Breakfast, portable.

[KingofDerby]

So, in the group I mostly muster with, we get fed well in the midday and evenings. But for breakfast, it's 'every man for himself' (we had tried having a communal fryup, but between people having different waking times (I'm up at 6, others at 9) and people getting kit sorted else where, it did not work out too well)

So, I bring my own breakie. But I've never been too happy with my arrangements, every idea I think of falls foul of one of the below:
-I have no car, so must keep things small and light.
-Budget is small (so no jerky for me! Dan it's expensive here!)
-I lack space at home to store things (tiny freezer)
-I'm not at home long enough to make much (so cannot make jerky)
-cannot guarantee having something to cook with except my tin mug
I never feel like I've eat if I have snackbars or GORP
-would prefer to have things that, if not authentic, are at least 'primitive'.

A perfect solution would be something that fits two days breakfast in my tin mug (about 1 US pint), and makes use of the large amouth of cheap oats I have.

I have been having bread, cheese and jam, but dislike the space taken up by the bread, and having to go and by it fresh each weekend.

Perhaps oatcakes, to replace the bread, so that the oats, chease, coffee grinds and jame can store in my mug...except no certainty of having a metal plate. Perhaps porridge, cooked in my mug, except I dislike it when made without milk and then I'd have nowt to drink my coffee from while eating.

If I can find dried soy mine cheap, I can mix that with stuffing mix to make a veggie sausage to cook in the fire...(Forcemeat, it otherwords...not something used on camp, but in the home. Oh well.)

So, anyone have any ideas?

 

[Black Hand]

A very popular breakfast meal we make is cornmeal mush (not to mention mush is PC/HC). Supplemented with the additions of your choice (we use dried veggies and bacon/sausage, though dried fruits, maple sugar, etc. could be easily added for a sweet dish), it makes a very fine meal. I've found the coarse-ground yellow meal at the local health-food store, and prefer it to the finer ground meal that is available from the local grocery stores.

 

[Alden]

OK, fine, have it your way -- if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.



Lotta grain cereal with a little powdered milk (which is a little sweet tasting usually, hardboiled eggs and some salt, little cheese, small DENSE breads (try deli-section of super-market) and crackers like pilot biscuits...

My favorite? I look for coldcut ends. Here they are half priced and there's nothin' better than chomping into a hunk of salami or strips you just cut from a slab of ham.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Parched corn or pounded into rock-a-hominy. (Especially with a little maple sugar added.) You can eat it cold if something happens and you need to move quick. You can mix it with cold water and so get some fluids too (in cold weather folks that experience "fatique" often are a bit dehydrated). You can boil some water in a cup, and mix the stuff in from a thin soup to a porridge. It's light, you can chew it when it's parched which you can't do with plain, dried corn, and has a lot of calories. I also sometimes carry a dry sausage (you can use salami). Jerked meat is also an option.

LD

 

[Black Hand]

Now, now Alden, let's remember that grits and cornmeal are different (in the same way that chocolate and black labs are different). :wink:

As to the Grit chips, I'm happy to see that they are low in trans fats. Though how they would differ from traditional corn-chips in flavor & texture is beyond me....

 

[tenngun]

Go on the jas townsend web site and he has a cooking blog has a good piece on hasty pudding. HC and easy to cook in a cup. He has it on you tube also.
Boiled eggs or pricking an egg and roasting in the coals works. Biskets permade or cornbread premade as johnny cakes is good and can be wraped in paper and carrired in your haver sack. You can wix it up before you go,add crumbled bacon in the mix and it will last a few days in your haversack.

 

[Billnpatti]

Since you have plenty of oats, just toast up some oats in your oven at home. Put them into a shallow pan and put them in the oven. Stir occasionally so they will toast evenly. When they are a light brown, they are done. Set aside to cool. Go to the grocery store and buy some trail mix, the kind that does not contain any candy, just nuts and dried fruit. Then mix as much of the trail mix as you like with the oats. To prepare, all you do is take a portion and put it in your cup and add an equal volume of boiling water. Let is sit for about 5 minutes and then stir and enjoy. Try it that way the first time and then the next time you make it, adjust your water according to your taste. Some like it thick and some like it thin. It is good, it is filling and it sticks to your ribs until lunch.

As for the coffee VS breakfast in your cup conundrum, I'd say eat your breakfast first, rinse your cup and then have a nice relaxing cup of coffee.....or vise versa....there's always more than one way to skin a cat.

 

[Black Hand]

-I'm not at home long enough to make much (so cannot make jerky)

Making jerky is something that can be accomplished in less than 24 hours. It usually takes me 8-10 hours from cutting the meat into strips and the finished product.

