Oatmeal Travel Packets

I grew up on my mom's oatmeal.  She believed in a hot breakfast every morning.  Whether or not I was awake enough to eat it before school was another matter altogether.  I'll admit that I usually have a piece of peanut butter toast and coffee at home, but when I'm camping I LOVE to eat oatmeal.  Something hot in your stomach feels wonderful in the morning, and all you need is hot water to make it.  I cheat when we have our camper by running water through the coffee machine and using that to make the oatmeal before I brew my coffee.  It's easy, and it works! 

The individual packages of flavored oatmeal from the store are too small for my teens.  Even I add regular oatmeal to the package stuff when I'm at home.  When I am packing up my pantry for camping, here is my recipe for oatmeal.

Creamy Homemade Fruit Oatmeal Packets
1-cup quick cooking oatmeal
3 tablespoons powered coffee creamer
2 tablespoons dried fruit or (2 tablespoon fruit preserves)
2-3 teaspoons confectioners sugar - more or less to taste

Optional: Add a little cinnamon, pumpkin spice, salt or brown sugar

Directions for Each Oatmeal Packet:
Place 1/2 cup of the oats in a blender and grind until powdery. Then place in freezer zip-lock bag along with all of the other ingredients.

 

To Make: Open the bag and pour 1/2 cup into a bowl.  Add 1/2-cup boiling water, mush and wait.  If you like thick oatmeal, use less water and if you like thinner oatmeal use more water.

Instant Oatmeal Travel Packets 

3 cups Quick-Cooking Oats

1 teaspoon Salt

Small sized Zip Baggies

Put 1/2 cup oats in a blender and blend on high until powdery. Set aside in a small bowl, and repeat procedure with an additional 1/2 cup oats. If you're using a food processor, you can do the 1 cup of oats in one batch. Put the following ingredients into each zip baggie: 1/4 cup un-powdered oats, 2 Tbsp. powdered oats, and 1/8 tsp. salt. Store in an airtight container.

To serve: Empty one travel packet into a bowl. Add 3/4 cup boiling water. Stir and let stand for 2 minutes. For thicker oatmeal, use less water - for thinner oatmeal, use more water.

Variations:

Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal- To each packet add 1 Tbsp. sugar, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, and 2 Tbsp. chopped dried apples.

Sweetened Oatmeal- To each packet add 1 Tbsp. sugar or 1 packet 'Equal' artificial sweetener.
Brown Sugar/Cinnamon Oatmeal - To each packet add 1 Tbsp. brown sugar & 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Oatmeal w/Raisins & Brown Sugar - To each packet add 1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar and 1 Tbsp. raisins.
Health Nut Oatmeal - To each packet add 2 Tbsp. any kind of wheat germ
Fruit & Cream Oatmeal - To each packet add 1 Tbsp. non-dairy coffee creamer and 2 Tbsp. dried fruit
Fun Fruit Oatmeal - To each packet, add 6 or 7 pieces of 'fruit snack' type dehydrated fruit.
Confetti Oatmeal - To each packet, add 1 tsp. decorative cake/cookie sprinkles.
S'More Oatmeal - add 6 miniature marshmallows and 1 Tbsp. Milk Chocolate Chips to each packet.
Cookies n Cream Oatmeal - add 1 crushed Oreo cookie and 1 Tbsp. non-dairy coffee creamer to each packet.
Exploding Oatmeal - add 1 tsp. sugar, and 1/2 tsp. 'Pop Rocks' candy to each packet. This one is fun for celebration days, such as birthdays.
Bart-man Oatmeal - add 2 Tbsp. 'Butterfinger B.B's' candies to each packet.

We especially like raisins, chocolate chips and dried apples in our mix. I'll add some other flavor combinations below.   Enjoy!

Fall Euchre Snack Mix and Festive Campsites

 

Are you looking for festive campout ideas?  I always start by looking around our house. 

Fall Mantle

 

Fall Buffet

What can I borrow from the mantle or buffet to make my camper feel like home?



How about taking along Mr. Owl and setting some fall leaves around him on the table?










A couple of small ghosts set amongst gourds, or the ceramic pumpkin full of candy?










If you are looking for a crafty idea, maybe something to do with the kids, Frankenstein is easy to paint and adds a wonderful glow to the picnic table.  All you need is the correct size mason jar, or any jar you'd like to up-cycle, glue, two nuts that look like the correct size for "ears", and a candle.  Super cute!




