Hiking / Backpacking Breakfast

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T1DCarnivoreRunner
T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
in Recipes
I'm looking for very calorie dense ideas for breakfast... as little weight as possible with as many calories as possible. I'm going out for a week with 3 of us total, and looking for breakfast ideas with at least 500 calories per person. Preferably will contain protein as well.

We will have a camp stove, but no refrigeration. Eggs are not ideal because I know they will break. :(

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  • dawnmcneil10
    dawnmcneil10 Posts: 638 Member
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    The first thing that comes to mind is oatmeal with nuts and dried fruit, some powdered milk or protein powder can be added right in the mix if you wanted a bit more protein. I'd just use ziploc baggies and have each day ready to go just add hot water.

    FYI cheap plastic water bottles are a great way to transport grapes and then you have an extra bottle should you need it later. They freeze/thaw well too so they'd be an easy way to create just a bit of refrigeration.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    dawnmcneil10 wrote: »
    The first thing that comes to mind is oatmeal with nuts and dried fruit, some powdered milk or protein powder can be added right in the mix if you wanted a bit more protein. I'd just use ziploc baggies and have each day ready to go just add hot water.

    FYI cheap plastic water bottles are a great way to transport grapes and then you have an extra bottle should you need it later. They freeze/thaw well too so they'd be an easy way to create just a bit of refrigeration.

    I had considered oatmeal and raisins, but it was a whole lot of oatmeal to get more than 200-300 calories per person.
  • dawnmcneil10
    dawnmcneil10 Posts: 638 Member
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    Almonds have usually 100-150 calories per serving and a great addition. Use an assorment of dried fruits as well and if you added the protein powder or powdered milk you've got more calories there as well. Don't think just quick oatmeal packets, use rolled oats or steel cut oats and make up your own "packets" using ziploc bags.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    Here are the breakfast menus used at Philmont. I'm not a big fan of the drink mixes but we were pretty well nourished while we were there. We usually didn't cook in the morning so often we subbed in other items for breakfast and ate the stuff that needed to be heated at other meals.

    http://www.scouting.org/filestore/philmont/pdf/TrailMeals_BreakfastIngredients.pdf
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    Wow, @midwesterner85 I didn't think I'd ever need to throw ideas your way. You have it so going on. Hiker's mix comes to mind right away. Beef jerky. Pemmican. Dehydrated meals.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    http://gearpatrol.com/2014/08/28/backcountry-cuisine-5-best-dehydrated-meals/
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    jgnatca wrote: »
    Wow, @midwesterner85 I didn't think I'd ever need to throw ideas your way. You have it so going on. Hiker's mix comes to mind right away. Beef jerky. Pemmican. Dehydrated meals.

    I know I could buy these, but was hoping for more homemade, lower waste, cheaper meals. There are 3 of us going for 6-7 days. I've got plenty of trail food such as gorp and energy bars. We may add peanut butter and protein powder to oatmeal to mix it up and add calories.

    Also, we'll eat plenty in the couple days before and go to a buffet afterward. We'll be caching half of the food along the trail also.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I linked to a home-made pemmican.

    I imagine just like camping you are going to want something warm in the morning to start you off. How about powdered cream for the coffee for an extra calorie hit? The oatmeal might do the trick too.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    @Jruzer Thanks! I figure we will have the stove out in the morning (unless we are too far behind) to make coffee anyway, so we may as well spend a bit more time and fuel to enjoy a hot meal.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    @jgnatca Powdered cream is an idea for the coffee. I also plan to add some olive oil to oatmeal. Sugar is another idea I've considered for both oatmeal and coffee.
  • lilyrunner
    lilyrunner Posts: 36 Member
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    First, sounds like fun! Nuts - almonds, walnuts, oatmeal, blueberries will most likely keep well. You can put both in oatmeal. Bring some cinnamon sticks for your coffee!
  • dia_nruf
    dia_nruf Posts: 112 Member
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    We backpack the Appalachian Trail a few times a year. Normally out trips are 5 days. We enjoy granola cereal or instant oatmeal with powdered whole milk. We add dried fruit and nuts to up the calories. We measure and pack everything at home before our trip. That way there is no guessing how many calories you are eating. We also enjoy hot chocolate in the morning while packing everything up. Is water going to be an issue? This will definitely curtail what you can bring along. On days we know we were going to have a hard hike and are heading out earlier than normal we eat pro bar meals on the trail for breakfast. I personally like the oatmeal raisin the best. Adding olive to anything also ups the calories. Hope this helps and have fun.
  • dia_nruf
    dia_nruf Posts: 112 Member
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    One more thing...... I would never eat any of the prepackaged freeze dried egg dishes you can buy. Every one I have ever tried was worse than ihorrible! Yuck.
  • macybean
    macybean Posts: 258 Member
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    Make your own granola bars. Its easy to get the calories up there with peanut butter, nuts and butter in them! Mine come out to 240 calories each (I can send you the recipe if you are interested). I can easily eat 2 of them with my morning coffee on the trail. Perhaps this is why I never lose weight backpacking...
  • TacoTina
    TacoTina Posts: 81 Member
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    Beef jerry maybe
  • serouppet
    serouppet Posts: 18 Member
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    Hey! :) I did 15 days on the Tahoe Rim Trail stoveless this past summer, so I can recommend some dry foods: POPTARTS, POPTARTS, POPTARTS. In all seriousness though, those really cheap individually packaged pastries/danishes (not sure of the brand) are pretty efficient as far as calories per ounce. Mini doughnuts are as well. Not so nutritious though. Dried fruit, protein bars, bagels/tortillas with almond butter/nutella were also staples. Having since experimented with a stove, I would definitely recommend Mountain House freeze dried meals (kinda expensive), lots of calories and protein, plus delicious! Some other ideas are to use full fat powdered milk to add to oatmeal, coffee or hot chocolate. Add either ghee, cheese, or olive oil to powdered eggs or potato scrambles for extra calories. Some people I met even added ghee to their coffee (not so sure about that for myself lol). Hope this helped.
    Ultra light backpacking websites and blogs have some great ideas you can use! Have a fun and safe trip!

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