Going shopping for breakfast backpacking food items? Here's a basic list of morning eating ideas, with tips on how to pack them.
Backpacking Breakfasts
With a little creativity, you can design your morning meal similarly to what you might eat at home - eggs, pancakes, hot cereal and all.
- Granola - This can be a standard mix, gorp, or a creation of your own. I have a list of personal favorites I make up myself.
- Dried Milk - Make sure you double-bag all powdered food.
- Fresh Fruit - If your fruit is fresh, focus on eating them earlier in the trip, before they go bad. Fresh fruit is also heavy, so that is another good reason to eat your apples, oranges and pears quickly. Be careful with fruits like bananas, peaches and plums - fruits that are more fragile and prone to squishing all over your pack. Fresh figs and dates are lightweight and long-lasting fruit options.
- Dried Fruit - Most fruits are also available dried and make tasty, healthy additions to your hot cereal, granola or pancake breakfasts.
- Dried Eggs - These taste okay and are a safer bet than carrying the 'real thing'.
- Hot Cereal Mixes - So many to choose from, from oatmeal to farina to childhood standby Maltomeal. The oatmeal packs are the easiest - carefully open the top of the package and add hot water directly to the bag. Mix with a spoon and eat right from there - no dishes to clean up!
- Couscous - Many packers have found that cooked couscous is a great alternative to oatmeal - it cooks instantly, is a great carrier for sweet toppings like honey, and cooks up really well with a sample of dehyrated fruit. I love couscous in the field!
- Pancake Mix - Double bag, or even triple bag. Place instructions for cooking the pancakes into the inner bag on a scrap of paper. You can also cook up your pancakes at home, before the trip, and just heat them in the field.
- Bagels - The smaller versions tend to last longer, or you can plan your bagel breakfasts to be earlier in your trip. Keep your bagel bags out of the sun and try not to sit on them. Tortillas are a good and popular substitute for bagels for many hikers.
Backpacking Spreads
With semi-solids like these foods, you are going to need care wtih packing. Finding wet yogurt or sticky honey on your clothes and sleeping bags is no fun - and many backpackers have dealt with this from time to time. Make sure your wet foods are packed securely - I use a wide-mouthed, short sized Nalgene, tightened, then double-bagged for extra security. Another option is finding dehydrated versions of some of the foods listed below.
- Honey - Dehyrated versions exist. Or just bring brown sugar.
- Jam - For bagels or mix in hot cereal for a treat.
- Cream Cheese - Bagel topper, and also yummy on eggs.
- Peanut Butter - More bagel topping ideas.
- Butter - the dehydrated butters are not bad and can be added to any meal to make for a more rich taste.
- Salsa - I like this for my eggs, and have found I can dehydrate my own salsa in the oven. Alternatively, just bring a small bottle of hot sauce. Tabasco makes a line of teeny tiny bottles that you can find in the backpacking shops.
Need more hot or cold breakfast ideas? This is the backpacking recipe book that I use:
Backpacking Recipes - Article Index
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