Trail-Nola
Oven-toasted cereal, oats, and maple syrup with freeze-dried fruit. Made at home, eaten dry.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 116
- protein
- 8 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Snack
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Day hike
- Bikepacking
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Old-fashioned rolled oats | 1/2 cup | not instant, they turn to dust |
|---|---|---|
| Cold breakfast cereal | 1 cup | whatever you already have open |
| Pure maple syrup | 3 tbsp | real syrup, pancake syrup stays tacky |
| Freeze-dried fruit | 1 cup | chopped; apple, banana, strawberry, mango |
| Dried unsweetened coconut | 2 tbsp |
Method
- At home, heat the oven to 275°F.
- Toss the oats and cereal with the maple syrup in a bowl until every piece is coated.
- Spread it thin on a greased sheet pan and bake 30 minutes. Stir at the halfway mark so the edges do not run ahead of the middle.
- Let it cool all the way on the pan. It crisps as it cools, not in the oven.
- Stir in the freeze-dried fruit and the coconut once it is cold.
- In camp, open the bag and eat it. No water, no stove.
The syrup is the binder, not the sweetener. It coats the oats and cereal, and the low oven drives the water out of it so what is left is a hard sugar shell. That shell is why this stays crunchy in a pack for a week instead of going soft.
The fruit goes in after cooling for the same reason. Freeze-dried fruit put in a warm pan pulls moisture out of the air and turns leathery, and it drags the rest of the batch down with it. Cold pan, dry fruit, sealed bag, in that order.
Packing
Portion into bags of about a cup each. Push the air out and seal hard; humidity is the only thing that will ruin this.
Variations
- A teaspoon of vanilla or a spoonful of cinnamon in with the syrup.
- Add powdered milk to the bag and a splash of cold water at camp if you want cereal instead of trail mix.
https://trailcooking.com/breakfast/trail-nola