Backpacking Breakfast Recipe: Homemade Granola
I’ve been inspired by Philip’s homemade Logan bread recipe to come up with some of my own replacement recipes for those expensive freeze dried food pouches that are marketed to hikers. For me, one of the most important meals of the day is breakfast. Have a bad breakfast and my day and the upcoming hike is an ordeal, have a good energizing breakfast and I feel ready to tackle anything.
I’ve tried many different types of breakfasts on my hikes ranging from full cooked breakfasts (with all the fat) to combinations of healthy individual items; fruit, nuts, breads etc - with somewhere in the middle being the freeze-dried ‘just add water’ pouches. I’ve just never been able to strike the right balance between weight, nutrition, and cost.
One of my favorite trail breakfasts had been the freeze-dried instant oatmeal mixes that when re hydrated with a little hot water turn into a delicious hot oatmeal breakfast - yumm! The problem was that they nearly all make enough food for 3 people to eat and are just too darn expensive to buy on a regular basis. So, I wanted to come up with a better solution.
I’d like to say that I strove for weeks testing new ideas and every combination possible, but the truth is that my wife stumbled across a basic granola recipe and thought that with a little adjustment it might make the perfect trail granola mix - and boy was she ever right on the money!
At first I wasn’t much of a believer, but after one taste I was a convert. Here’s the basic recipe - you can substitute some of the ingredients to suit your personal tastes.
Makes approximately 20 portions with one portion being 1/4 of a cup of the final dry mix.
Ingredients
3 cups of thick rough uncooked oatmeal (Silver Palate)
1 cup of chopped almonds, pecans or any combination of your favorite nuts
1 cup, or any combination, of dried fruit (cranberries, golden raisins, apricots, dates, cherries, blueberries)
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup pure maple syrup
Directions
Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.
Transfer the mixed ingredients onto a large baking sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick, butter-flavored spray or similar
Bake at 325 degrees for 35-45 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking time
Allow to cool completely on cooking tray
Store in an airtight container
Serving Instructions
Add three heaping tablespoons of non-fat powdered milk and a hair under 1/3 cup of hot or cold water per serving. Both taste great.
About the Author
Brian Green has been an avid hiker and outdoor enthusiast for as long as he can remember. Born and raised on the south coast of England, Brian has been stateside for the past 11 years. A seasoned mountain biker, he has racked up several thousand miles on his trusty bike wearing out bearings, chains, gears, and bottom brackets galore! He loves to climb and misses the ragged rock faces of Northern Virginia. Brian also likes to scuba dive and has been fortunate enough to dive in locations including Mexico, Kenya, England, and Scotland.
He graduated from the Portsmouth College of Art in 1990 and worked in London for seven years as a Journalist before career opportunities took him to the U.S. and Washington D.C. After several years as a technology consultant to Government Agencies, Brian moved to Charlotte North Carolina to relax and raise a family.
He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife Bethany, son Jack, and daughter Maggie. During the day Brian works as a security, collaboration, usability, and web2.0 advocate. He enjoys getting out to the mountains of North and South Carolina as often as possible and can’t wait for his two little ones to be ready to go on their first overnight!
Related posts:
This granola recipe looks like a must-try. It looks like it makes very good trail food - plenty of carbs and easily packed in a zip-lock. I also have an oatmeal based breakfast that I have found very satisfying and suitable for the trail.
One of the few tangible things I was able to salvage from my first marriage was a food dehydrator. It was infrequently used and, like me, my ex-wife no longer wanted it. I used it to dry bruised apples. I would add about two cups of dried apples to an entire container of instant oatmeal, a box of raisins and a small spice jar of cinnamon. I would mix all of these ingredients and store them in a Tuperware celery crisper (that I had found in the trash). To cook, I would add about one cup of boiling water to two-thirds of a cup of oatmeal mix, stir it and let it cool a bit.
My oatmeal recipe was the product of necessity. I needed something I could cook on a camp stove every morning, but would not require refrigeration. I was homeless and sleeping in an unheated East Boston basement at the time I made up this recipe. Any food I had needed to be kept in rodent proof containers. Cost was also a significant consideration. Breakfast had to be my big meal of the day and I could make several weeks of breakfasts for less than ten dollars.
What an interesting recipe! I never thought of dish like this.
Thank you.