camp meals

Egg White Oats

Quick oats built out with egg white powder and dried banana. Oatmeal that holds you past 10 a.m.

calories
420
weight
3.2 oz
cal / oz
131
protein
18 g
serves
1, scales
prep
2 min
cook
5 min
total time
7 min
water
350 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
  • Alcohol / Esbit
  • Liquid fuel
  • Backpacking
  • Car camping
  • Bikepacking
  • Basecamp
  • Vegetarian
  • Dairy free
  • Nut free
  • One pot
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Basic

Ingredients

Quick oats 1/2 cup quick, not rolled or steel cut, or the timing falls apart
Powdered egg whites 3 tbsp the trail stand-in for liquid whites
Dried banana chips 1/4 cup freeze-dried banana rehydrates faster if you can find it
Vanilla powder 1/4 tsp extract works but leaks in a pack
Salt a pinch

Method

  1. Boil 350 ml of water. Stir in the oats and banana and cook two minutes.
  2. Pull the pot off the heat and let it sit thirty seconds. Boiling water will scramble the egg white.
  3. Whisk in the egg white powder a spoonful at a time, stirring hard between additions.
  4. Put the pot back on low heat for a minute, stirring the whole time, until it thickens and turns glossy.
  5. Add the vanilla and salt off the heat.

Oatmeal is almost entirely carbohydrate, which is why it stops working around mid-morning. Egg white powder fixes that without the chalk of a protein shake. It contributes nothing to the flavor and a great deal to the texture, thickening the pot into something closer to custard than porridge.

The original uses liquid egg whites and a fresh banana, neither of which survives a pack. Powdered whites and dried banana are the direct swaps. The one thing to get right is heat: dump the powder into a rolling boil and you get scrambled egg in your oatmeal. Off the heat, stirred in slowly, then briefly back on low.

Packing

Oats, egg white powder, vanilla powder, and salt premix into one bag per breakfast. Banana chips ride separately so they do not powder themselves into the oats.

Variations

  • A tablespoon of cocoa powder and an extra pinch of salt turns it into something closer to pudding.
  • Cinnamon and brown sugar if the banana alone is not sweet enough for you.
  • Swap the banana for dried mango or cranberry.

https://www.maritimeglutton.com/egg-white-oats-recipe