Cant stand oatmet for breakfast anymore…ideas?

Rolled Oats are way better than instant Oats. I can't stand instant, but I've eaten Rolled Oats for years…

Is Oatmeal what we call Porridge? If it is, no wonder, the packet instant stuff here is pretty foul – like paste – kids food. Usually has too much sugar or flavouring and too small a portion size.

(we have oatmeal – but it's an ingredient – ground oats of various grades- rather than a final product – Porridge is made from oatmeal or rolled oats, whole oats or a combination)

Porridge made with real oats (and/or oatmeal) is much chewier and nicer, but takes time(fuel) to cook.

Personally, I use Muesli. 4oz a portion. There are a huge range of mixes/recipes, some nuttier or fruitier than others. I prefer a basic traditional mix. It can be eaten straightaway with just cold/hot water or using milk (powder) or soaked overnight for a softer, easier to eat consistency. It's usually sweet enough for me with just the fruit.

Sometimes for kicks ;) I use Instant Custard powder with it instead of dried milk.

Most of the cerial grains (wheat, oats, rice, etc.) make good breakfast foods. The only difference between them, besides flavor, is cooking time. Taking a handfull of rolled oats and putting them in a blender will result in smaller sized bits suitable for "instant" cooking, for example. Try Marco's Mud: Cocoa, oatmeal, fruit bits and coffee.

Uncooked wheats will glutinize. So, broken shreaded wheat, instant milk are the basis for a lot of good breakfasts. Add fruits, hot water, a squirt of ghee. Bulk can be a problem on longish trips, though. Same goes for broken/crushed rice cakes.

Rice chex, wheat chex, etc can all be treated in pretty much the same manner. Crush them up to reduce bulk, add instant milk, sugar and flavouring of your choice. All make a good breakfast.

"Is Oatmeal what we call Porridge?" Yep

I could never get used to custard. Would always trade mine in school for something other.

What about oatmeal cookies? Used to get some from Dudleys Bakery in San Diego. Dense, delicious and substantial. Many trips powered by those.

"instant oatmeal" is a binder for wallpaper.

Add hot water to any Good granola. Taste, texture, and calories are all there.

How about instant or quick-cook grits? Same idea, different texture. I typically eat two packets for breakfast.

I've been going with oat bran the past few trips. None of that gluey-ness from instant, yet cooks almost instantly.

Got the Quaker brand, but will probably switch to Bob's Red Mill when I use that box up.

I add dried cranberries, almonds, shredded coconut and butter to keep it interesting.

[the higher fiber also helps with the relying-on-only-natural-sources-of-TP effort)

Some of the "thru-hiker" breakfasts I've seen (warning — most of these aren't very healthy):

Honeybuns (or other similar danish-pastry-type things)
Muffins (you'd need the ones with lots of preservatives or they'll go stale)
Good quality granola with milk powder (ok, this one's fairly healthy)
Delve into the trail mix for breakfast
Snickers (my "go-to" breakfast of champions by the half-way point of the JMT)
Logan bread (lasts a long, long time)
Bel Vita or Nature Valley Breakfast Biscuits (with cheese!)
Peanut butter crackers
Packit Gourmet (or homemade) smoothie

You could get a bit creative, and make things like couscous with raisins and nuts (hot or cold), rice pudding (coconut cream powder, instant rice, egg powder, sugar, cinnamon), etc.

Also, check out Sarah's website (http://blog.trailcooking.com/)

On long trips I do a rotation of instant oatmeal with dried fruit, instant cheesy grits with shelf stable bacon bits added, and a good granola that can be done either hot or cold. I save the cold breakfasts for warmer mornings or for the end of the trip when fuel might run low ;)

Nature's Path organic toaster pastries.

I make "granola" out of nuts, seeds and dried fruit coated in melted Artisana coconut butter with pumpkin pie spice (no-grain granola, max calories!) and I eat it with yogurt I make on the trail from Nido. Takes a day to make yogurt.

I've made pemmican for breakfast. There's a thread on how to do it somewhere here. I put some dried cherries in mine. It isn't the best tasting thing but it seems to provide excellent sustainable energy.

There's really no reason you can't eat lunch or dinner foods for breakfast, too.

A true Scot is never tired of porridge!

A true Scot is never tired of porridge!

Very true! You can't beat a bowl of hot porridge on a cold morning, made with proper porridge oats, with dried fruit and nuts/seeds as optional extras.
I eat it at home too, not just on the 'trail'.
In the summer months, I switch to muesli.

Don't be tied to 'breakfast' food. A big bowl of noodles can make a nice, filling breakfast. Someone else mentioned couscous – another good choice. Some tuna and wild rice is a nice breakfast. Etc.

