thinking I should do a cooked breakfast most days for my sons

How about do the bacon once a week and thdn poached/scrambled eggs or pancakes other days? You could pre mix the batter the night before.

Do what you like. I make proper porridge in the winter, but I wouldn't make bacon EVERY day - too salty & processed to be healthy.

*under 8

3 DD's are 8.

Cooked breakfast both days. DD2 and DD3 porridge with frozen berries/bananas & honey most days

DD1 Eggs in any shape or form depending on what takes her fancy that morning.

Pancakes on special occasions or mornings that everyone is a bit down for (eg first day back at school after 6 weeks off)

Jools Oliver's smoothies are a regular feature. Hot chocolate on really cold winter mornings.

I will have many many years when my kitchen is not a cafe in the morning - and I will miss this.

Stroke I feel exactly the same way...when I walk into my parent's house, I am home.

More ideas have occurred to me overnight!

You can do hard boiled eggs in the oven (easier than actually boiling if you've got a lot to cook). Place each egg in the (ungreased) hole of a muffin pan and cook in a 170-180C oven for 30 minutes. Place in cold water for 10 minutes immediately after taking them out of the oven, then peel and use. Chop and mix as for sandwich fillings and serve in bagels;

Baby frittatas: whisk eggs in a bowl, add dollop of ricotta and your chosen fillings, e.g cooked lardons of bacon, cheese and herbs or grilled mushroom pieces. Spoon mixture into muffin pan and cook.

Really quick sticky buns: roll out ready-made puff pastry (it is worth seeking out the butter only kind). Spread with filling of choice, roll up and slice. Place slices whorl side up in a baking dish and cook at 200C for about 15-20 mins. You could do a savoury version with Marmite or anchovy butter, or cheese.

Op, my dh is one of three boys. At 6'2" he is the shortest....his brother's wife used to hang round the family home when they were teenagers. She said she was so shocked to see how much food they ate - (being one of only two girls) - his Mum used to buy a catering pack of bacon and eggs each week!

Even now they are all in their 40s they still eat masses. I also have 3 bothers but they don't eat nearly so much - I always overcater when my side of the family come to stay!

Thank you Wind!

And things like cold meat/ chorizo/ sliced cheese- mine can disappear a whole pack as a snack- but I tell myself it's better than the whole pack of biscuits I'd've eaten at that age.

For Walter: Overnight Muffins

In fairness to the copyright holder, I should say this is from "Sweet and Simple: Muffins" by Australian Women's Weekly, ISBN 1 86396 249 2
(all cup measurements are Australian metric cups. However I've used the American equivalent without problems).

Date and Bran Muffins
1 and a quarter cups (185g) plain flour
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
half a cup (110g) caster sugar
1 and three quarter cups (105g) wheat bran
three quarters of a cup (120g) finely chopped seeded dates
Half a cup (125ml) vegetable oil
1 and a half cups (375ml) buttermilk
1 egg, beaten lightly.

Sift flour, soda, cinnamon and sugar into a large bowl, mix in bran and dates.
Stir in remaining ingredients.
Cover; refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to moderately hot. Grease 12-hole (third of a cup/80ml) muffin pan. Spoon mixture into prepared pan.
Bake in moderately hot oven about 20 minutes.

It is a very forgiving recipe:- I've used crushed Weetabix when i didn't have wheat bran, and yoghurt mixed with milk when I haven't had buttermilk, and it's still worked. My children won't eat dates so I use fresh or frozen fruit, usually raspberries. I half-fill the muffin pans, drop in a couple of frozen raspberries and a tiny dollop of raspberry jam, then fill up the pans. My DD calls these surprise muffins as she never knows what will be in the middle.

'Moderately hot' oven I have always translated as 180C/350F.

My dc have a cooked breakfast every day. I get up earlier than them to do Pilates and drink my coffee in peace:) they like stuffed omelettes, boiled eggs and soldiers, bacon rolls, usual stuff.

My DM ( who worked) used to make a full English every day for all of us, and it was lovely - never hungry during the day, and going off with a warm full feeling. We weren't allowed snacks at all though. And everyone was stick thin and fit as a butchers dog. No tv either. My df would be in charge of Sunday breakfast - which we all had in bed, with tea. He would scamper up and down the stairs with trays of food, before everyone going for a long walk collecting firewood.

My DC like breakfast in bed too. I like seeing them smile and snuggle down after, reading a book. Before they get up and we head out with the dog for a walk and er, collect firewood:)

I totally get it and junk it's lovely. My mum is like this with me and my brother we are both in our thirties and have long since flown the nest! When she knows we are coming home she stocks the fridge with an enormous amount of food and starts baking like there's no tomorrow. She's the same with any of our friends who visits she even tries to pack them off with goody bags sometimes.

I'm even like this with DP it's not a chore and I like doing it. There's a feeling of happiness knowing I am making him something he really likes, it's just nice to care for someone and show love and food is a big part of that.

Toffee - enough to feed about 10 adults ime

My husband happily makes a full cooked breakfast for our DD, 7, every school day. Omelettes, French toast, eggs and soldiers, waffles and fruit, creamy smoked fish, American style pancakes, Japanese salmon and rice, etc etc (he's very inventive - it's something different every day!) We are a team - I get her washed and dressed, while he makes the breakfast. I think it gives her a really good start to her day. On Saturdays do we skip the cooked breakfast, but on Sundays I do everyone a full English.

Slightly off topic, but what exactly would a fry up for three teenagers consist of?

Like, how many eggs each, rashers per person etc. Tins of beans? Just one or two? Mushrooms? A full pack?

Lovely. I don't know where to get one from but I'll do my best... I know where to get speed too!

Derek, you do make me laugh. It must be quite something to know you in RL.

Derek -

God, in my day it was Cinzano Bianco!

I think we should coddle them all while we can, life is short and I want mine to think of home as a place of unconditional love, safety, chats and belly laughs, dry towels and a full fridge

Ahhh, that makes me think of my parents in my childhood home, without a doubt. I'm 36 and live 4000 miles away, but my parents make me feel like this every time I come back for a visit.

I own my own home, have 2 young children of my own, but I still think of my childhood home as my "home".

*I think we should coddle them all while we can, life is short and I want mine to think of home as a place of unconditional love, safety, chats and belly laughs, dry towels and a full fridge.

I want to quote this on every single one of those nasty threads where people resent the fact that you still love your children after their 16th birthday. As if they have been counting the days until the cuckoo leaves their nest and all their time and money is their own again.

Well my time and money is theirs if they need it. I'm always conscious of
treading that line between teaching them how to cope with the world as adults and yet still wanting to nurture them. Little gestures of love are easy when they are babies. Not so much when they are 6'4" and 18.

There is nothing like spoiling unspoilt children
I'm going to steal that phrase and use it as well*

absolutely fabulous post!