Most backpacking recipes focus on lunches and dinners. But a good breakfast is a great way to start a day of hiking. Here are a few ideas for keeping it simple and easy.

Cereal

If you are used to eating cereal with milk, you might think you have to skip this when backpacking. Fortunately there are at least two good ways to still have your morning bowl of cereal. The first is to simply bring powdered milk. Add a little to the cereal and pour a half cup of water into the mix.

Some of us don't like the taste of powdered milk much. The alternative for us is to just add water. This may sound too plain, but there are some ingredients you can add that will make you hardly notice the missing milk. One is shredded coconut. In fact, if you let the coconut flakes soak for a few minutes before you add the cereal, the water will have more flavor and a better consistency. Coconut goes especially well with granola cereals, but works with almost any of them.

Adding dried fruit makes the lack of milk less noticeable as well. Raisins or dried strawberries can be used. It may help to soak the fruit for a few minutes before adding the cereal.

A fourth option is to use freeze-dried ice cream. Having just recently tried this for the first time, I was surprised by how tasty it is. It's great by itself, but you can also soak it in water and mash it up until it liquefies to use it with cereal. You'll have to experiment at home to see which cereals go best with the ice cream flavor.

Cold Weather Backpacking Recipes

If you are backpacking in cold weather you may need recipes for hot foods. You can still keep breakfast relatively simple though. Instead of foods that need longer cook times, bring simple cereals that can be eaten as hot mush. All you need to do then is get the water near boiling and pour it into the bowl of cereal. Add raisins or other dried fruits for a healthier start to the day.

Not having to actually boil the food or cook it for a long time, will save you stove fuel and therefore pack weight. But what if you are out in the cold and like myself you still prefer not to bring a stove at all? In that case you will want some fatty foods to start the morning. Fats create heat as they digest, warming you up from the inside.

I have no fancy backpacking recipes for this purpose, and there is no need for them. easy and fast is my own preference. A piece of bread covered in butter will do the trick. Bring cinnamon raisin bread if you have a sweet tooth. In cold weather you can also bring bagels and cream cheese. And if you really aren't picky about what you eat in the morning, plain corn chips have a lot of oil to warm you up.