I have eaten instant oatmeal for breakfast on just about every trip for over 40 years. I never tire of it. I buy it by the case – all flavors. People in 3rd world countries have repetitive diets and many would be thrilled to have enough instant oatmeal to eat every day. Spoiled Western civilization!

I’ve become a huge Packit Gourmet fan for breakfast. During warmer times I love the JumpStart Fruit Smoothies and when it’s cold out the Italian Polenta with Sausage is perfect.

Porridge at home throughout the year whereas on the trail, Granola or toasted muesli.

I recently made some homemade energy bars I found on the food network website. Very good and very healthy. Read the comments section under each recipie and you'll find people making suggestions on all kinds of variations. A little heavy, especially compared to packets of oatmeal, but delicious and a huge hit this past weekend while hiking in Virginia.

I eat oatmeal often for breakfast at home. Swedes eat almost as much oatmeal as Scots do. Because of this I only make it on occasion on the trail. Not instant, mind you. Straight up oats. I like to add walnuts, honey, and salt if I feel like getting fancy.

However about 75% of the time for the past few years, on the trail I will eat granola bars and flapjacks (oatmeal bars) for breakfast with a pot of hot tea.

But on occasion I will do polenta with almond flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper.

Or if it's just an overnighter, do breakfast burritos with tortilla, eggs, avocado, tomato, hot sauce.

Or if I really want to get fancy, make pancakes. Mix all the dry ingredients in a ziplock bag at home, then on the trail mix in a few eggs and just plain water. Bring a small tub of honey or jam to spread on them too.

Now I'm hungry for breakfast food and it's almost dinner time here. Breakfast for dinner perhaps?

Instant oatmeal is an abomination. "Old Fashioned" rolled oats plus dried fruit works just fine for freezer bag cooking. Add the salt to the hot water before mixing into the oats & fruit or you get bland-bland-bland-BRINE. Let it all sit for a few minutes and you're good to go (so to speak). That said, my wife and I switched to Gross Bars (Logan bread) to get out of camp faster in the morning.

In Denmark, rolled oats is probably the most eaten breakfast. I eat it on trail and at home. In the weekend it's freshly baked bread though!

I pre-package my breakfasts for trail use. That consists of:

-Rolled oats
-Rasins
-Milk powder
-Müseli

Mix that with cold water, and i'm ready to eat.

I serve that with a cup of tea.

(I would never touch instant oatmeal….i feel puky just thinking about it. Besides, It's super easy and cheap to make my own packages as described above.)

Alternatives:

Sometimes i bring egg and flaky salt and cook a nice smiling egg. Crackers and cheese is nice too.

Cheers,
Peter

I roll out this suggestion every six months in breakfast / oatmeal / no-cook discussions:

There's a no-cook (hence no-stove, no-fuel, no-time, no-waiting in the cold morning for breakfast) option that can include the oatmeal, milk powder, nuts, raisins, craisins, cocoa powder, brown sugar, chocolate chips, etc, that you'd have put in your oatmeal.

It's an oatmeal cookie. Make them as sweet, chunky, whatevs that you want. Make them in advance at home for one of the cheapest possible BPing foods. Bake them at a little lower temp for longer and they'll be crispier, drier, LIGHTER!, and long-lasting. Or if you can't even bake cookies, buy some. I like Trader Joe's iced, craisin oatmeal cookies.

When I'm standing around a stove in morning, waiting for a hot drink or hot porridge, I cool off more than the BTUs I get from the hot food. I prefer to start hiking and warm up that way. No-cook breakfasts let me do that.

I just made several batches of Oatmeal spice cookies with Toasted Pecans and Cranberries. Unfortunately there won't be any left for breakfast. They are good, though, and addictive. Something that I have started to use in my hot cereal is powdered peanut butter. It is sold at retail as Bell Plantation PB2, but is expensive. It can be had in bulk at a better price. I think that powdered peanut butter is what is left after the peanut oil has been squeezed out, so you get considerable nutrition and flavor without much fat. Another possible hot breakfast cereal that is commonly available at retail is Quaker's Warm Granola. I'm not certain whether it is marketed as "instant", but it doesn't require much cooking. Bob's Red Mill Muesli is a possibility, but it does need to cook a bit. Still another possibility for breakfast that I want to try is a Chocolate/Nut biscuit. I haven't tried it yet but I want to mix about 2 Oz. of semi-sweet chocolate morsels with an ounce of chopped walnuts and almonds. I intend to put this mix in a silicone muffin mold and heat it in the oven until the chocolate melts. Once this cools, I should have a biscuit that I can grab and eat. Naturally, this would not do well in hot weather, but that is where the oatmeal cookie would be best.

I just take 2 breakfast bars and some
cheese for the mornings.