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Daughter doing her DoE this year. Feedback from practice expedition was she didn’t eat enough at breakfast. Supervisor strongly encouraging porridge pots, but she hates porridge. I’m not a fan either but will force myself to eat it for a big day on the bike etc. she doesn’t even like milk and cereal. At home she will have toast (not ideal on a trangia!) and a cereal bar.
anyone got any good ideas for super simple but substantial breakfast for people who don’t like their food to feel like it’s already been chewed?
Is it porridge pots or porridge that is the problem? I find the former akin to wallpaper paste but make my own "adventure porridge" for bivvying.
Porridge - 60g / 226 kcal
Nuts - 20g / 131 kcal
Dried fruit - 40g / 120 kcal
Milk powder - 15g / 50 kcal
Totals 135g / 527 kcal
Whizz it all in a food processor for a few minutes to make cooking quicker. Dispense into a Pour'n'store bag then simply add hot water when required, stir and leave to sit for a few minutes. No washing up either.
Add honey or similar for added sweetness. I know someone who adds cinnamon
If they have a trangia (or several) just do a fry up?
Or just get an extra 'lunch' from the shop. Or if there's some requirement to have carried and cooked the food, I regularly start the day with noodles on camping trips!
Favorite is DIY Readybrek though, porridge oats, put about 1/3 through a blender, add about twice as much milk powder as is necessary and and brown sugar and cinnamon. It's gloop, but it's sweet, tasty, calorific and filling gloop.
Cereal was invented by Mr Kellogg because he believed that anything less bland resulted in [ I'm not typing that into my work PC ]
flapjack. Oats and fruit in another form. And if she struggles with a substantial breakfast, just remind to eat and drink little and often, to compensate.
Porridge pots are all wrong. Far too small, too sloppy if made to instructions, waste of space - all that air, and plastic junk packaging. Just get oats and make your own. Add dried fruit, honey and a bit of milk and you are good to go. Make it thick and big and you are good to go.
edit - DoE, so a full fry-up is faff. Probably good for day 1 though. After that oats and dried fruit pack a lot in for their weight and pack size. Hard to go wrong with this. Try at home to get a thickness she is happy with + all the right extras.
scotroutes - I *think* any porridge is an issue but she's a 15 yr old girl, she can wolf something down one day and another day take two spoons and make a funny face. Given the culinary skills and equipment available it will need to be fool proof - but happy to hear your suggestion for adventure porridge recipe... she is willing to "try and learn to like it" but obviously if someone has any better ideas then brilliant...
My view is it's better she has something with her that she will definitely eat, rather than something she won't eat, any calories is better than none for doing a DofE expedition.
How about some cereal bars or flapjack bars? Forget about it being healthy, she's a 15 year old girl and she will burn it off anyway doing a long walk.
My brother favours a freeze dried curry to start the day. Weirdo
Overnight oats? Or a sandwich. It's calories and sustenance that matters, surely.
Cereal was invented by Mr Kellogg because he believed that anything less bland resulted in [ I’m not typing that into my work PC ]
...indigestion. Kellogg invented cornflakes to combat indigestion amongst patients. The other story is more fun though.
Ready Brek ?.
Oh, if you're going the PnS bag route, make a bag-cosy out of thermal bubble wrap to keep it hot while it's rehydrating.
If they've got a trangia what about frying up some bacon bits and small (pre cooked?) Potato chunks, chuck in eggs for an omelette. Pretty foolproof.
i like scotroutes adventure porridge. I always found plain porridge seemed to wear off pretty quickly and I was hungry again an hour later.
Whatever she likes. What does she eat at home? If she doesn't normally have a big breakfast trying to force one down won't be good for her.
For me, I'd go for trail mix - fruit and nuts - and just nibble my way through the bag after a mug of coffee. Or cake and tea.
The official site says
It is good practice to start the day with a substantial breakfast.
This can include cereals, muesli, porridge, noodles or even a full English with tea, coffee or hot chocolate.
It's not perscriptive.
I was gonna say, I don't like porridge but will happily eat muesli - which is pretty filling and gives decent energy.
Egg & beans are my staple though.
Agree with the porridge pots != porridge comments above.
What does she enjoy eating at other times of day? Eat that for breakfast.
Some people just struggle eating anything in the morning, in which case the advice above to catch up ASAP with little and often is good.
Perhaps she would find something savoury more palatable at that time? Some sort of sandwich or wrap would be easy enough, but a flapjack type thing with no sugar and savoury ingredients (cheese/herbs/nuts/meat... Whatever really) would be easy to eat - if you can get some oats into her, that's a good start!
What about rich fruit cake slices? They do a pretty good job. Or maltloaf?
