camp meals

Skillet Eggs in a Bag

Powdered eggs, summer sausage, and cheese cooked in one pan at the trailhead.

calories
620
weight
5 oz
cal / oz
124
protein
34 g
serves
1, scales
prep
5 min
cook
10 min
total time
15 min
water
120 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
  • Campfire coals
  • Liquid fuel
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Backpacking
  • Gluten free
  • Nut free
  • One pot
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Basic

Ingredients

Powdered whole egg 1/3 cup equals about three large eggs
Freeze-dried mushrooms 2 tbsp white button, sliced
Dried chives or freeze-dried green onion 1 tbsp
Summer sausage 2 oz diced at home, keeps unrefrigerated until cut
Hard cheddar 1 oz shredded or cut small
Olive oil 1 tbsp
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

  1. Put the mushrooms and chives in your cup with 120 ml of hot water. Five minutes, then drain off whatever water is left.
  2. Warm the oil in the pan and cook the sausage until the edges brown. Two or three minutes.
  3. Whisk the egg powder into 100 ml of cool water until no lumps remain. Lumps will not cook out later.
  4. Add the mushrooms and onion to the pan, pour in the egg, and drop the heat as low as it goes.
  5. Stir constantly for six to eight minutes. Eggs from powder set slower than fresh and scorch faster.
  6. Kill the heat, scatter the cheese over the top, and cover for a minute so it melts on residual heat.

The source version is fresh eggs cracked into a bowl at the campsite, which works from a cooler and nowhere else. Powdered whole egg is the swap that makes it carryable. It rehydrates into something close enough, and it drops the weight to roughly a third. Summer sausage and hard cheddar were already shelf-stable, so those stayed.

The mushrooms need their own soak first. Dropped in dry they pull water out of the eggs and leave you with a rubbery pan. Low heat matters more here than with fresh eggs: reconstituted egg has less fat holding it together and will stick to a thin camp pan the moment you stop stirring.

Packing

Egg powder, mushrooms, and chives go in one bag. Sausage and cheese ride in a second bag so the fat stays off the powder. Oil lives in a leakproof bottle.

Variations

  • Stir in a handful of dehydrated hash brown shreds with the mushrooms for another 200 calories.
  • Boil-in-bag method: seal everything in a freezer bag and hold it in simmering water for about twelve minutes. No pan to scrub.
  • Trade the sausage for a foil pouch of chicken if you want it leaner.

https://campfirefoodie.com/the-best-camping-breakfast-in-a-bag