pancake mix?

so i was talking to my grandfather about trail food and he told me that pancake mix is a good thang to bring. he says " a hiker whose not picky can use it for every breakfast and add it to other meals" i know you can do a lot with the mix but is it worth it to bring?

Probably not unless you have to carry a frying pan anyway. I never do unless I'm planning to cook fish. Hot cereal to which you add hot water or cold cereal to which you add cold water work much better. If you pack your cereal in a plastic bag, just eat it out of the bag--you won't even have to wash any dishes (just lick the spoon).

If you want to get out on the trail at an early hour (good idea if it is hot or if you're in an area that has afternoon thunderstorms), you don't want a breakfast like pancakes that is time consuming and takes a lot of fussing.

I'm with OM on this one, and I like pancakes a lot; they are my favorite luxury breakfast! But the dawn hours are too precious to fritter away preparing them, so I generally go with oatmeal/fruit, or something cold.

For someone who wants to hike to a lake and spend a few days fishing, then hiking back out, I suppose pancake mix might be a pretty decent idea. In that sort of a scenario your morning hours are spent near the lake so you can fish, and your breakfast can be padded out with pancakes, either more or fewer, depending on your luck with a rod and reel. You'll already be taking a fry pan for the fish. Afternoons you can snooze or poke around the vicinity, then come back to camp.

If your trip is mostly hiking, not fishing, the advice you've received already is spot on. Pancakes take time to make. They require a fry pan, which might be heavy. They don't adapt well to cooking on a stove, but starting a fire in the morning and waiting for coals, then doing clean up after, will waste most of the morning. You'll end up hiking in the hotter, dustier part of the day. In that scenario, cereal makes great sense. I take granola and dry milk, then add water.

thanks guys

I'm probably in the minority here, but I don't find pancakes to be that much more of a hassle than hot cereal. They do require the added weight of my frying pan (6.2 ounces), and I have to hold the pan high over the flame of my canister stove to cook them without burning.

It takes me maybe fifteen minutes to mix and cook pancakes, versus five for oatmeal. But the smile on my ten-year old's face when he takes his first bite is worth the bit of extra time and effort. Sometimes I'll mix in some chopped walnuts or bits of dried bananas, and often I'll bring the Krusteas (sp?) blueberry pancake mix. Minimus sells individual packets of Knott's syrup that are divine (much better than the freeze-dried "pancake syrup" sold by various makers).

Not to hijack the thread, but one of the reasons I went light weight is to be able to carry luxuries like frying pans, pancake mix and syrup into the back-country. And I'd rather carry a bit of extra weight than be stuck in the oatmeal rut every morning.

We just took our 11 year old grandaughter backpacking for the first time last week. We kept it short but stayed out three days. I made her Krustez pancakes with some shelf stable oscar meyer precooked bacon. It was a hit. Day two I steam baked her some bicuits and topped it with McCormick country gravy from the dry mix. Day three we had dehydrated hashbrowns with dehydrated onions and peppers with the trout she caught. I cooked it all on my Giga in Ti pans (not nonstick). Now all she can talk about is the next trip. Priceless.

Can I come? LOL! That all sounds so delicious.

A good super slick non-stick frying pan (MSR makes a great one), a silicone spatula and time - you can eat well.

I will say that while Bisquick is pretty nasty it does make great pancakes and pan biscuits when camping. You can even make your own Bisquick-style baking mix pretty easy as well ( Trailcooking See here for recipes)

So yeah, it can be work...but it can also taste really good.

You get all the credit for the menu ideas and most of the technique. Thanks
I actually used the generic biscuit mix. Oh and we tried your pizza biscuits too and another hit.

You're probably in the minority, sure, but you raise a valuable point: packing light is not an ends unto itself. You're setting a higher priority on something else. For many, it's the ability to hike longer or farther or faster in a day, or not be as tired at the end of the day. But it's equally valid to trade weight for a child's smile, or the simple pleasure of enjoying your favorite breakfast in the quiet of the early morning. Being in the minority doesn't make you wrong.

Exactly! Some people camp to hike, others hike to camp. It's all good. I prefer destination camping. Had more than my share marches in the service.
Nowadays I may hike a day or two and then camp in an area for a week or more. Most parks have designated camp areas or horse camps when you get off of the main trails.
Breakfast watching the sunrise over a lake while catching the morning bite... nothing else quite like it.

haiwee,

I am with you. One of the greatest things to eat in the backcountry is pancakes with Vermont maple syrup. Pick some berries if you can find them. Use a flat rock to cook them on and whittle a piece of wood to turn them.

Verlan Kruger the famous canoeist who paddled across Canada used to stop and make pancakes whenever he got tired any hour of the day or night during 100 mile days with 20 hours of daylight.