Full fat natural greek yoghurt, a handful of raspberries and/or blue berries and some mixed nuts; a decent size bowl of that should be enough fat, protein and carbs for a while (keeps me going for 25 mile MTB rides)
Oooooh! Banana Soreen with Nutella. For when you need calories, and lots of them. I miss Banana Soreen. Lots. maybe a bit heavy for DofE though.
I like the idea of breakfast flapjacks. Same kind of stuff, calories dense, little wasted space, can tune to what she likes. Hell, you can add chocolate chips or gummi bears if you want and it just adds to the calorie density. She'll need a double espresso to wash it down though, so make sure she packs a handpresso and a proper espresso cup.
An aeropress of coffee and a bag of wine gums*
Perhaps obvious but has she tried porridge made with water and salt? I personally vcan barely stomach porridge made with milk, it gives me the gip. But with water with milk added after plus any toppings is good all day.
Mixing in peanut butter and golden syrup. Or just stir in as snickers
*So good I have been known to smash it before heading to work.
Flapjack
Granola (either powdered or no milk)
Mixed nuts and fruit, dark chocolate chips also help
Is this a camping trip? How come people are recommending all this dairy stuff? Will there be a fridge?
Freeze dried cooked breakfast thing?
Pop tarts? Mmmmmm sugar!
Cereal/nutri-grain bars?
I don't recall eating big breakfasts before / during expeditions when I did mine. But we topped up the calories non stop all day. This is my same tendency now for a bigger day in the hills I don't want to set out feeling like I've eaten a breeze block.
flapjack. Oats and fruit in another form. And if she struggles with a substantial breakfast, just remind to eat and drink little and often, to compensate.
Ive no real worries about her eating continuously (although they are paddling not walking so free hands may be an issue). She will go with plenty of stuff to keep her going.
How about some cereal bars or flapjack bars? Forget about it being healthy, she’s a 15 year old girl and she will burn it off anyway doing a long walk.
Yeah cereal bars are what she had with her on the practice and generated the feedback from the supervisor that the "assessor would expect to see them eat something more substantial for breakfast on the actual expedition". I've no worries (and she certainly doesn't!) about healthiness.
If they’ve got a trangia what about frying up some bacon bits and small (pre cooked?) Potato chunks, chuck in eggs for an omelette. Pretty foolproof.
I like that suggestion, I'm not sure it meets the simplicity criteria, I did suggest I took eggs, bacon and sausage when I did mine 100 years ago but she pointed out I didn't do mine with some "f***n idiot boys who would probably drop the bag with the eggs in it for a laugh". From feedback when her brother (who likes porridge!) did it with the same leaders a few years back I don't think they are keen on raw meat stuff from a food hygiene perspective (the food is probably the least likely thing to harm them but I'm not there to judge!).
My feeling is that the "team" element of the DoE doesn't require them all to have the same breakfast but it will give the assessor a better impression of cohesiveness if there's some logic to it - like all just needing boiling water and being consumed and cleaned up at the same time than one person doing their own thing.
Ready Brek ?.
I've not had that since I was about 5 - is it not just gloopy sweet porridge that's been through a food processor? Can you get small quantities? because if she doesn't like it I'm not eating it!
For really big days I like de/rehydrated chilli... I find porridge hard to get down as well. Curry would be ok as well.
When I've guzzled my 4 pints of milk before our next food delivery is due, I'll happily eat Tesco's Scottish Oats with cold water instead. I much prefer oats mixed with some dried fruit, rather than by itself, or a sprinkle of sugar.
But for something far removed from my norm, which is usually always cereal and multiple cups of coffee, this morning I had two homemade oat/carrot rolls with a bit of jam. Yesterday afternoon I had a couple of those freshly baked rolls with my first bit of peanut butter for months, combining peanut butter; cheese; banana and jam was an old favourite of mine! 😈
Get her to come up with her own 'overnight oats' recipe out of various ingredients - nuts, seeds, fruit etc . If she thinks she's invented it, she will find it utterly delicious.
Omelettes and skyr but not in the same dish
Was the DoE a Seventh day Adventist?
https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2015/07/corn_flakes_were_created_to_prevent_masturbation.html
Son did his bronze earlier this year, jam sandwiches made at home and brioche were his breakfast of choice.
Whatever she likes. What does she eat at home? If she doesn’t normally have a big breakfast trying to force one down won’t be good for her.
She's doesn't really eat until she's been awake for at least an hour or more! If you can wait till 11 she'll happily wolf down a bacon roll, some pancakes and more... but I think the leaders know the assessor and what he looks for, and he's a bit of an old traditionalist so I suspect he wants to see them have a "proper" breaksaft.
