Breakfast Problems

[PKH]

I've been at this for a long time and yet in terms of variety I still find breakfast the most difficult meal to plan. I don't or won't carry a frying pan so that rules out some obvious choices. I read that many thru hikers don't bother with a cooked breakfast. I'd like to save some fuel too but I wonder what is good to eat cold day after day after day? I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Cheers,

PKH

[Blue Jay]

I like chocolate frosted sugar bombs with dried fruit, powdered milk (much better taste and quality than the "old" days) and powdered chocolate (Quick dissolves the best). True, it only lasts about two hours, but you start out like being fired from a gun. Just add whatver cereal you can find along the trail, therefore the mix changes constantly. I dry my own fruit mostly blueberries, strawberries and apples, but you can buy them in bulk.

[Peaks]

Breakfast choices include:

using hot water:
Instant Oatmeal. Fruit and Cream varieties are best
Instant Cream of Wheat or Grits (if you are a southerner)

cold:
Granola bars
Cereal bars
Energy bars
Dry cereal such as grape nuts
Granolas (dry, right out of the package)
Dried fruit
Gorp
Pop tarts (crumble)
Bagels

[Frosty]

I've been at this for a long time and yet in terms of variety I still find breakfast the most difficult meal to plan. I don't or won't carry a frying pan so that rules out some obvious choices. I read that many thru hikers don't bother with a cooked breakfast. I'd like to save some fuel too but I wonder what is good to eat cold day after day after day? I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Cheers,

PKH

I think you can survive eating cold breakfasts. That's what I eat at home almost every day of the week year after year. Every few months I change cereals. Right now I'm doing Product 19. I also like CHeerios and Raisin Bran. I'm sure I can do with cold trail breakfasts, especially as there is a great time savings to not cleaning up afterwards. I think the key to longer mileage days is NOT hiking faster, but spending more time at the same pace, enjoying the woods at two miles per hour for 8-10 hours rather than 5-6.

[Kyle & Lisa]

PKH--why no frying pan? You can get ones that weigh next to nothing (titanium Snow Peak) and it will open up many more possibilities for cooking?

Frosty--It's easy to eat cold cereal day after day when at home, but I think on those cold mornings outside, a hot breakfast would be a wonderful treat, yeah?

Kyle

[Kyle & Lisa]

. . . those frying pans can double as a pot lid!

Kyle

[Spirit Walker]

Few people want to take the time to cook anything that you would do in a fry pan. Making pancakes, one at a time, takes an hour or more - and then you have to clean up. A lot of people start the trail with a fry pan; few finish the trail with one.

We mix up hot and cold breakfasts - with more oatmeal/cream of wheat in cold weather and more cereal in hot. I've gotten very tired of oatmeal - but it does taste good when it's cold outside. After a while you learn which foods last best for you. i.e. Cheerios are light to carry, but an hour after eating we were starving. Same with Pop Tarts - they were good for a midmorning snack (quick sugar rush) but didn't work for breakfast for me as the sugar high just didn't last long enough. But Granola, Raisin Bran, and such - the denser cereals - would keep me happy much longer. Bagels are good, if they are fairly fresh, but they used to be hard to find on the AT. I am a coffee drinker, so I heat water every morning regardless of whether or not I am eating cold or hot cereal. If we are camped near water, we do breakfast while breaking up camp; if we are not near water but expect to reach water in an hour or two, we will sometimes break camp then do breakfast an hour or two later. With two of us it is usually easier if I cook while Jim stuffs the packs. No time is lost. Then we relax a few minutes and eat and drink and stretch out before we actually start walking. Works for us.

[Alligator]

It pains me to hear people say, "I'm going on this great adventure, probably one of the greatest times of my life. Oh, and I'm going to restrict my food variety intake because of (small pan weight/small fuel savings/hate dishes/desire to get up and go/etc.)". Take your time and eat well. Would you go to Hawaii and eat oatmeal everyday? Like Kyle said, get a pot with a frying pan lid and the weight gain is minimal. The pot set on the Trangia 28 weighs 6 oz. plus there are others out there. But SYOT, (Stimulate Your Own Tongue).

Carnations Instant Breakfast.
Other shake mixes can be found in Natural Foods Stores, I think another brand name is Spirulina, tried some good variety.
Little Debbies (all kinds).
Fruit Pies.
Brand name Sun something brand, a whole line of granola bars and snacks, loaded with calories unlike some leaner granola bars. For example, not only granola bars, but chocolate covered granola bars.

