No-cook oatmeal

[David Thomas]

I mentioned this in another thread, but it also belongs here under Food.

Last night, I saw our Finish exchange student mixing up oatmeal, milk, raisins and nuts in a tupperware container and putting it in the fridge overnight.  I asked, “Does that soften it up enough to eat?”  Yes, she reported.  If she prepares it the same morning, she has to use boiling water and then let it cool down before eating, but if she prepares it the night before, it’s ready to go in the morning.

And I immediately thought of no-cook backpacking.  You could prepare it with water or water and milk powder.  Raisins, crasins, dates, nuts, brown sugar, and/or chocolate chips.  And eat it while you hike, which is my preferred way of warming up in the morning – just get moving.  And unlike carrying your tabouli before lunch or pre-steeping your dehydrated beans on the trail before dinner, pre-soaking your breakfast in camp adds no pound-miles.

[David Thomas]

Opps. Cross-posted.

[d k]

I’ve done that for years!  If you use anything like Quaker oats, no need for overnight, but rolled oats do better with an overnight soak.  It’s still my favorite at-home breakfast, cold with fruit, a little yogurt, and cinnamon.

[Rick M]

Isn’t raw uncooked oats mixed with nuts, seeds, and fruits called muesli? Mix it with an oil, a sugar or honey and any spices, and bake in the oven to get granola?

[BRYON L]

We have an Amish store in town that sells their form of muesli, and it is delicious. I put muesli, nido, and a dried fruit (usually blueberries) in a ziploc bag. Put in the amount of water needed, let it soak for a bit, and you are good to go!

[Bob Moulder]

Yep, 1/2 cup of Bob’s Red Mill European style muesli, 2 heapin’ tablespoons of Nido and a handful of craisins. Add 1/4 cup hot or cold water and it’s good to go.

For years I ate Quaker instant oatmeal (2 packets of peaches-n-cream) but found that I was hungry again almost right away. Not so with this muesli mix — sticks with me for a good 1.5 to 2 hours.

[Tipi Walter]

Yes, as DK says we’ve been doing this for years and it’s old news.  You can soak oatmeal in cold water and it’s ready to eat in 30 minutes.

I pulled a 19 day no-cook trip last year and went the Oat route for several of my meals.  Back in 1980 we were doing the same thing with oats and water and raisins etc.

I know this isn’t a No Cook Thread, but a stove really increases the variety of your backpacking food choices.  No cooking is really just snacking on a long term basis.  Snacking gets old.  It’s convenient on a short weekend trip, not so much fun on a long 3 week trip.  Mainly cuz I’m addicted to the morning ritual of hot herbal tea with honey and the dinner ritual of cooking up my home dehydrated meals.

[DAN-Y]

1/2 cup raisin bran, 1/2 cup quick oats, 1 cup cold water, 1/3 cup dry milk and i’m good to go.

[jscott]

Wait…no coffee…? this doesn’t compute. And since I can’t function without coffee in the morning, I may as well have hot instant oatmeal to go with it. Total boil time: less than three minutes for both together.

Dried bananas or cherries or blueberries plump up so nice in hot oatmeal! Oh, I include a few spoonfuls of wheat germ too.

[Terry Sparks]

As DK and Tipi say, I’ve done it that way for years, and except for rotating in a breakfast granola for variety, 10 ingredient oatmeal is my on trail breakfast in a peanut butter jar. I dump the mix in the jar when I start my day, when I start taking layers off, I eat it. I don’t like putting cold fluid into my cold body.

[Tipi Walter]

Hey Jeffrey—Just dump a Via coffee pack in cold water and drink!!

[jscott]

Hey Tipi: why?

Seriously, I understand that there are those who just want to get going bang in the morning. I need a bit of time to shake off the cobwebs. I enjoy a quiet, contemplative morning taking everything in over a warming breakfast (mornings tend to be cold at altitude.) But there’s no wrong or right. Just personal preferences and metabolisms.

[Elliott Wolin]

For years I’ve eaten rolled oats straight out of the package with typically raisins and milk, no soaking, no cooking.  As mentioned earlier, rolled oats is used in Muesli, and you typically just add milk (which is why I got the idea to try this in the first place).

It’s a bit chewy, but pleasantly so, in fact it’s quite good this way.  Just get over the psychological burden of thinking it must be cooked or soaked.

I buy the gigantic box from Costco and it lasts forever.

 

[DAN-Y]

It’s a bit chewy, but pleasantly so, in fact it’s quite good this way.  Just get over the psychological burden of thinking it must be cooked or soaked.

I agree.

[jscott]

Next up: getting over the psychological burden of thinking that you need to wear clothes while backpacking. Much lighter and faster to go naked!

But I bear the psychological burden of eating cooked oatmeal and berries with great dignity. I wash it down with hot coffee and tears

(of relief).

[MJ H]

I’m not going without coffee either. Or drinking cold coffee. Since I’m already heating the water, a few ounces for oatmeal doesn’t matter and makes the meal more pleasant.

[Ben H.]

Next up: getting over the psychological burden of thinking that you need to wear clothes while backpacking….

It’s quite popular in Germany

[d k]

I don’t actually like hot oatmeal unless it is smothered in brown sugar (unreasonable amounts of it).  But cold soaked oats I find delicious just with fruit.

[jscott]

“But cold soaked oats I find delicious just with fruit.”

I can totally see that. It is delicious that way too.

[AK Granola]

10 ingredient oatmeal? What are all those ingredients?  I like oats pretty much any way – hot, cold, baked into granola, you name it. But those instant packs with fake flavorings, bleh. So easy to add more delicious stuff than what the food corp comes up with, and oats purchased in 25 pound sacks from the feed store are economical. Mixed with some triticale, or rye or barley flakes, add flax or sesame seed, sunflower seed, any dried fruit or fresh gathered. But if I’m hungry I don’t turn anything down, even some lame bar.

A really hearty cold breakfast which isn’t too lame cold is a burrito. Warms up quick in a pocket too. Instant black beans, Ova easy mixed up, shredded cheese, rehydrated peppers. Wrap in foil the night before and eat on the go.

I dare any of you however, to backpack naked in Alaska in early June! Double dog dare ya! I think someone proposed a nude RV park up here once. Didn’t really ever happen.

[Matthew / BPL]

Trader Joe’s multigrain hot cereal is my absolute favorite for cold soaking. I do it at home with chia, Greek yogurt, flax, almond milk, fruit and nuts.

[Terry Sparks]

Karen, my 10 ingredient oatmeal: oatmeal, Nido, powdered heavy cream, powdered butter, ground flax, hemp seed, chia seed, ground (powdered) nuts, 4:1 blueberry extract powder, Ceylon cinnamon.

This makes it calorie dense with the fats- Nido, cream, butter, flax, nuts and hemp. Protein- Nido, cream, hemp, butter, chia and carbs from the oats.

 

[Garrett]

I keep my oatmeal in an overnight protected Vargo Bot 700ml-1L, while using simple alcohol wipes for sterilization. This allows me to go stoveless. Gotta have my oatmeal ; )

[AK Granola]

Garrett

what in the world are you sterilizing with alcohol wipes? If you’re only eating oatmeal and you’re not sharing, why bother?

[Garrett]

Over a week long stretch I just figured that I’d keep my pot clean after each use.. Good hygiene or just plain overkill? Am I really the only one who sterilizes there cookware after each use? lol

 

 

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