Easy Breakfasts for Your Next Camping Adventure – Cheers Nature

Ah the scent of bacon sizzling in the fresh air while camping. Breakfast just seems to taste better when enjoyed outdoors. It’s the most important meal of the day, right?

Start your day out right with these easy breakfast ideas and tips on your next camping adventure. You’ll want to spend most of your time enjoying nature and each other vs. cooking, so K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple Silly)! First…

5 Tips for Creating a Camp Breakfast Menu

1) Look in your pantry and refrigerator.

What food items do you already have? Ever watch Chopped on the Food Network? See what’s in your basket! Cereal? Bars? Eggs? Bacon? Use what you have and then make a grocery list for additional items needed. 

2) Plan breakfasts you would eat at home or out.

What do you normally eat for breakfast? Bring it, make it ahead to heat up, or bring ingredients to cook it while camping with a campfire, propane stove/grill or portable BBQ.

3) Bring an assortment of fruit. 

Pair with every breakfast. Easy to store, fresh fruit like bananas, tangerines/oranges, grapes and apples are ideal. Watery fruits, like watermelon and cantaloupe, are best to eat the first day if pre-cut or slice there to avoid spoilage. 

4) When possible, choose healthy, “clean” options.

Organic fruit/veggies (especially ones with skin you eat like grapes and berries), organic cage free eggs, natural “uncured” meats with no sodium nitrate, and food with no or minimal preservatives/artificial flavors.

5) Plan a variety of options to suit the mood.

A deluxe breakfast plan can quickly feel like a chore after too much fun the night before, or a desire to explore early and watch the sunrise. Bring a combination of options just in case.

Easy Camping Breakfast Ideas

Sorted by mood & work involved.

No-Cook, Ready to Eat Breakfast

What you’ll need for storage: Just a large or small rolling cooler (for perishable items)
Helpful items to have: Dinnerware Set or Wine Backpack with plates and utensils.

 

Protein, Cereal or Granola Bars

• When it’s hot and they have chocolate, store in cooler

Cereal

• Take bag out or portion out in baggies for easy storage, and just bring milk

Yogurt & Fruit

Yogurt Parfait (fancier option)

• Alternate layers of fruit and good granola with yogurt in a cup
• Repeat until cup is full
• Fresh or frozen blueberries, strawberries and/or raspberries work great with vanilla yogurt, or use raw honey to sweeten plain Greek yogurt

Hard-Boiled Eggs

• Boil ahead, let cool and store in a baggie in the cooler
• Season with salt/pepper (wine backpack has small shakers) and/or hot sauce, or slice and wrap in a tortilla with salsa, avocado and a sliced tomato for a cold breakfast burrito

Baked Goods

• Store bought or bake ahead at home
• Local Natural Food stores or chains, like Sprouts, Whole Foods or Trader Joes, have great, pre-made healthier options (If in North San Diego, Frazier Farms is our favorite)
  • Coffee Cake, Strudel
  • Scones, Pastries
  • Cinnamon Rolls
  • Muffins like blueberry, banana nut
  • Baked breads like banana, orange cranberry

$$ MONEY SAVING TIPS:

1. Freeze an almost full gallon of water or bottles for a small cooler, to keep food cool vs. wasting money on ice (and possibly ruining your food when it melts).
2. Pour milk needed for cereal and/or coffee from your current stash into an empty, washed salad dressing or juice container vs. purchasing small milk cartons. Do the same for juices you only need a small portion of, like for mimosas!

Breakfast with Minimal Heating Up Needed

What you’ll need for storage and heating up: A large or small rolling cooler, campfire, Gas Grill/Stove, Gas Portable Grill or nice all in one combo.

Helpful items to have: Dinnerware Set or Wine Backpack with plates and utensils, and a 4-In-1 Outdoor Table to prep food and/or put stove on (especially for areas without a picnic table).

Toast with Toppings

• Toast bread or English muffins on the grill or campfire and add a topping:
  • Butter/Ghee with jam, nut butter (peanut, almond, etc.) or cinnamon
  • Avocado (spread on toast), sliced tomato and hard-boiled egg (boil ahead), topped with salsa or hot sauce

Bagels & Cream Cheese

• Toast bagels on stove, grill or campfire and add your favorite cream cheese

Bagels with Lox (fancier option)

• Top plain or “everything” bagels with plain or chive cream cheese, smoked salmon/Nova lox, lemon juice, drained capers and fresh dill (optional: cucumbers, tomatoes & avocado)

Oatmeal

• Add hot water (heat in Coffee Percolator or pan) to instant oatmeal cups or packets in a bowl, then add toppings like milk, nuts, dried or fresh fruit, brown sugar, or honey

“I’m making waffles!”

