Biscuit Breakfast Sandwich, Trail Version
Bacon, egg, and cheese on a biscuit, rebuilt out of shelf-stable parts and cooked in one pan.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 24 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- 120 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Biscuit mix | 1 cup | the just-add-water kind, premeasured at home |
|---|---|---|
| Water | about 1/3 cup | for the biscuit dough |
| Powdered whole egg | 6 tbsp | reconstitutes to roughly 3 eggs |
| Shelf-stable bacon | 4 slices | the precooked kind in a flat sealed pack |
| Hard cheese | 2 oz | aged cheddar or gouda; skip anything sliced and soft |
| Sun-dried tomato | 4 pieces | the dry-packed halves, not oil-packed |
| Butter or ghee | 1 tbsp | ghee if it will be warm out |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Drop the sun-dried tomato into 60 ml of hot water and set it aside to soften while you work.
- Stir water into the biscuit mix a little at a time until you have a stiff dough. Do not keep stirring once it comes together.
- Split the dough into two rounds. Grease the pan, set it on low heat, cover it, and cook them about 5 minutes a side. Low heat and a lid is the whole trick; high heat gives you a black bottom and a raw middle.
- Take the biscuits out. Whisk the egg powder with 60 ml of water and pour it into the same pan. Stir it slowly until it sets, then salt and pepper it.
- Push the egg to one side, lay the bacon in the pan for a minute to warm through, and grate or shave the cheese over the egg so it melts.
- Split the biscuits, drain the tomato, and build the sandwiches. Eat standing up.
This started as a make-ahead kitchen sandwich, which is useless on trail: no fridge, no freezer, no toaster. Everything perishable got swapped. Powdered whole egg scrambles close enough to the real thing and weighs almost nothing. Shelf-stable precooked bacon needs warming, not frying. Hard aged cheese sits in a pack for days where sliced American turns to grease.
The biscuit is the one part worth the time. Pan-baking dough under a lid over low heat works because the trapped steam cooks the top while the bottom browns, so you get bread instead of a scorched disc. If you are moving fast, tortillas do the same job for none of the effort, and the sandwich is still mostly protein and fat, which is the point of it.
Packing
Biscuit mix and egg powder go into separate labeled bags with the water amount written on each. Bacon, cheese, and tomato ride together in a second bag. Carry the butter in a small screw-top jar.
Variations
- Skip the biscuits and carry tortillas instead. Cuts ten minutes and one dirty pan.
- Crumbled jerky or a pouch of chicken stands in for bacon.
- A packet of hot sauce does more for this than the tomato does.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/the-best-breakfast-sandwich-recipe