Basic Breakfasts for Oar Cruising

See Nutrition for the Rower in this blog for nutritional information for extended rowing.

Following are five basic breakfast menus. These are NOT gourmet breakfasts… but they are edible. They are designed specifically to require minimal time (and utensils) to prepare during the cruise, yet provide the calories needed.

Some of the ingredients can be mixed and matched to provide some variety. For example, virtually all of the freeze dried fruits can be used with any of the cereal options.

Note that the combination of ingredients in each breakfast menu below almost completely fills a 16 ounce vacuum canister. Therefore be careful of ADDING ingredients (such as dried fruit) without doing a corresponding VOLUME REDUCTION of another ingredient. Or use a bigger vacuum canister.

Suggested equipment/materials needed for preparation at home:

Used to Measure Dry Ingredients

Gallon Freezer Bags: One per Day of Cruise for Meal Bags and Snacks

Quart-Size Bags (3) per Day for Meal Dry Ingredients

You will also need a permanent marker to identify each food bag. Note that 'freezer' bags are much sturdier than 'storage' bags.

Suggested equipment needed for the night before eating the breakfast:

One or two 16 Ounce Vacuum Canister This Model Includes a Folding Spoon

Note: All of the following menus assume you are using ONE 16 ounce vacuum canister

Jetboil Stove System or the Equivalent

Caution: 

Use of a camp stove that is NOT gimbaled can lead to really serious burns due to unexpected rocking of the boat. Make sure that the stove is secure and that the pot is securely attached to the stove or is suspended. And lastly, position yourself and the stove such that if it does spill, it doesn't spill on you.

Equipment needed at meal time:

16 Ounce Vacuum Mug for Mixing and Drinking Coffee, Cocoa, etc.

Oatmeal Hot Breakfast (560 calories and 8 ounces water)

Quaker Oats or Equivalent, NOT Instant nor Quick Cook

Two Examples of Freeze Dried Fruits

Preparation at home:
Mix following together:

• 1cup of Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal (300 calories)
• ¼ cup of dried fruit/nut mix (260 calories depending upon fruit/nuts used)
• Pinch of salt

Mark bag: “Breakfast-Oatmeal-1 cup boiling water”.

Night before eating the breakfast:

• Heat 16 ounce vacuum canister with 2 cups boiling water for 10 minutes with top on
• Prepare 1 cup of boiling water (1:1 ratio of water to oatmeal)
• Empty canister of ‘heating’ water (save for washing, coffee, tea, cocoa…)
• Immediately add dry mix topped with 1 cup of boiling water to canister, close tightly, shake and store on side.

At breakfast:

Open and eat.

Farina Hot Breakfast (440 calories and 10 oz water)

Farina AKA Cream of Wheat

Or Any Other Dried or Freeze Dried Fruit

Preparation at home:

Mix following together:

• 1/3 cup of Farina (260 calories)
• ¼ cup of raisins (130 calories)
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ Tsp cinnamon

Add two packets of UNOPENED honey to the bag, to be opened at breakfast time (50 calories).
Mark bag: “Breakfast-Farina-1 & 1/3 cups boiling water-save honey”.

Night before eating the breakfast: 

• Heat 16 ounce canister with 2 cups boiling water for 10 minutes with top on
• Prepare 1 and 1/3 cups of boiling water (4:1 ratio of water for thicker Farina)
• Empty canister of ‘heating’ water (save for washing, coffee, cocoa…)
• Immediately add dry mix topped with boiling water to canister, close tightly, shake and store on side.

At breakfast:

Open and stir in the two packets of honey and eat.

Wheatena Hot Breakfast (425 calories and 12 oz water)

Wheatena

Freeze Dried Fruit Examples

Preparation at home:

Mix following together:

• 1/2 cup of Wheatena (240 calories)
• 1/3 cup of freeze dried blueberries (185 calories)
• Pinch of salt

Mark bag: “Breakfast-Wheatena-1.5 cups boiling water”.

