Top 5 camping breakfasts

Breakfast — the most important meal of the day. Looking for ideas to fuel your next outdoor adventure? Look no further! These are my top 5 camping breakfasts.

1. Bacon sandwiches

There is nothing like sitting around a campfire in the morning while the smell of bacon is wafting through the air — this is my idea of a perfect camping breakfast. You cannot convince me that there is a better breakfast than bacon sandwiches, especially when served with a side of watermelon.

The secret here is to cook the bacon in advance, and then throw it in a pan (with an egg if you want) to heat it up. Precooking the bacon is nice because it means that you’ll be keeping the really greasy dishes at home. In fact, you don’t even necessarily need to reheat the bacon if you are okay with it cold. Plus, if you cook a bunch of bacon beforehand, then you can add some to the sandwich you are going to pack in your hiking backpack for later!

If you have the means to do so, you need to toast your bread. Toasting your bread is the easiest way to level up any sandwich. I like to add a thin slice of marble cheese and some mustard, but you do you.

2. Yogurt-based breakfasts

If I am not having bacon sandwiches, my next favorite breakfast is one that involves yogurt. Specifically, my favorites are overnight oats or granola.

Overnight oats

I love overnight oats. This might be the easiest breakfast if you are looking to get an early start and want to eat something quick at the trail head — especially something that is going to give you the all-day energy needed to fuel your adventure. Overnight oats is a top-tier breakfast because you make it in advance and store it in a mason jar.

In a glass jar, I mix:

• 1/3 c yogurt
• 2/3 c milk
• 1/2 c rolled oats
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• pinch of salt

Put all the ingredients in a mason jar and add in any mix-ins — my favorite thing to add is fresh or frozen blueberries. You’ll never get tired of overnight oats because there are endless options for customization. Shake the jar to mix the contents and then store it in the fridge (or cooler) until you are ready to go.

At the very least, this needs to be made the night before, but the nice thing is that you can keep this up to five days, as long as it stays cold.

Yogurt and granola

Yogurt and granola is one of my favorite camping breakfasts because it is easy to make and even easier to switch up. This meal is especially great because it doesn’t require any cooking or prep; all you need for this breakfast is a cooler to keep the yogurt cold.

The possibilities are endless: you can buy your own granola or make it from scratch, use different flavours of yogurt, and throw in whatever fruits or add-ins you want. This will literally take less than two minutes to put together, and requires the use of minimal dishes. I am talking one spoon and one bowl — we love a meal with only two dishes.

3. Rice cakes with peanut butter

Sometimes if I am camping by myself for a weekend, I don’t want the hassle of a cooler. When refrigeration isn’t an option, my go-to breakfast is rice cakes with peanut butter.

My favorite rice cakes are the Quaker Oats caramel chocolate chip rice cakes — I like the extra sweetness, but plain rice cakes are fine too. After you spread a thick layer of peanut butter, top them with fruit. I like blueberries best.

If you are going to top the rice cakes with banana, which I strongly suggest that you try, you should mash the banana. I find that sliced banana just slides off and is awkward to eat.

I guess that you could substitute the rice cakes for a bagel or piece of bread — but in my opinion, these things need to be toasted first. There is no fuss with rice cakes, plus you don’t need to worry about them sitting in your hot car.

4. The classics

I am a fan of any breakfast that you could order from an American diner, especially when I am camping. I am specifically talking about stereotypical breakfast food: bacon and eggs, french toast, pancakes, etc.

With a little bit of prep work beforehand, these meals can be really easy to make when you’re out in the wild — pancakes being one of them. Of course, there are options like pancake mix, but I like to deconstruct my grandma’s pancake recipe.

Before you leave, combine the following dry ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 c flour
• 3 tsp baking powder

These are the ingredients that you’ll need to bring with you to mix in:

• 2 eggs
• 1 c milk

If you aren’t already bringing milk (for coffee, etc.), then measure out a cup and put it in a small container to tuck into the corner of your cooler. When it is time to eat, mix the ingredients together with a fork and pour them on to a hot frying pan or griddle. When the pancake starts to bubble, it is time to flip. This batter also works well in a waffle maker.

If pancakes aren’t enough, I’d recommend including breakfast sausages. And if you want to do more preparing at home beforehand, then the sausages could also be cooked in advance and reheated at the campsite. A word of advice: the sausages are best wrapped in pancakes and dipped in syrup.

5. Hot dogs

Easily in the top 5 camping breakfasts: hot dogs. Just like how bacon sandwiches are the ultimate breakfast, hot dogs are the quintessential camping food.

You’re in the wild. You’re ungovernable. Who cares what time it is — have the hot dog.

What are your top 5 camping breakfasts? Share all your camping breakfast ideas below!