Trail Recipes: Breakfast

These are the two main breakfast recipes I use when backpacking. My go to breakfast of choice is a mix of granola, powdered milk and dehydrated fruit. I place enough powdered milk to make 12 oz of milk, into a Ziploc bag. Then I add 1 ½ cups of granola on top of the powdered milk. Lastly I add in 1/4 -1/2 cup of any type of dehydrated or dried fruit that I like. Blueberries, mango and pineapple are some of my favorites. Just add cold water (dependant on the amount of powdered milk you use) and your good to go. Here is the granola recipe my wife uses:

6    c rolled oats

1/2 c maple syrup

1/2 c honey

1/3 c oil (coconut is good)

4    Tbsp butter, melted

1    Tbsp vanilla extract

8    oz nuts, chopped

1    c pumpkin OR sunflower seeds

1/2 c wheat germ

1/2 c flax OR sesame seeds

Cinnamon, to taste

Mix oats, nuts, wheat germ, seeds, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Combine wet ingredients (if using coconut oil, be sure to melt it with the butter) in a small bowl and mix thoroughly. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until everything is coated. Divide evenly between two cookie sheets. Bake at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Rotate cookie sheets half-way through baking.

Add dried fruit as desired.

*NOTE: My wife often substitutes molasses for the maple syrup, almond extract for the vanilla, or add nutmeg, cloves, or ginger to the cinnamon. This is a very flexible recipe!

My second mainly used breakfast recipe is basically a homemade oatmeal recipe. If I want some powdered milk in it I place it in the Ziploc bag first, usually enough for an 8 oz serving. Then I add two servings worth of old fashioned oats into the baggy. Lastly I add in any dehydrated or dried fruit and any nuts or seeds that I might like. I find that raisins, golden raisins and crasins to be the best. I like to add walnuts and flaxseeds as well. I like to place the fruits and nuts on a piece of saran wrap and wrap them up and then place them in the baggy. That way I can cook the oatmeal and then add the fruit and nut mix in after all the cooking is done. This makes a great breakfast for chilly mornings. I just place the oatmeal and powdered milk in 2 cups of water and cook until done. When cooking is done let it cool a bit and then just add the fruit and nut mix and enjoy. You can add things like cinnamon and sugar or other seasonings as well. I just like to keep it simple. These are just a couple easy homemade recipes I use when backpacking. I hope you find them useful and feel free to change them according to your taste.

Here is a quick tip for when you are sealing your Ziploc bag. When you have all the contents in the baggy zip it closed except the last ¼ inch. Insert a straw and suck the air out of the baggy carefully without sucking any of the ingredients out (this is why you want the powdered milk on the bottom of the baggy). Now pull the straw out well zipping the last bit of the baggy closed. This will make it much easier for packing later. Let me know if you found these recipes helpful and let me know how you may have changed them up for your own taste. What do you do for breakfast when out on the trail?