 

[Nifeman]

-I'm not at home long enough to make much (so cannot make jerky)

Making jerky is something that can be accomplished in less than 24 hours. It usually takes me 8-10 hours from cutting the meat into strips and the finished product.

And how might you do it that fast??

 

[Black Hand]

-I'm not at home long enough to make much (so cannot make jerky)

Making jerky is something that can be accomplished in less than 24 hours. It usually takes me 8-10 hours from cutting the meat into strips and the finished product.

And how might you do it that fast??

I use my oven set to the lowest temperature (in my specific case, ~170F) and the door propped open with a smashed soda can for excess heat and moisture to escape. The 3-4 pounds of meat is leathery-dry after 6-8 hours.

I then package the jerky into a Seal-a-meal bag and store in the freezer, as I like my jerky chewy. If bone-dry is desired, the jerky can be stored at room temperature in a CLOTH sack to dry further (never in a plastic bag or other tightly-sealed container).

 

[satx78247]

Refried beans & corn/flour tortillas are filling, easy to reheat & nutritious, when augmented by fruit and game. - Lots of Texicans lived on largely a "peon diet" during the 1820-1870 period.

yours, satx

 

[Black Hand]

Agreed.
However, tortillas and beans are appropriate for only a limited area and to limited personas (as you indicated).

 

[satx78247]

AGREED.

Biscuits, cornbread, bannock, AmerIndian fry bread and pancakes are also suitable for filling with a variety of things and are fine "pocket foods".
(Over the last 20+ years, I've probably made a couple of hundred pounds of flour into fry bread for 10th LA Infantry that ended up in uniform pockets for later in the long campaigning day.)

yours, satx

 

[Black Hand]

Let's not forget pilot bread/ships' bread/hardtack (different names for essentially the same thing).

Jerky and a handful of parched corn do make a fine meal...

 

[satx78247]

You'll get NO argument from me on that, though I personally don't care for hardtack.
(Even in 2013, we Military Police train our "young soldiers" to seek out and carry "pocket food" in the field, as our folks are often FAR from anyplace that has a mess hall & MRE are popularly known as "Meals rejected by Ethiopians". - Even when we had MP in Sub-Saharan Africa, jerky from the "land of the big PX" was commonplace in pockets.)

yours, satx

 

[Nifeman]

-I'm not at home long enough to make much (so cannot make jerky)

Making jerky is something that can be accomplished in less than 24 hours. It usually takes me 8-10 hours from cutting the meat into strips and the finished product.

And how might you do it that fast??

I use my oven set to the lowest temperature (in my specific case, ~170F) and the door propped open with a smashed soda can for excess heat and moisture to escape. The 3-4 pounds of meat is leathery-dry after 6-8 hours.

I then package the jerky into a Seal-a-meal bag and store in the freezer, as I like my jerky chewy. If bone-dry is desired, the jerky can be stored at room temperature in a CLOTH sack to dry further (never in a plastic bag or other tightly-sealed container).

What you use to season it with or do you just dry it??

 

[Wes/Tex]

Also, check out Spence's site for recipe for "Pocket Soup", the original MRE.

 

[Black Hand]

Sea salt, fresh-ground black pepper and red chili flakes. Occasionally, I soak the sliced meat overnight with a bottle of Wrights hickory liquid smoke before seasoning and drying. You could go au naturel if you wish.

I slice my meat with the grain into 1/4-3/8" thick by 1 to 1 1/2 wide by as long as the piece allows. Season as desired, thread 6-7 pieces on a bamboo skewer and hang from the upper oven rack with the meat pieces suspended between the wires. Make sure to cover the lower rack with foil to catch any drips. This method allows full air circulation with no need to turn as you might in a dehydrator.

 

[Nifeman]

All I needed to know...

 

[satx78247]

IF you plan to "reconstitute" jerky for soup or to cook with rice or pasta, you may want to simply dry it out.

LOTS of "found" things available on treks make GOOD soup when combined with jerky & boiled for a while.
(I always have salt, pepper, hot pepper, fresh garlic, oats & coffee in my pack. - IF I'm planning to be "out" for a spell, I add lard, dry beans, meal & flour.)

Just plain rolled oats are ONE of my staples for primitive camps, as they are good morning, noon & night too.
(On a frosty morn or a late supper, few things are as filling/comforting as oatmeal with hot coffee made with creek water.)

Incidentally, rabbits are available most everywhere and are EASY to trap, snare or shoot. Tasty too.
(NO closed season on bunnies anyplace that I camp.)

Note: In the days before I became a "primary caregiver" I spent many a week (or longer) in the bayous camping.

just my opinion, satx