[Skyline]

Instead of Carnation Instant Breakfast, which tend to be heavy IMO, try the small boxes of instant pudding (go for the cheap generic or store brand, just as good). Mix it with a little powdered milk, which you might be carrying anyway for other purposes, and it makes a calorie-packed, delicious trail milk shake. Eat a granola bar or a pop-tart with it and you've got a great breakfast.

Repeat after dinner for a super dessert.

[Kerosene]

I've found that Cinnamon & Raisin Bagel Chips are very tasty, both for breakfast and other meals. However, they do tend to crush, so you have to protect them or eat them in the first few days after resupply.

I found that Cracklin' Oat Bran straight up was a nice change from mushy oatmeal, as are other sorts of breakfast bars.

[Alligator]

Instead of Carnation Instant Breakfast, which tend to be heavy IMO, try the small boxes of instant pudding (go for the cheap generic or store brand, just as good). Mix it with a little powdered milk, which you might be carrying anyway for other purposes, and it makes a calorie-packed, delicious trail milk shake. Eat a granola bar or a pop-tart with it and you've got a great breakfast.

Repeat after dinner for a super dessert.

Not that I even bring it, but Carnation Instant Breakfast weighs 36 grams/~1.25 oz s (150 calories), 20g/0.75 oz if you get the sugar free (70 calories). Oh, plus the pouch. And don't forget those vitamins and minerals included. Even a small box of pudding is going to weigh more than a packet of CIB, with the difference being a larger serving size and added sugar. IMO, they are probably very similar: flavoring/sugar/milk. But I'm not a gram counter, it's more like "Do I want to top off the cream of wheat/pancakes/hash browns and bagel with a shake (I use a different brand)."

That's really dessert for breakfast and after dinner.

[illininagel]

I'm reading in the threads about ideas for meals like cereal, instant mix drinks, pudding, etc. This is probably a very basic question, but what do you mix these things with?

Water? Or does some dehydrated milk actually work with cereal?

[Blue Jay]

I'm reading in the threads about ideas for meals like cereal, instant mix drinks, pudding, etc. This is probably a very basic question, but what do you mix these things with?

Water? Or does some dehydrated milk actually work with cereal?

Dehydrated milk is much better these days, it used to be crap. It helps the taste of most mixes. I still add powdered chocolate to it prior to adding the cereal. It alone, cannot completely mimic the consistancy and viscosity of milk.

[max patch]

After about 2 weeks on my thru I went to cold breakfasts. Almost every day I either had cereal (grape nuts (very dense) or granola) with powered milk and honey OR instant oatmeal (uncooked) with powered milk and honey. I also had Tang every morning.

Very, very ocassionaly I had Pop-Tarts for a change. Day 1 after after a town stop I had baked goods if the town had a good bakery.

[MOWGLI]

I read that many thru hikers don't bother with a cooked breakfast. I'd like to save some fuel too but I wonder what is good to eat cold day after day after day? I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Cheers,

PKH

PKH, I found that a hot breakfast was nice at the start of my thru-hike. It was still winter when I started (March 7) and the sun did not rise until late in the morning. It was nice to put something warm in my stomach and lounge around in my sleeping bag.

Once the heat started to build in mid to late May, I wanted to be out on the trail hiking ASAP. I tended to only eat one hot meal a day - dinner. At times I would cook a hot lunch if it was rainy, and I was heading into town with an extra dinner.

I don't know that I ever found a cold breakfast that I really loved. A mix of fruit and some type of carbs was usually a favorite.


Best of luck figuring it out!

[okpik]

My son likes frosted cherios so I pack individual baggies with powered milk thrown in. just add water.

I never go without heating up some water for my usual oatmeal and instant coffee.

If you don't mind the weight of real food, MRE fruit dumped over a granola bar of some sort is not bad for a cold meal.

[Peaks]

I discovered this past summer that you can enjoy many cold cereals straight out of the package without milk, either dry or reconstituted.

We are conditioned to putting milk on cereal. Try it without.

[jlb2012]

I agree with Peaks - I went several months with using cold tea on cereal - got the cereal down and got a caffiene boost all in one

[PKH]

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Some new ideas to try, and some old meals to revisit.

Blue Jay,

While I would normally avoid chocolate frosted sugar bombs for reasons of health, fear and common sense, the notion of leaving camp like being fired from a gun has considerable fascination. I will try this rocket fuel sometime this winter.

Cheers,

PKH

[Moon Monster]

Donuts, Donuts, Donuts. Sour cream cake ones can be up to 400 calories each, 200 from fat. I also like cinnamon buns (jumbo ones are up to 750 calories for 4.5 oz) and fried pies.