Oooooh! Banana Soreen with Nutella. For when you need calories, and lots of them. I miss Banana Soreen. Lots. maybe a bit heavy for DofE though.
Banana Soreen? How am I not familiar with this? With nutella this may be just the rocket fuel I need. Good news - she's in a canoe so weight is not the limiting factor it usually is for DoE!
Or just stir in as snickers
That sounds revolting - you might be onto something here!
malt loaf
Get a 24 hour army ration pack off eBay for a just over a fiver. 10 different menus to pick from.
We use them at Scouts for expeditions where they need to carry their kit.
I used to get all day breakfast things in a foil packet. A mixture of potato, bacon and egg. They were lovely. You just emptied the pack in to a frying pan and fried it lightly.
Cant seam to find it on the web now though....they were not ration packs, definitely something from the supermarket.
Does she eat sandwiches? If so, she can have sandwiches for breakfast. Sweet, savoury, on rolls, wraps or slices, it doesn't matter.
If not sandiches, what dos she like to eat? Then eat that.
It's important to remember that the fact that we eat certain foods at certain times of the day is entirely a social construct, there's no such thing as 'breakfast food', there's just the food you eat at the start of the day.
And I have some sympathy with the assessor - from experience on Scout camps it's very common that the kids, especially the girls, don't eat (or drink) enough. They'll say things like "at home I just have a piece of toast", forgetting that at home they haven't just slept in a cold tent, and will then be on their feet doing stuff from pretty much seven in the morning until ten at night. It's amazing how many tantrum-throwing, sob-wracking, crying-for-mummy bouts of homesickness can be cured with a hot chocolate and a cereal bar... So, my tip is to tell her to eat, and eat, and eat.
I fully support the suggestion of throwing out the idea that she has to eat 'breakfast' for breakfast.. If she likes a decent Macaroni cheese, then eat that. If she likes curry then eat that.
My favoured exped breakfast was porridge oats with chocolate powder added before hot water. I'm firmly in the jetboil camp and only make hot water to either heat up ration pack meals or rehydrate dried foods.
I was gonna say, I don’t like porridge but will happily eat muesli – which is pretty filling and gives decent energy.
I used to eat this when camping, never had a problem with energy afterwards.
How about the full cockney? Two benson and hedges and a strong black coffee - gets anyone moving in the morning.
Failing that, eggs. A lot of nutritional density and eaten quickly in any form. Or sausage rolls/samosas for portability
Mrs TJ ( and I to some extent) were not breakfast eaters and this came to a head when "adventuring" Mrs TJ hated porage as well.
Oatcakes / cheese / olives is what Mrs TJ would eat lots of tho ( bread on the first day) - savoury not sweet and with the olives remains palatable day after day. Cereal bars of all sorts went down well as well. Make sure the cereal bars are not low calorie nonsense. cheese is really good as its very calorie dense
Eat like a hobbit: 1st breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, first lunch, Second lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper is a good rule - ie eat small amounts often
My daughter has just done her gold practice expedition on Dartmoor with a provider called Ocean Rock.
They recommended porridge pots, croissants or brioche in their literature. She took the Fuel Chocolate porridge pots which are a lot nicer than bland, plain pots - maybe try those or other varieties to see if there is one your daughter likes.
The provider really only wants their Trangia's used with boil in the bag or dehydrated "add hot water" meals so suggestions of bacon etc. are probably not going to be practical (along with the fact that the real expedition takes five days and they have to carry everything they are going to eat during the trip from the start - not really going to work carrying raw meat for five days).
Another alternative could be something like the Wayfayrer All Day Breakfast which comes in a foil pouch which can be dropped in boiling water in a Trangia.
What about Weetabix or some shredded wheat with hot milk add some fresh fruit and even chocolate if you want
Ginger cake? A whole one of them would fuel me for a day
jam sandwiches made at home and brioche were his breakfast of choice.
Ah - good shout... that might be a nice fall back.
de/rehydrated chilli… I find porridge hard to get down as well. Curry would be ok as well.
OK this thread is outing the weirdo's!
@paton - whilst there may be value behind Prof Kealey's thesis I'm neither going to take on the might of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme nor unpick the science to see if it applies to 15 years old doing 8 hours of exercise a day and sleeping outside in a tent.
@martinhutch @hightensionline - I'm not on Insta so not familiar with the trend in overnight oats - is it not just cold porridge? does in need refrigerated?
Anyhow these days cant they just order a Deliveroo etc?
None of this messing about pretending to cook stuff
Couple of these bad boys, can even be eaten cold.
Bit heavy mind.
