Categories: Camp Tips

Cold Cereal as a Simple and Cheap Backpacking Meal

Just Add Water!

Why not break the rules while you’re backpacking under the open sky? Muesli and granola cereal are quick to prepare, packed with calories, and taste great.

Hikers often rely on energy bars, trail mixes, candy bars, and other packaged snacks for convenience. However, many of these snack foods are low in nutrition and contain highly processed ingredients, added sweeteners, and excessive amounts of sodium. So, the next time you need a quick and easy lunch or dinner that doesn’t require cooking, consider cereal.

Outdoor Herbivore offers calorie-dense muesli cereal that combines dried fruit, nuts, and seeds with instant organic soy milk. Just add water, stir, and enjoy a creamy cereal.

You can easily create an instant dry cereal mix by combining instant milk powder with your choice of cereal and packaging it in a ziplock bag or a rehydration bag. Here are some ideas for ingredients to include:

Instant Grains: sprouted cereal grains, rice flakes, quinoa crisps, kamut crisps, rolled oats, barley flakes, corn flakes, sorghum crisps, spelt flakes, and wheat germ.
Dried Fruits: apricots, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, coconut flakes, dates, figs, mango, and raisins.
Mixed Nuts and Seeds: almonds, pecans, pepitas, walnuts, flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and sunflower seeds.
Natural Flavorings: cinnamon, ginger, allspice, protein powder, and vanilla powder.

To make the mix creamy, add milk powder.

Milk Powder: Soy milk powder is a great non-dairy alternative because it is high in protein and dissolves very well in cold water. Finely ground almond flour and oat powder are also nice options (grind rolled oats or slivered almonds into a fine powder if you can’t find it powdered).

If you insist on purchasing dried cow’s milk, opt for a version that contains fat and is instant to prevent clumping. Many instant milk powders, such as Carnation, are non-fat, so they will not help you get the energy (calories) you’ll need to endure long days of hiking. Nestle Nido is a popular whole-milk choice among many backpackers because it is readily available. You can typically find it in the ethnic or Hispanic section of grocery stores. Also, try Hispanic food markets. Instant soy milk is easy to find at health food stores. You can also forgo the dried milk and add water to the cereal — milk with cereal is entirely optional. Learn more about alternative dry milk powders.

What should you look for in a store-bought cold cereal ?

Muesli and granola packs provide the most calories, giving you the energy you need for hiking. Look for those containing whole grains, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit.

Blueberry Vanilla Crunch Outdoor Herbivore

Enjoy the trail!

Outdoor Herbivore