Placed as it comes in its little sachet in a ziploc with 50g of powdered milk and maybe some sugar, you’ve got a great and cheap camping breakfast. I’ve found that mixing the oats and the milk is the fist step, before filling the sachet with water and pouring it into the pan. Lugging the microwave up to the wild camp can be a bit of a bind though.
Alternatively, you can ignore the printed instructions and warm it slowly on a stove. This can be difficult, but on the lowest setting and constant attention, you’ll soon have an edible breakfast. It must boil though, or it fails to thicken.
It is so tempting to double up on this. If you do, make sure you can stomach it as that’s the only way to responsibly dispose of it on a wild camp. I’m loathe to carry anything so messy in my rubbish bag.
It comes in various flavours too. Golden Syrup is a bit sweet for me, but tastes like flapjack. I’ve not tried the others either, preferring to stick to the plain variety. There’s also a Ready Brek version, but it’s a poor relation. It’s much finer, and resembles a mix of water and sawdust with much less flavour than Oats So Simple.
What makes this a super breakfast is that those inventive folks at Quakers have brought out a version specifically for wild camping. A little pot that you just add boiling water and leave a few minutes before eating. The down side of this is extra bulk (though clean the pot and you can take just the contents for subsequent days) and i found it’s a little less tasty than the normal variety and would benefit from a tad of sugar, or a chunk of Green and Black’s Butterscotch chocolate….
On the Plus Side – Very nutritious breakfast. Easy to pack and you can measure the water with the sachet or just pour on boiling water.
But not so good – Can be awkward to heat up if your pans aren’t heavy enough. If you can’t be arsed, then a flapjack is easier. Instant version is bulky, but otherwise all good!
