoming even more hectic. You can start your day and your meal is already made for you. 

Meal prep also keeps you from eating a breakfast that is outside of your diet plan. When we’re in a hurry, we don’t always make the best food choices. We just grab what we can and head out the door. 

If a healthy breakfast is already made, you can grab that instead. This makes it easier to stay within your desired dietary ranges, providing healthy eating options when on the go.

Breakfast Meal Prep Ideas by Diet Type

You can find a lot of healthy breakfast meal prep ideas online. The problem is that they don’t always match your diet type. So, you really have to look through each of the healthy breakfast options to find the ones that fit into your food plan.

To combat this, we’ve come up with a few healthy breakfast meal prep ideas based on diet type. Some options fit into more than one category with just a few modifications. This enables you to enjoy all the ideas provided and still stick to your meal plan of choice. 

Low-Calorie Breakfast Meal Prep Ideas

Cutting your calorie intake can help you lose weight. If this is your goal, your meal prep should include weight loss-friendly foods. Here are a few ideas to consider:

• Scrambled egg cup with spinach, tomato, and onion. One large egg has roughly 78 calories. The veggies in this cup don’t add many more. To make breakfast egg cups, spray a muffin tin with nonstick spray. In each cup, add spinach, tomato, and onion. Scramble one egg per cup and pour it over the veggies. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Remove the eggs from the cups once taken out of the oven to help them cool. Store them in a plastic bag or container to keep them fresh all week.

• Overnight oats with 2% milk. If your breakfast has room for a few more calories, overnight oats are an option. One-half cup of dry oatmeal contains roughly 170 calories. The same amount of 2% milk contains 55 calories. This may not seem like much but the oats swell overnight. So, you wind up with a heartier breakfast for about 225 calories. To make overnight oats, combine equal amounts of oats and milk. Place the mixture in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge overnight. This recipe is ready the next morning and it will keep for up to four days.

• Breakfast burrito with egg, low-fat cheddar cheese, and salsa. Breakfast burritos are easy to grab and go. That makes this prep recipe good for people who eat their morning meal after they’re already out the door. To make the burritos, scramble six eggs in a pan. Then, place a portion of the cooked egg on six small tortillas (100 calories each). Top with an eighth cup of low-fat cheese (45 calories) and a tablespoon of salsa (36 calories), then roll it up. Wrap each of the burritos in plastic wrap and pop them in the fridge. Before you head out in the morning, put a burrito in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up. Now you have a hot, low-calorie meal without having to cook.

Low-Carb, High-Protein Breakfast Meal Prep Ideas

Increasing your protein intake supports muscle growth. It also keeps you full longer, making it easier to stick to your eating plan.

What are your options if you follow a low-carb, high-protein plan like the keto diet or Atkins? Here are three breakfast meal prep recipes that fit into this type of meal plan.

• Egg cup with ground turkey breakfast sausage. Modify the recipe above by adding ground turkey either in place of or along with the vegetables. This increases the protein in the meal by 11 grams for every 2 ounces of raw meat. To make them, cook the turkey, then place a bit in each muffin cup. Finish the recipe as instructed.

• Greek yogurt with chia seeds. A half-cup of Greek yogurt provides about 11 grams of protein. Each ounce of chia seeds adds 4.7 more grams. Meal prep for this breakfast is incredibly easy. Simply put a half-cup of the yogurt in a meal prep container. Then measure an ounce of chia seeds and put them in a small plastic bag. Tape the bag to the top of the yogurt and put it in the fridge. You’ve got a ready-to-eat high-protein meal, all you need is a spoon.

• Chia pudding. Want a high-protein breakfast recipe that tastes more like dessert? Chia pudding is an option. To make it, put a half cup of almond milk with 2 tablespoons of chia seeds in each jar. Then add a sweetener of your choice. Mix them up, close the jars, and put them in the fridge. This breakfast supplies a good dose of protein with minimal prep.

Low-Carb, High-Fat Breakfast Meal Prep Ideas

Some diets focus on increasing your intake of healthy fat food sources. Research connects low-carb, high-fat diets with reduced inflammation and the prevention of chronic disease. What breakfast meal prep options fall into this category?

• Scrambled egg with a side of turkey sausage. This is a good breakfast idea if you have time to sit down and enjoy a morning meal but don’t want to have to cook it from scratch. Before your week starts, fry up a few scrambled eggs and turkey sausage patties. Place some of each in meal prep containers and put them in the fridge. Microwave them for about one minute and you’ve got a hot, ready-made meal.

