Trail Meal | Oatmeal

Oatmeal is a staple for many people in daily life and has an equal home out on a hike. Here is a foundational recipe that you can use and make your own!

Oats are popular for a reason, they will sit in your stomach for a good while and fill you right up. It forms the foundation of many hikers’ breakfast, and if you have the time in the morning to whip out your stove. Or cold-soak them the night before. It can be a great way to start your day. If available you can add dried or fresh fruit, chocolate chips, honey, nuts, or anything you like really.

For the basis to build on you can combine the following in a Ziploc bag:

• 40 grams of fine cut oats
• 25 grams of whole milk powder
• tiny pinch ~ 2 grams of salt
• 5 grams sugar (Optional, I actually prefer it without and just with salt)

You can use a small ziploc bag for this, since it takes up little room. You can also combine more off all the ingredients and store it in a one liter ZipLoc bag. That way just give it a mix, and scoop out 4 to 5 heaping tablespoons with your spork for a rough measure of the same. You can have breakfast for ~5 days in one, to cut down on plastic or waste.

Alternatively, you can also go the other way and serve a single portion directly in a ZipLoc bag, by adding boiling water to it and eating it out of the bag. This saves cleanup, but creates more waste.

The above ingredients will put you at around 76 grams of total dry weight including a 1 liter ZipLoc bag, and offer 291 calories in return, which can be increased by adding butter, chocolate, sugar, honey, and/or fruit. This way you can easily set yourself up on a chilly morning.

Cooking Oatmeal on trail

Making oatmeal isn’t rocket science, and with a stove of choice you can easily make it wherever you find yourself as well. Bring 200 millilitres of water to a boil, throw in the combined contents, bring to a boil again. Remove from heat, and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. Use a pot cozy if you have one. Or simply eat cooled down.

Combine with whatever you can scrounge up on resupply or pack out with you. And make it your own.

What is your favorite way to eat your oats? Share it with everybody down in the comments!

Happy Hiking and Hike for Purpose