• Bring frozen waffles (they thaw in cooler), heat up/toast on grill
• Add toppings like butter, fruit, pure maple syrup or raw honey (place bottle in a baggie in case of a sticky spill)

Breakfast Burritos or Sandwiches

• Make ahead with any combo of cooked eggs, bacon, ham or sausage, veggies and/or cheese, wrap in foil and heat up (or cook eggs/meat ahead, heat up & make there)
  • Burrito: roll up in a tortilla
  • Sandwich: on bread, a hamburger bun, English muffin or croissant (toast if desired)

Egg Frittata Muffins

• Make ahead and just heat up in a pan or foil
  • Grease a muffin pan
  • Beat 6-8 eggs or egg whites with a little milk, salt and pepper
  • Add raw or cooked veggies you have like peppers, spinach, zucchini and mushrooms, and/or crumbled cooked bacon or sausage, to each cup
  • Top with beaten eggs and a little shredded cheese
  • Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees
  • Cool and store in baggies or foil in the cooler

PREP TIPS:

1. Pre-cut or portion out toppings in separate, labeled baggies for easy storage. I sometimes put baggies together for a specific meal in a larger, labeled baggie, like “bagels with lox toppings” or “for oatmeal”.
2. If you camp often, keep a set of frequently used items like seasonings, coconut/olive oil, hot sauce, coffee (ground or instant) and condiments in a bag ready to go.

What you’ll need for storage and cooking: A large or small rolling cooler, campfire, Gas Grill/Stove, Gas Portable Grill  or nice all in one combo.

Helpful items to have: Dinnerware Set or Wine Backpack with plates and utensils, a 4-In-1 Outdoor Table to prep food and/or put stove on, or to really camp like a boss, a camp kitchen! Great camp kitchen options are Cabela’s Deluxe or Outsunny Deluxe.
 

Egg Breakfast

Any egg dish you’d cook on the stove at home! Our favorites:

Eggs with Bacon, Ham or Sausage

• Prepare eggs your favorite style in a pan or foil, scrambled is the easiest
• Cook bacon, ham or sausage in a pan or make-shift foil pan
• For variety, cook eggs with veggies like spinach, onions, peppers or mushrooms, and/or sausage, ham or bacon small pieces/crumbles (vs. on the side)

Omelet or Frittata

• If your camp stove works well on a “low” setting, make the above into any omelet or frittata you do at home (ours doesn’t, gets too hot so ends up as a scramble)

Chorizo and Eggs

• Buy fresh chorizo from a Mexican Market or Natural Food store when possible (vs. the runny kind that might give you the runs). Frazier Farms has a great low-fat chicken chorizo if you’re near North San Diego
  • Cook chorizo then add beaten eggs until cooked
  • Warm tortillas on grill and serve with desired toppings like salsa or hot sauce, sour cream and cilantro
    

    Cooking sausage and then eggs for fresh breakfast sandwiches while FREE camping in the Laguna Mountains

Fresh Breakfast Burritos or Sandwiches

• Same idea as above but made fresh. Ah the smell of bacon or sausage cooking while camping!
  • Heat up tortillas or toast buns then add ingredients
  • If using cheese, melt on top of eggs in pan before adding to burrito/sandwich

Sweet and/or Savory Breakfast

Sweet and/or savory dishes you’d cook on the stove at home with a camping twist. Our favorites:

Biscuits & Gravy

• Bake biscuits at home, store-bought or from scratch, cool and store in a gallon baggie
• Heat up in foil or directly on the grill (check often to avoid burning)
• Cook sausage and make country gravy either from a packet or scratch

Pancakes

• Make batter at home and freeze in a large gallon baggie (let thaw in cooler)
• Cut corner of baggie and pour enough for each pancake in a pan or griddle
• Serve with desired toppings like pure maple syrup, honey and/or fruit

French Toast

• Dip slices of bread in a bowl of beaten eggs with a little milk and cinnamon, cook in pan
• Serve with desired toppings like pure maple syrup, honey and/or fruit

To add more protein to any of the sweet/savory ideas above, cook up sausage links or bacon too!

Easy Breakfast Drink Ideas

Kombucha

• Keeps you healthy with probiotics while camping, especially after too much drinking!

Coffee

• Morning coffee is the best while camping, just heat up in a Coffee Percolator & bring your favorite condiments like honey, sugar, milk/cream, cinnamon
• Remember coffee cups or improvise with strong wine glasses when you forget!

Fresh Juices

• Orange, pineapple or cranberry are great choices (use in your adult beverages too!)

Mimosas or Sparkling Hard Cider

• Sparkling wine, Ballatore is our go to, with O.J. or spiced apple cider

Savor every bite of these easy breakfasts on your next camping adventure or even at home!

For lunch and dinner ideas, check out Camping Meals Made Easy with Your Hot Grill-friend.

What other camping breakfasts do you love? Recipes? Please share below, we’d love to try them and add to the list. Do share this post as well, spread the joy of camping. 

Cheers to amazing breakfasts and enjoying them often in nature!

Jarly

More great tips for you:

Great Places to Camp & Hike:

Southern California

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