Ree Drummond Shares Her Best Freezer Breakfast Ideas

I must admit I have to apologize to the Pioneer Woman. I assumed since our lives were so different — her being the matriarch of an Oklahoma cattle ranching family and me living deep in our nation’s capital with nary a child, husband, or even a boyfriend to speak of (please, play the world’s tiniest violin for me) — that I had nothing to learn from her.

I’d never watched her show on the Food Network — that is, until I saw an Instagram post of hers describing what she was doing for this past week’s show.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am most assuredly a night owl. In the morning, I need two (or three) cups of coffee before I’m even a human capable of rational thought. So the idea of making a delicious breakfast in advance, putting it in my freezer, and saving it for a time when I’m extra tired in the morning is right up my alley.

After turning on the Season 20 episode (Twenty! Where have I been?), I settled in to learn some breakfast tricks. While the show cuts to a life very different from mine, where Ree’s husband and kids help their uncle on his cattle ranch every now and then, Ree whips up four delicious-looking make-ahead breakfasts.

First up on her Breakfast Freezer Faves, Ree makes a freezable breakfast panini. “All my recipes need to be approved by cowboys, hungry kids, and me,” which seems like a tall order, but these all look so good I’m going to have to try making them all.

The interesting way she prepares all of these recipes is by keeping sogginess in mind. “How do you keep a breakfast sandwich from getting soggy in the fridge?” I bet you’re wondering. Well, Ree separates everything; toasting the bread by itself in the panini press and letting it cool before she assembles the rest. She also cooks and cools the eggs and buttery ham because it’ll keep the bread from getting wet, and it’ll keep the Monterey Jack she adds from melting because, as she says, “Cheese does not melt well twice.”

Get the recipe: Freezer Breakfast Panini from The Food Network

Now, second on the list she makes a blueberry streusel croissant. She starts by adding almond paste (which is not marzipan, by the way), to butter, eggs, almond extract, and then, quite shockingly, a cup of dark rum. (Why did I ever think this show was not for me?) Then she makes a basic streusel mix with oats, brown sugar, flour, and turbinado sugar.

After taking frozen blueberries and assembling them on “day-old” croissants, she wraps them individually in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer. I’ll be making this one for sure.

Get the recipe: Very Berry Croissants from The Food Network

The last breakfast faves Ree makes are two one-pan dishes: one salty and one sweet. The first is an herbalicious breakfast casserole. The base of which is a torn-up onion roll, red pepper, cream cheese, mozzarella, and eggs. After preparing the dish, Ree covers the casserole dish in plastic wrap and places it in the freezer.

Get the recipe: Herbalicious Breakfast Casserole from The Food Network

The last breakfast fave she creates is something that I didn’t even know you could do: frozen yogurt bark. Ree takes Greek yogurt sweetened with honey and spreads it out on a baking sheet, where she adds two flavors of fruit preserves, fresh fruit, sunflower seeds, and toasted coconut. She then puts that in the freezer to harden. After four hours, she breaks the frozen yogurt apart just like you do with regular Christmas peppermint bark, and places it back in the freezer for eating whenever the mood strikes.

Get the recipe: Frozen Yogurt Bark from The Food Network

I know for me the mood will strike, like, literally all of the time — so I’m probably going to make this one too. Turns out, I have a lot to learn from The Pioneer Woman.