My Fall Euchre Mix looks festive and is loved by everyone (especially me, because many of the ingredients can be purchased at the Dollar Store).   It can be easily put together at the campground.  A perfect job for the kids! 

    Fall Euchre Mix

 

5 cups Oatmeal Squares

5 cups Pretzels

5 cups Chocolate Animal Crackers

1 bag of Indian Corn

1 small box of Fiddle Faddle

 

       Mix and enjoy!



 

Camping Recipes From Bloggers You'll Love

I really do love to read blogs.  Especially foodie blogs.  And cottage decorating blogs.  And, oh I guess I should stop.  Anyway, I read them because I love to read happy news and because they have so many great ideas, insights and personality.  I never feel bad about deleting a blog that is unfocused or has poor information.  Sorry, folks.  Life's too short.

Today I'm excited to share some of my favorite blogs with you!  OK, BuzzFeed at the bottom is more of a bonus than a Blog, but the rest of them are blogs.  I am able to follow all of these foodie blog authors on my page at Bloglovin.  Click here to access my easy list, then simply click to follow as many authors as you'd like to enjoy their regular updates.

If you like these, there are plenty more camping and travel blogs listed on my blog page.  Feel free to critique these, as I'm looking to edit my list for variety and examples of the very best in camper blogging.  I hope you'll comment and link to other blogs you read to love.  It's always fun to try something new.

And now here it is.  The camping recipes your family will love!  Click on the link below the photo to grab recipes for some great grub. 

 The Camp Gal

 5 Fantastic Fall Camping Recipes

 Six Sister's Stuff

25 Delicious Camping Recipes

Rachael Ray

Add caption

Easy Camping Recipe Ideas

Serious Eats

25 Great Recipes for Camping

Dirty Gourmet

Campfire Flatbread Pizza



BuzzFeed

34 Things You Can Cook On A Camping Trip

Camping Cooler Ice Blocks

The photo says it all. I freeze two or three refilled Tropicana containers a few days before we leave. They are usually filled with water, but sometimes I make one with sun tea or gatorade. Remember to leave a few inches of air at the top for expansion.

Commercially bottled water bottles can be tossed into the freezer unopened, as can go-gurts. On day two of your get-away, you'll have a nice supply of iced cold water from home. They do a nice job keeping picnic supplies cold, but you might want a big bag of ice to cool uncooked meat.

Grocery Store Stops

Go into the store knowing what you'll be eating for the next few days.  I write a few "one liner" menues.  Below's example is from a Boy Scout Troop 579 hiking menue I put together for the Appelacian Trail in 2011:


Breakfast    Base Camp Breakfast Burritos: Precooked bacon, eggs, cheese, seasoning; walking 
                  apple salad, Sunny D//Tea/Coffee (simple for an early start on the trail)

Lunch         Hiking: BLT Wrap w/ Ital. dressing, mustard, cheese, sliced like an appetizer pinwheel

Snacks       Turkey Jerky, string cheese, Planter’s Nut-rition Energy Bars GORP + left-overs

Dinner        Base Camp Victory Dinner: Appetizer: carrots with ranch and celery w/ PB,
                  Backpacker’s Buffet Steak, mushrooms and onions, baked

      potatoes, grilled corn on the cob, Banana Boats, Coke and Gatorade

       


My best on the road grocery shopping tip:

Always make a beeline to the frozen food section.  Say you need potatoes.  In the freezer section they are already diced, slightly cooked and you can buy them mixed with another ingredient needed in your recipe, such as diced onions or peppers.  These tidy little bags are already frozen and will pack neatly out of your way in the cooler, unlike a fresh bag of potatoes or a bag of smelly onions.   If you want roasted red potatoes and onions in a dutch oven with olive oil, sea salt and fresh rosemary, by all means hit the fresh veggies isle.  But chances are you'll appreciate the frozen convenience of at least some of your veggies being prepped and ready to quick-cook at meal time.

OMG Bars

Is it wrong to lie to yourself about a long walk tomorrow in trade for another chunk of dessert? How about lying to your family about where you put the rest of those gooey chunks of OMG richness?

I started out with healthy baking intentions. Really, I did. I wanted to make something like Quaker's "Oatmeal To Go" bars.  But frankly, the "Baked Oatmeal To Go" was disappointing. The kids used verbs I won't mention. . . 

So, I made a new recipe from Eat Run Read I had pinned on Pinterest. These bars are OMG awesome! Think salty Carmel between warm chocolate chip cookies. . . The only way the are going to make it to next week is if I hide them.   In Alaska.