camp meals

Camp Breakfast Burrito Scramble

Powdered eggs, dried potatoes, and bacon crumbles rolled into a tortilla at a picnic table.

calories
610
weight
5.5 oz
cal / oz
111
protein
26 g
serves
6, scales
prep
5 min
cook
15 min
total time
20 min
water
400 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
  • Liquid fuel
  • Grill grate
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • One pot
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Basic

Ingredients

Whole egg powder 1 1/2 cups reconstitutes to about a dozen eggs
Powdered whole milk 2 tbsp
Dehydrated hash brown potatoes 2 cups the shelf-stable carton kind
Shelf-stable precooked bacon 1 pkg the vacuum-sealed strips that live on the shelf
Hard cheese 4 oz grate it at home; cheddar or dry jack
Ghee or oil 2 tbsp
Ground black pepper 1/2 tsp
Salsa 1 cup single-serve cups travel better than a jar
Flour tortillas 12 small

Method

  1. Cover the dried hash browns with hot water in a mug or bowl. Let them sit 10 minutes, then drain off what they did not take up.
  2. Whisk the egg powder and milk powder with about 300 ml of water and the pepper. Let it stand a few minutes so the powder stops being grit.
  3. Heat the ghee in the pot. Tear in the bacon and crisp it, then add the drained potatoes and fry until the edges catch.
  4. Pour in the eggs. Stir slowly and constantly. Pull the pot off the heat while they still look slightly underdone.
  5. Scatter the cheese over the top and put the lid on for a minute.
  6. Warm the tortillas on the pot lid or the grate, fill, and spoon salsa over.

The original version of this leans on a dozen fresh eggs, a carton of milk, and a bag of shredded cheese, which is three refrigerated things and a lot of shell to pack out. Whole egg powder and milk powder replace the first two and weigh a fraction of what they make. Dried hash browns replace the chopped potatoes and cut the cook time roughly in half, since raw potato in a camp pot takes longer than most people expect.

Order matters more than technique here. Bacon fat and fried potato go in first because the pot needs to be hot and greasy before the eggs land; powdered eggs will weld to a dry pot. Take them off the heat early, since the residual heat in the pot finishes them, and cheese stirred into eggs that are already firm just sits there in lumps.

Packing

Egg powder, milk powder, and pepper go in one bag. Potatoes in another. Grated cheese and bacon in a third, and both are fine out of a cooler for a weekend. Tortillas stay flat against the back panel of the pack or they arrive as confetti.

Variations

  • Swap the bacon for shelf-stable summer sausage cut into coins.
  • A packet of dried onion and pepper flakes rehydrated with the potatoes adds bulk for almost no weight.
  • Drop the tortillas and eat it out of the pot if you would rather not carry them.

https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/easy-breakfast-burritos