Plan one or two of these easy breakfast ideas for hotel rooms to help your family save money on your upcoming vacation. Grocery items to order or breakfasts to pack from home, either way you'll start your day well.
There's a big difference between our current family vacations and the adult romantic getaways we used to take. One of them is definitely breakfast.
Where my husband and I used to enjoy a leisurely hotel breakfast off the lobby to start our day or expensive room service if we were feeling lazy, once we had kids breakfast became a more practical concern for both our budget and the timing of our day.
Especially when we travel to Disney, breakfast is not something I want to "waste" any time on and it isn't a high priority for the family budget. We're much more interested in eating well and eating quickly so we can hustle the kids out the door and onto the real fun.
After several road trips to Orlando and our annual road trips to the beach, I've learned several fantastic easy breakfast ideas for eating in our hotel room.
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Why Make Your Own Breakfast in the Hotel?
There are many reasons you may wish to plan your own breakfast at the hotel:
- Your hotel doesn't have onsite breakfast service
- The breakfast they serve is super expensive for your family budget
- The food they offer is unappealing
- You want to save time eating so you can get to the real fun of your vacation
- You want to have healthier options to choose from
- Your kids are picky eaters and you need to start the day right
- You prefer to wake up slowly and want a quiet breakfast
Whatever your reasons are, with a little bit of forethought, you can have a totally vacation-ready breakfast right in your own hotel room.
Buy From the Local Grocery Store
If you're traveling by plane or you just simply do not have room in your car to squeeze one more thing, you might want to make time to stop at the local grocery store for some easy breakfast supplies.
Many areas have drive-thru pick up or delivery for grocery orders. Check with the grocery store web site before you go and if they don't have it available, check Instacart.
Easy things you can buy from the local grocery for breakfast include:
- Milk and Cereal: One container of each and you're ready to go for several days!
- Yogurt and Fresh Fruit: Easier to customize for just how much you'll need.
- Protein Bars, Cereal Bars, or Granola Bars: Great for keeping on hand for snacks, too.
- Hardboiled Eggs: You can often find these ready to go in the fridge section.
- Fresh Raw Veggies with Dip: A bag of baby carrots and a container of cherry tomatoes to enjoy with your eggs add some fiber to the meal. You could add a container of hummus or peanut butter to go with celery.
- Cream Cheese and Bagels: A tub of flavored cream cheese and a package of store-bought bagels is a very portable breakfast to grab.
- Bakery Muffins or Coffee Cake: You are on vacation, after all. A package of muffins from the store is likely to be a lot more budget-friendly and tastier than what you mind find in the hotel's continental breakfast.
- English Muffins and Freezer Sausages: Make your own breakfast sandwiches with sausage patties you can microwave.
- Frozen Pancakes: Even if your hotel does not have a toaster, most come with a microwave. Pancakes work much better than toaster waffles for a hotel breakfast. Add syrup or jam or a spread of Nutella on top with fresh strawberries.
- Bottled Smoothies: You may be able to find smoothie cubes in the freezer section or prepared smoothies in the yogurt section.
Easy Breakfast Ideas to Pack from Home
If you're heading out on a road trip with the kids, it is really easy to prep these easy breakfast recipes ahead of time and just pack them in a tote bag or cooler as needed.
You can pop them right into the hotel's kitchenette or mini fridge if you want to keep them cold.
These homemade peanut butter granola bars are studded with sweet chocolate chips. My kids think it is a huge treat when I make a batch for a family trip.
Make a big batch of this easy homemade granola, your kids can enjoy it as a road trip snack, hotel room, snack, or a full breakfast item served with milk or yogurt and fresh fruit.
It travels well and won't spoil in the heat of your car.
Mix and match a custom trail mix your family will love. You can package it in one large bag for travel or pre-portion it into smaller snack bags for easy grab-and-go breakfast fuel on your vacation.
If you are trying to save money but still feel a little spoiled on your family vacation, these delicious blueberry scones only take 5 minutes to prep and will keep for a couple days in an airtight bag or container.
Serve them with milk or coffee for the adults.
A little easier to travel with than individual muffins or scones, this banana zucchini loaf is a hearty breakfast bread that will travel quite well.
Wrap it in foil and then just slice and serve in the hotel with something as simple as a butter knife.
Another vacation breakfast treat, this homemade cinnamon swirl bread is tastier than anything on the hotel breakfast. It's a great way to spoil the family and they'll think they definitely got the better deal over the folks downstairs.
These delicious muffins can be prepped way ahead and then frozen before your trip. Pop the bag of frozen muffins in your cooler and they'll even help keep the rest of your supplies cold on the way to your destination.
If you're heading on a shorter road trip and you know there will be a mini fridge at your destination, this delicious pina colada dip goes great with fresh tropical fruits and berries.
It could work as a simple breakfast, snack, or hotel room treat.
Another sweet fruit dip to surprise your family with is this strawberry cheesecake dip.
Keep it cold in your cooler and plan to grab some fresh fruit when you arrive.
For a more stick-to-their-ribs dip, this creamy peanut butter apple dip would taste great with sliced apples.
Cut your own apples at home and simply toss them in some pineapple or orange juice to keep them from turning. Store in an airtight bag.
Prewash and chop fresh strawberries and mango and use this salsa to top yogurt or serve on the side alongside a breakfast pastry. This helps ensure you don't need a knife in the supply bag.
Supplies You'll Need
Once you've picked out your breakfast recipes and have a plan, don't forget to stock up on a few items that will make eating breakfast in your hotel room so much more comfortable:
- Dishes: Either bring reusable dishes from home or stock up on some paper plates and/or bowls depending on your items. We love to use paper bowls with the kids even when we're serving something like muffins because they do a better job of catching crumbs and keeping the hotel room clean.
- Napkins: Reusable or paper, you won't find much that helps stocked in a hotel room. For road trips, I like to pack a roll of paper towel with the smaller portioned squares.
- Utensils: Reusable or disposable. Forks and spoons come in the most handy.
- Cups: Reusable or disposable. These can work for drinking or for serving some foods more easily. You can eat cereal and milk or yogurt and fruit out of a cup and that will save you from buying bowls.
More Easy Ways to Eat on Vacation
Trying to save money on your family trip? Don't miss these other budget-friendly ways to save money on your food expenses:
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