Camp Banana Cream Pie
Instant pudding shaken cold with milk powder, poured over dried banana and crushed grahams.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 123
- protein
- 7 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 8 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 8 min
- water
- 400 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.
- Dessert
- No cook
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant vanilla pudding mix | 1 small box (about 3.4 oz) | instant only, the cook-and-serve kind will not set cold |
|---|---|---|
| Whole milk powder | 3/4 cup | whole, not nonfat, for the fat the cream used to bring |
| Coconut milk powder | 3 tbsp | stands in for heavy cream |
| Dried banana slices | 2 cups | the chewy dried kind, not the hard fried chips |
| Graham crackers | 1 sheet per person | crushed |
| Cold water | 400 ml |
Method
- Split the dried banana between four bowls or mugs. If the slices are stiff, spoon a tablespoon of water over them and let them sit while you make the pudding.
- Put the pudding mix, milk powder, and coconut milk powder into a wide-mouth bottle or a heavy zip bag. Add 400 ml of cold water.
- Seal it and shake hard for three to four minutes. Stop when the lumps are gone and it coats the sides.
- Let it stand two minutes. It thickens on the wait, not in the shaking.
- Pour over the banana and crush a graham sheet over each serving.
The original wanted four ripe bananas, a cup of whole milk, and three quarters of a cup of heavy cream. None of that rides in a pack. Dried banana replaces the fruit, whole milk powder and coconut milk powder replace the liquid dairy, and cold water does the rest. Instant pudding sets by hydration, not heat, so the swap works as long as the water is genuinely cold.
Shaking in a sealed bottle is the whole method. It beats air in and breaks up the starch faster than a spoon does, and nothing ends up on a plate you have to wash. The coconut milk powder is not optional if you want it to taste like pie. Milk powder alone sets fine but reads thin.
Packing
Pudding mix, milk powder, and coconut milk powder go into one bag at home, premeasured. Banana and grahams travel separately so the grahams stay crackers instead of crumbs.
Variations
- Cocoa powder, two tablespoons, turns it into a banana chocolate pudding.
- Freeze-dried strawberries instead of banana rehydrate faster and weigh less.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/banana-cream-pie