Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Granola recipe for backpacking

Getting ready for another backpacking trip, I needed to make another batch of my favorite backpacking breakfast -- homemade granola.  I thought I'd share the recipe with everyone.

I got this recipe in a healthy-foods hand-out at a prenatal class over thirty years ago.  I tried the recipe, and liked it so much that I've been making it ever since.

Somehow it starts my backpacking mornings off right.  Easy to make on the trail -- just add water!  I can fix the food, and then eat it slowly (it's pretty chewy) as I break camp.

The recipe below has the single batch amounts, plus a 4-times column.  I seem to have trouble getting all the ingredients together and finding the time to make it, so making a big batch and then freezing lots of it to keep it fresh works best for me.

Granola
-------

single    4 X
recipe   recipe     item                            store
-------  -------    ----------------------------   --------------
3/4 cup  13 oz pkg  dates (oat-rolled dates)      | Health food
1/2 cup  12.5 oz    sesame seeds                  |   store
                                                   --------------
1 cup    16 oz      sunflower seeds               | Trader Joe's 
1 cup+   16 oz      walnuts - chopped             |
                                                   --------------
1 cup    20 oz pkg  Wheat germ (toasted)          | Grocery
1 cup     2 lbs     brown sugar                   |   store
1 cup    14 oz pkg  shredded coconut              |
1/2 cup   2 cups    whole wheat flour             |
2 tsp     8 tsp     salt                          |

8 cups   84 oz      Rolled Oats (Quaker old fashoned, NOT "quick")

1/2 cup   2 cups    Vegetable oil
1 Tbsp    4 Tbsp    vanilla 
1/2 cup   2 cups     water

Dates are optional.  Break the larger date chunks into smaller pieces.

Mix together everything down through salt.  Then add oatmeal and mix
thoroughly.  Add oil.  Mix water and vanilla in a cup, then add to
the mix, then mix all so oil and water are evenly spread and there
are no lumps.

Heat oven to 200F.  Spread mixture into several pans 1-inch or more
deep.  Bake for 2 hours, stirring after 1 hour.

For backpacking, measure one serving (~ 1 1/2 cups) into a sandwich
zip lock bag.  Add 1/3 cup powdered milk and some powdered coffee
creamer (~ a heaping teaspoon).  Brown sugar can be added if desired.

On the trail, just add water.  Warm water mixes the milk/creamer a
little better.  It can be eaten immediately.

Thank you for sharing, Steve C

In this "economy" in trying to make ends meet, it is good to know the things we like we can often make it ourselves...and taste better in the process. Some things taste better still after "35 years."

One thing about recipes you can pretty much substitute items for taste or just plain make it a science project!

Have fun on your BP trip.

P.S. Those figs and peaches you allowed us to pick are AWESOME!

Thanks for posting. I made a batch, 1/2 of the single size. (8 cups of oats is NOT a single size ) Found it very tasty. Going to take on my Horseshoe Meadows/Whitney trip in a couple of weeks.

I was able to get most of the dry ingredients at a local health food store, Mother's Market. They have the bins that you can be scoop out the amount needed and was able to get just the right amounts on almost everything. The only thing that wasn't in a bin was the wheat germ.