Night before eating the breakfast: 

• Heat 16 ounce canister with 2 cups boiling water for 10 minutes with top on
• Prepare 1.5 cup of boiling water (3:1 ratio of water to Wheatena)
• Empty canister of ‘heating’ water (save for washing, coffee, cocoa…)
• Immediately add dry mix topped with boiling water to canister, close tightly, shake and store on side

At breakfast:

Eat.

Granola Cold Breakfast (745 calories and 8 oz water)

Quaker Granola or Equivalent

Powdered Non-fat Dry Milk

Preparation at home:

Thoroughly mix the following together:

• 1.5 cups of Quaker Granola (630 calories)
• 1/4 cup (4 tbsp, 2 ounces, 60 ml)  of low-fat dry milk powder (215 calories)

Mark bag: “Breakfast-Granola-1 cup cold water”.

Night before eating the breakfast: 

None

At breakfast:

Add 1 cup (8 ounces, 240 ml) cold water, mix thoroughly and eat.

Shredded Wheat Cold Breakfast (885 calories and 8 oz water)

Sugar Coated Mini-Wheats

Powdered Non-fat Milk

Or Any Other Dried or Freeze Dried Fruit

Preparation at home:

Thoroughly mix the following together:

• 3 cups (65 biscuits) Kellogg’s Frosted Shredded Mini Wheats (540 calories)
  Note: if you are using the 16 ounce vacuum canister for your eating ‘bowl’, then crush the biscuits AFTER measuring, yielding 1.5 cups of the crushed cereal.
• ¼ cup (4 tbsp, 2 ounces, 60 ml) of low-fat dry milk powder (215 calories)
• ¼ cup of raisins (130 calories)

Mark bag: “Breakfast-Shredded Wheat-1 cup cold water”.

Night before eating the breakfast: 

None

At breakfast:

Add 1 cup (8 ounces, 240 ml) cold water, mix thoroughly and eat.

Beverage Options

• Coffee. Starbucks instant coffee (“Via” brand)
  Two packets in 16 ounces water (10 calories)
• Gatorade Endurance Formula Thirst Quencher Powder
  1.25 tbsp in 16 ounces water (64 calories)
• Low-fat dry milk
  ½ cup in 16 ounces water (435 calories)
• Cocoa
  6 tbsp in 16 ounces water (60 calories).

Epilogue

He slid the hatch back, sat up… light breeze out of the Southeast… the morning star barely visible… black merging to grey in the east.  

He turned off the anchor light… unhooked the anchor sail (also his downwind sail) that was sheeted tight to a cleat on the after deck… wrapped it around the mast… aired out his sleeping bag by using the halyard to hoist it up the mast.

He dumped the contents of his “Tuesday” breakfast bag (Granola this morning) into the vacuum canister, measured 8 ounces of cold water and added it to the vacuum canister... screwed the top on tight, shook it and let it roll around on the floorboards to thoroughly wet out the powdered milk. 

He added 16 ounces of water to his JetBoil pot, turned it on high and dumped two packets of Starbucks Via “Italian Roast” coffee in his insulated steel mug. While waiting for the water to boil, he rolled up his sleeping pad and stuffed it in a waterproof bag along with the small pillow he used… changed into his ‘rowing’ cloths. Coffee water is ready! 

Poured the water into his steel mug… cooled off the JetBoil pot and stored the cooking system in his ‘food box’, sat back (using the foot rest as a back rest), ate his cereal and savored his coffee.  

He rolled up his aired out sleeping bag, stored it… pulled out his Tuesday snacks and four 20 ounce water bottles and put them in his ‘ready hammock’ suspended under the port deck… untied his oars and readied them in their locks… went through his mental checklist to ensure that everything was cleaned and stored in lockers or tied down. 

He pulled the anchor and tied it down on the fore-deck chocks, hanging the coiled anchor line under the starboard deck… and started the next 30 mile leg of his oar cruise with easy strokes...