Jason Fitzpatrick
If you’re hosting overnight guests for the holidays, there’s already enough to stress about without making breakfast a three-ring circus that involves waffle irons, a hot stove, and all your attention. Help guests to help themselves.
Save your cooking efforts (and general energy) for bigger meals like lunch and dinner. When it comes to breakfast, set your house up so guests can help themselves to whatever they want for breakfast whenever they happen to wake up. To that end, take a cue from hotels where continental breakfasts are a business travel staple.
Stock up on things like yogurt, granola, pastries, orange juice and milk, some cereals, some fruits like bananas and oranges, some variety packs of tea, and if you have a Keurig machine, a variety pack of regular and decaf coffees. Pretty much if you’ve seen it at a continental breakfast, and you think your guests would enjoy eating it, grab it. If your guests are from out of town, some unique and flavorful pastries and breads from a local bakery are always a nice touch.
Then you can either tell your guests to help themselves in the morning or, if you can’t help but be the extra fabulous host you were born to be, pull everything out in the morning and put it on the counter where they can help themselves. Either way, be sure to tell guests the night before what the protocol is for breakfast, so nobody is left sitting around waiting for their first cup of coffee or a scone.
By skipping the stress of running an informal diner every morning, you can save your energy for more important hosting duties.
