Apple Pie Cold Soak Oats
Applesauce and milk powder do the work of a fridge. Soak it at night, eat it walking.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 4 oz
- cal / oz
- 105
- protein
- 10 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 3 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 3 min
- water
- 200 ml cold
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Cold soak
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Car camping
- Vegetarian
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Rolled oats | 1/3 cup | old-fashioned, not instant or steel cut |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered whole milk | 3 tbsp | stands in for the 1/3 cup of fresh milk |
| Dried apple rings | 1/4 cup | chopped small; replaces the applesauce cup |
| Chopped walnuts | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried cranberries | 1 tbsp | |
| Cinnamon | 1/2 tsp | |
| Ground ginger | 1 pinch | |
| Ground cloves | 1 pinch | |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Snip or crumble the apple rings small before you leave home. Whole rings stay leathery no matter how long they sit.
- At night, pour 200 ml of cold water into the jar or bag and stir until the milk powder stops streaking.
- Seal it and stow it upright inside your pack. Below freezing, keep it in the quilt with you.
- In the morning stir once. If it is stiff, add a splash of water; if it is loose, wait five minutes and it will catch up.
The original is a fridge recipe: applesauce and fresh milk in a sealed container overnight. Neither travels, so the applesauce becomes dried apple chopped fine and the milk becomes whole milk powder. Both rehydrate off the same water the oats are already absorbing, which is why the liquid drops from a full cup to about 200 ml.
The spices are not decoration. Cinnamon, ginger, and cloves are what make dried apple read as pie instead of just fruit, and the pinch of salt keeps the whole thing from tasting flat. Walnuts are the fat, and fat is most of the reason this holds you until midday.
Packing
Everything but the water goes into one bag or screw-top jar at home. Walnuts go rancid faster than the rest, so build these within a month of the trip.
Variations
- Swap the walnuts for pumpkin seeds if you are packing for a nut allergy.
- A tablespoon of brown sugar if your apple rings are on the tart side.
- Hot water instead of cold turns it into porridge in about four minutes if you have a stove running anyway.
https://morefood.org/no-cooking-required-recipes