Blueberry Coconut Oatmeal
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This backpacking friendly blueberry coconut oatmeal is a great way to bring some nutritional diversity to your morning oats.
While it’s commonly asserted that oatmeal “sticks to your ribs”, we find it does quite the opposite when we’re out backpacking.
Instant oatmeal packets are definitely one of the easiest hot backpacking breakfasts you can make out on the trail (no question about that!) but all the major store-bought brands are made up of relatively simple carbs: pulverized processed oats and a lot of sugar.
Even if we stuff ourselves with these instant oatmeal packets at breakfast, we find that we burn through them entirely by mid-morning. So at 7am when we hit the trail, we’re totally full but by 9:30 we’re starving again.
So what to be done about this? The answer is to diversify the nutritional profile of your oatmeal.
This DIY backpacking recipe starts with a base of oatmeal and then adds layers of nutrition (and flavor!) on top of it. It includes coconut milk and flakes for long-lasting calories from fat, almonds and hemp seeds to add protein and dehydrated blueberries for a little extra fiber.
True, you will lose out on the “instant” cook time of instant oatmeal, but the more diverse nutritional profile means you should feel full all the way until lunch. Or at least elevenses.
So if you’ve been dissatisfied with your backpacking breakfast of choice, consider adding this DIY option to your repertoire!
Ingredients for Blueberry Coconut Oatmeal
Quick-cooking rolled oats: Oats bring protein and fiber to this breakfast. Use certified gluten-free oats to make this oatmeal GF.
Coconut Milk Powder: If you want to pick this up locally, the Asian section of your local grocery store is usually your best bet. Otherwise, you can pick it up online.
Freeze dried blueberries: These can be found at Trader Joe’s and Walmart. They can also be purchased online (this larger container is a good deal if you plan on prepping a lot of meals!).
Chopped almonds: Can sub in any other nut you prefer. The best deals we’ve found on nuts are at Trader Joe’s, but some grocery bulk sections have decent prices as well.
Coconut flakes: Coconut flakes add some texture to this oatmeal and are a great way to incorporate some good, healthy, calorie-dense fats into your oatmeals and trail mixes.
Hulled hemp seeds: Hemp seeds provide complete protein as well as Omega-3’s.
How to Make Blueberry Coconut Oatmeal
At home, simply combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, then divide between two resealable bags. If you’re going to make this for two people and cook both servings at once, you can put it all in one bag.
At camp, add the oatmeal ingredients to your cook pot along with 1/4 cup water for one serving or 1/2 cup water for both servings. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 5-10 minutes or until the oats are tender.
That’s it!
Helpful Products
BioBag Resealable Compostable Sandwich Bags: If you are trying to cut down on your usage of single-use plastic bags, these resealable compostable sandwich bags from BioBag are a nice alternative. They function just like a standard plastic Ziplock bag, except they won’t take ten million years to decompose in a landfill.
MSR Pocket Rocket 2: We use this backpacking stove (along with the Solo Pot listed below) for many of our backpacking recipes. It’s has a compact, foldable design, a powerful burner, and pretty good simmer control.
MSR 1.3 liter Cermanic Solo Pot: This is the backpacking pot (along with the Pocket Rocket stove listed above) for most of our backpacking recipes. It has a great non-stick ceramic coating, that makes cooking and cleaning a breeze.
MSR Duo Windburner: We have recently started using this MSR Duo Windburner cook system to increase our fuel efficiency on the trail. It’s an integrated stove and pot system that boils water super fast, simmers really well, and all but eliminates wind buffering.
Spork: A good spork is a backpacker’s best friend. We really like the color and designs of these humangear sporks.
More backpacking breakfasts
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup quick-cooking rolled oats
- ¼ cup coconut milk powder
- ¼ cup freeze dried blueberries
- ¼ cup chopped almonds
- ¼ cup coconut flakes, unsweetened
- 2 tablespoons hulled hemp seeds
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- At home, pack all ingredients into a bag.
- In camp, bring 1/2 cups water and the contents of the bag to a simmer. Cook, stirring often, until the oats are soft, about 10 minutes.
Absolutely the best oatmeal recipe I have tried. You will not be dissatisfied. Easy to prepare, did I say delicious.
I made this by dividing the recipe in two so that it was single serving and put it in heat safe plastic bags for backpacking. I added 3/4 cup boiling water to bag contents, placed in an insulated pouch and let it sit for 45 minutes. It was perfect to eat right out of the bag with my spork and very delicious too. Great hiking breakfast while I was enjoying my morning coffee.