Last year I struggled with instant milk and granola for breakfast. Yuck. No more of that. This year I'm thinking more along the lines of pop tarts, bars, dried fruit. What can I add to this or would be better choices than I've indicated above? BTW This is for 1-4 nights out. I'm not worried about long-term nutritional planning since that'll never be a pleasure for me. I just want to eat things out of packages and not waste time cooking/cleaning. Thanks for you suggestions.

You may find that two granola bars are less messy than granola and milk, so there is less clean-up.

--B.G.--

I used to often eat a bagel with toppings. I wouldn't stress it too much, eat what sounds good :-)

Look at Sarah's site, www.trailcooking.com, then "recipes" then "breakfast." She has some great recipes.

For no-cook, I like the PB & Granola Wrap. For a longer trip, I might take Trader Joe's Almond Butter with Flaxseed instead of the PB, but you can buy small pouches of PB in some grocery stores for a shorter trip (I think Justin's Nut Butters). I measure out granola into small snack-size ziplocs and carry some honey sticks (like in a sealed plastic straw). You can easily play with the total calories in this by how much PB or honey or granola you add.

"I call it the morning dose of self-loathing."

--Johnny Law on Pop-Tarts

Steven, Starbucks also usually has honey packets on the counter ;-)

I make a blend of hammer nutrition sustained energy and chocolate protein powder in a liter of water

Easy 500 calories in a great tasting shake.

Heat the water if your chilly or drink it cold if not.

I think hammer has some of the best powdered products going.

My go-to bar for breakfast is Honey Nut Cheerios or Cinnamon Toast Crunch "Milk and Cereal Bars" - good with a little nutella or peanut butter spread on top! Quick and easy and I got so sick of pop tarts - after awhile they all taste the same and I find them really dry.

My breakfast has evolved from coffee/hot chocolate and either oatmeal or grits to something much quicker and better tasting: PackIt Gourmet's Jump Start Fruit Smoothies

They mix in the ziplock bag using cold water and I'm able to drink them right from the ziplock without any mess. Add water, shake, and drink.

we tend to use bars quite a bit because of the weight to caloric ratio and the sheer convenience... here are some recipes...

Quinoa Bars

Two Date Bar Recipes

Banana Breakfast Bars

Blueberry Banana Energy Bars - This recipe can be very easily modified to create different flavors - Backpacker redid them as Cherry-Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Ellen’s Hunky Monkey Vegan Breakfast in Hand

Whole Grain Power Bars from Bob's Red Mill

Crunchy Fruit and Peanut Bars

Heavy European-style Muesli. Make it myself by the 20 L drum. LOTS of flavour and goodness.

Cheers

Granola with Nido full fat powdered milk. I'm thinking of adding half an ounce of coconut cream powder this year for extra calories. I accompany this with an ounce of chocolate on the side.

Edited on 5/27: I tried adding coconut cream to my muesli this morning, about an ounce, and it was delicious.

Nutrition information as follows: Calories = 207
Fat = 19 grams
Protein = 3.4 grams
Carbs = 5.6 grams

For those looking to increase the caloric density of their diet and relieve the boredom of cereal and milk, this is an option worth considering, IMO.

Edited by ouzel on 05/27/2011 17:10:28 MDT.

Meusli, yum, yum! Like Roger, I learned to appreciate it while traveling in Europe. You could tell what country I was in by what I had for breakfast! In the Germanic/Nordic countries, it was meusli and yogurt. In France, of course, the ubiquitous pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant to you non-francophones).

I use the Bob's Red Mill meusli. It's a local Oregon firm, but the brand should be available in most of the US. I found some in a Kroger market (health food section) in Ohio 5 years ago. I add dried berries, but of course it's even better with fresh huckleberries in season!

For a change, I alternate meusli with Grapenuts cereal. I package each serving seperately in a sandwich bag with dried milk. Add water, stir, eat, lick spoon, put sandwich bag in garbage bag and I'm ready to go. I know the milk is a little messier, but it gives me a shot of protein and (at my age) badly needed calcium to start the day.

I have also been known to eat a Kashi cereal bar or two when I'm really in a hurry. I have to avoid most energy bars because they are fortified with every vitamin and mineral known to man, including iodine which gives me horrible rashes.

Edited by hikinggranny on 05/24/2011 17:09:21 MDT.

Roger, give up the "Heavy European-style Muesli" recipe- what do you mix together and what quantities. Then what do you do with it?

I'd also like to see Roger's recipe, even though Bob's Red Mill is really close to what I ate in
Europe.

"Then what do you do with it?"

Eat and enjoy!

Edited by hikinggranny on 05/24/2011 17:55:06 MDT.

Mary- I mean what- i.e. add water (hot or cold) let it sit overnight or just a few minutes, etc.
I've had it a few times but it was at a time in my life that I didn't pay much attention to what was going on around me.

I don't know what Roger does, but I eat meusli raw with milk, right out of the package. (Of course when backpacking I package it with dried milk and add cold water.) That's the way Europeans eat it. If you cook it, you basically have oatmeal with nuts and raisins. I detest cooked oatmeal; per my mother I started screaming after my first taste as a baby!

Meusli is especially good with the European version of blueberry yogurt, which (unlike our fruited yogurts) contains very little sugar.

It has been 10 years since my last trip, and I still miss European food! Interestingly, I actually lost weight over there, despite the cafe creme and pain au chocolat!

Edited by hikinggranny on 05/24/2011 20:51:28 MDT.

I eat four packs of the super cheap not very good for you oatmeal.
Just open them, add some water to the pouch, and consume.
There is no cleaning involved and as long as you stick to flavors that don't need to rehydrate (like dried strawberries,blueberries, etc) it tastes better than cooking it. I have even been known to have cold oatmeal at my house as a super easy snack.

My uncle was Swiss and he was the one who first introduced me to muesli. We eat granola a bit too. Now this isn't lightweight but I sometimes, on paddle trips only, make homemade yogurt to go on the muesli or granola. If only I could find a lightweight way to do that for backpacking trips (that actually has the right taste and texture)... lol.

I'm getting off topic though. Muesli is very simple to make if you can't find it in your local grocery store. Sometimes I make it just to use up those little leftover bits of dried fruit.

edited to add... someone mentioned Bob's Red Mill. It's a great brand across the board. Dorset Cereals has a delicious line of mueslis but I'm not sure if that is available outside of Canada or the UK.

Edited by Laurie_Ann on 05/25/2011 05:24:25 MDT.

I use Bob's Red Mill Muesli at home and on the trail. When hiking I prepackage servings in zip-lock bags. At night open zip-lock and cover with warm water and reclose. Let the muesli soak overnight and in the morning I just eat it raw. I take an extra zip-lock to allow for the ability to double bag the muesli to prevent an accidental mess. In cold conditions I keep the zip-lock in my bivy, in the summer I hang the soaking muesli with other food.