• Chia pudding with nut butter. Adding almond butter, peanut butter, or some other type of nut butter to your chia pudding increases its fat content. You can either mix the nut butter into the recipe or add it on top. Use chunky peanut butter for some added crunch. 

• Breakfast burritos with low-carb wraps. Just because you’re watching your carbs doesn’t mean that you can’t eat breakfast burritos. Several companies make low-carb wraps. Choose one and add eggs, turkey sausage, and a little cheese. Throw in some bell pepper for added taste. 

Vegetarian Breakfast Meal Prep Ideas

Many of the traditional breakfast foods come from animals. This can make meal prep a challenge if you’re vegetarian. Here are a couple of plant-based breakfast options that are simple to prep in advance.

• Overnight oats. Make overnight oats as instructed above, swapping out cow’s milk for plant-based milk. If you want more protein, add a tablespoon or two of peanut butter. 

• Yogurt parfait. Generally, yogurt is not vegetarian. This is because it contains products that are derived from meat. That said, you can eat yogurt if it is made from plant-based milk. Just look for dairy-free options. Put it in single-serving portions and place it in the fridge. In a plastic bag, combine oats, chopped nuts, and some coconut. When you’re ready to eat, mix the baggie ingredients into the yogurt and you have a healthy, animal-free breakfast meal.

• Vegetable breakfast sandwich. Sometimes you want something a bit heartier for breakfast and a sandwich can fill you up. Cook up a few veggie or black bean burgers. Put each patty on an English muffin and top with a diced bell pepper and onion mixture. 

Balanced Diet Breakfast Meal Prep Ideas

Maybe your goal is just to follow a healthy, balanced meal plan. In that case, here are a few breakfast meal prep ideas that include items from several food groups.

• Sweet potato hash with turkey sausage and egg. Sweet potato is a healthy carb that is high in potassium and vitamins A and C. Cut the potatoes into chunks and fry them with turkey sausage. Once the potatoes and meat are cooked through, put them in a meal prep container. Add a scrambled egg for a balanced meal that you can take with you later in the week.

• Balanced breakfast burritos. You can also make balanced burritos by using egg, fried potatoes, turkey sausage, and salsa. If you have time in the morning, you may even want to add a few fresh avocado slices. This gives you more healthy fat to keep you fuller longer.

• Baked blueberry oatmeal cups. This recipe contains oats, milk, eggs, and blueberries, providing a healthy, balanced breakfast meal. To make them, mix 3 cups of oats with 1 teaspoon each of baking powder and cinnamon, and a quarter teaspoon of salt. In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup of milk, 2 eggs, a quarter cup of honey, two tablespoons of brown sugar, and one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Put ingredients from both bowls tougher and mix well. Separate the mixture between 12 muffin cups. Push a few blueberries into each cup. Bake for around 26 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool before you wrap them individually and put them in the fridge.

Tips for Healthy Breakfast Meal Prep Success

Taking the time to meal prep enables you to eat breakfast while still adhering to your diet plan. Here are a few tips for breakfast meal prep success:

• Consider your food preferences. If you don’t like a certain food, you aren’t going to eat it even if it is prepped. So, stick with meal options that you like to eat. This prevents you from taking the time to meal prep only to wind up throwing the food away.

• Only meal prep one or two breakfast ideas per week. Meal prep too many breakfasts at once and they’ll go bad before you can use them up. One or two meals per week are more than enough. This also keeps you from getting bored as you can switch the foods up from week to week.

• Make one prep idea portable for busy mornings on the go. When choosing which meal prep ideas to try, make one that is easy to grab and go. This way, if you get behind, you can eat your breakfast during your commute or once you’ve arrived at work. 

Fitness Trainers: How to Help Clients with Breakfast Meal Prep

If you are a fitness trainer, your clients may ask you for prep ideas or recipes. While you may provide general advice, creating a meal plan is outside of the personal trainer’s scope of practice. 

One way around this is to become a certified nutritionist. This enables you to provide clients with more specialized diet advice—advice that fits into their desired eating plan. Check out ISSA’s Nutritionist Certification course to learn more.

Resources

Rong S, Snetselaar L, Xu G, et al. Association of Skipping Breakfast With Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2019 Apr, 73 (16) 2025–2032. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2019.01.065

Lukas Cipryan, Tomas Dostal, Daniel J. Plews, Peter Hofmann, Paul B. Laursen. Adiponectin/leptin ratio increases after a 12-week very low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet, and exercise training in healthy individuals: A non-randomized, parallel design study. Nutrition Research. Volume 87. 2021. Pages 22-30. ISSN 0271-5317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nutres.2020.12.012.