camp meals

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Powdered pumpkin and oats, spiced hard, with pecans and syrup on top.

calories
540
weight
4 oz
cal / oz
135
protein
11 g
serves
1, scales
prep
2 min
cook
6 min
total time
8 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
  • Campfire coals
  • Backpacking
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Winter / snow
  • Vegetarian
  • One pot
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Dump and stir

Ingredients

Rolled oats 3/4 cup old fashioned, not instant
Pumpkin powder 3 tbsp dried pumpkin puree, sold as a powder
Powdered whole milk 3 tbsp
Pumpkin pie spice 1 tsp
Cinnamon 1/4 tsp for the top
Kosher salt a pinch
Butter powder or ghee 1 tbsp ghee keeps for weeks unrefrigerated
Pecans 2 tbsp chopped
Maple syrup 1 tbsp a small squeeze bottle, or maple sugar if you would rather not carry liquid

Method

  1. Boil 350 ml of water.
  2. Pour in the premixed bag of oats, pumpkin powder, milk powder, spice, and salt. Stir as you pour or the powder clumps.
  3. Simmer two minutes, stirring, then pull it off the heat and cover it for three more. It thickens a lot in those three minutes.
  4. Stir in the ghee or butter powder.
  5. Top with pecans, cinnamon, and syrup.

The original is canned pumpkin simmered in milk, which is two things you are not carrying. Pumpkin powder is the whole fix: it rehydrates into real puree, weighs almost nothing, and lets the mix live in a single bag with the oats. Powdered whole milk covers the rest.

Fat is what makes this a breakfast rather than a bowl of thin porridge. Butter is the source’s trick and it holds up on trail as ghee, which does not need a fridge. Add it off the heat so it stays glossy instead of cooking in. The nuts and syrup go on last, on top, where the texture still means something.

Packing

Dry ingredients go into one bag per breakfast. Pecans in their own small bag so they stay crisp, syrup in a dropper or squeeze bottle taped shut.

Variations

  • Swap the pecans for walnuts, or leave the nuts out entirely.
  • Coconut milk powder in place of the milk powder and coconut oil in place of the ghee makes it vegan and dairy-free.
  • A scoop of vanilla protein powder stirred in off the heat pushes it past 25 g.

https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/spiced-pumpkin-pie-oatmeal