camp meals

Peanut Butter Power Oats

Oatmeal built around powdered peanut butter, chia, and flax. Thick enough to eat standing up.

calories
600
weight
4.5 oz
cal / oz
133
protein
22 g
serves
1, scales
prep
2 min
cook
5 min
total time
7 min
water
300 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
  • Backpacking
  • Thru-hike
  • Basecamp
  • Bikepacking
  • Vegetarian
  • One pot
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Dump and stir

Ingredients

Old fashioned rolled oats 1/2 cup
Powdered whole milk 3 tbsp replaces the 3/4 cup of fresh milk
Peanut butter powder 3 tbsp
Chia seeds 1 tbsp
Ground flax seed 1 tbsp
Dried banana chips 1/4 cup broken small, or freeze-dried banana slices
Brown sugar 1 tbsp stands in for honey
Salt a pinch

Method

  1. Boil 300 ml of water.
  2. Pour in the premixed bag and stir hard. The flax and chia clump if you go slow.
  3. Cover and pull it off the heat. Three minutes.
  4. Stir again. If it is thicker than you want, add hot water a splash at a time.
  5. Let it sit another minute before eating. It is hotter than it looks.

The original wants fresh milk and a sliced banana. Neither survives a pack, so the milk becomes powdered whole milk and the banana becomes chips that soften back up in the hot water. Honey in a jar is a mess waiting to happen, so brown sugar does that job.

Chia and flax are the reason this holds together. They absorb water and turn a half cup of oats into a bowl that actually fills you. The peanut butter powder carries most of the protein without the weight or the grease of a real jar.

Packing

Everything dry goes in one quart freezer bag at home. Eat straight from the bag inside a cozy if you would rather not wash a pot.

Variations

  • Swap the milk powder for coconut milk powder and skip the dairy entirely.
  • Freeze-dried strawberries instead of banana if bananas go soft on you.
  • Cold-soak it overnight with 300 ml cold water if you are skipping the stove.

https://coffeetapeclimb.com/2017/05/03/the-real-breakfast-of-champions-peanut-butter-power-oatmeal