5 easy breakfast ideas for your busy family, from slow-cooker recipes to make-ahead

The benefits of family dinners — healthier eating and healthier relationships, to name a few — are widely touted. But the fact is, finding the time to sit down together every night can be difficult and even downright stressful. So, what's a busy family to do? It turns out that shared mealtimes can likely do your family good, no matter what time of day you eat together, according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal.

Ready to start your own family breakfast tradition? Get going with one of these five super-easy breakfast ideas:

The Fitchen

1. Slow-cooker breakfasts: Crock-Pot fanatic? All sorts of breakfast dishes, including French toast, egg casserole and overnight oatmeal, can be made in your slow cooker. What could be easier in the morning than having everything prepped the night before? 

Casey Barber

2. Mediterranean egg muffins: These savory crust-less mini-quiches are cooked in muffin tins, so they're just the right size for one person. The recipe calls for sausage, spinach and Fontina cheese, but you can easily mix it up with other fillings — anything you'd put in an omelet or quiche. Make-ahead bonus: The muffins can be prepped ahead of time and reheated in the microwave. 

Lauren Salkeld

3. Spruced-up yogurt: Skip flavored yogurts (which can be loaded with sugar) and treat your crew to one of these 13 amazing (and amazingly easy) toppings and mix-ins for plain yogurt. 

Casey Barber

4. Make-ahead toaster waffles: These scrumptious waffles can be cooked completely ahead of time and frozen — just pop them in the toaster when you're ready to eat. And while the recipe calls for adding bacon crumbles to the batter, they're just as delicious without. 

Lauren Salkeld

5. Amped up oatmeal: Give quick oats a new spin with these 13 topping ideas, including familiar flavors like berries, nuts and apples, and some spins (peas and cheddar!) that'll wake up your morning.