Breakfast Taters
Instant potatoes, cheese powder, and bacon bits. Ready before the pot cools.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 149
- protein
- 16 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 1 min
- cook
- 3 min
- total time
- 4 min
- water
- 180 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
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Winter / snow
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1/2 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheese sauce powder | 2 tbsp | the packet from boxed mac and cheese works |
| Powdered milk | 1 tbsp | |
| Shelf-stable bacon or bacon bits | 3 tbsp | packed separately, it holds grease |
Method
- Bring 180 ml of water to a boil.
- Pull the pot off the heat. Stir in the bacon, then the dry mix, a bit at a time.
- Add water by the splash if it stiffens past what a spoon can move.
- Wait a minute. It comes out of the pot hot enough to hurt.
Potato flakes rehydrate the instant they meet hot water, which is the whole point on a cold morning when you do not want to stand over a stove. There is no simmer and no soak time. The pot goes off the heat before the dry mix goes in.
The milk powder does more than it looks like. Cheese sauce powder alone goes thin and salty; the milk solids give it enough body to hold onto the potatoes. Bacon rides in its own bag because the fat migrates through anything it touches, and 3 tbsp is where most of the protein comes from. Potatoes carry potassium, which is worth something on hot days when leg cramps start showing up.
Packing
Potato flakes, cheese powder, and milk powder go in one sandwich bag at home. Bacon in its own bag. In a freezer bag inside a cozy this works the same way, with 180 ml poured straight into the bag.
Variations
- Swap the cheese powder for an ounce of diced hard cheddar, added with the water.
- A shake of black pepper and dried chives keeps it from tasting like a packet.
https://trailcooking.com/breakfast/breakfast-taters