15 great camping breakfast ideas to get you going

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and when you are camping, it can be a relaxed experience while you kick back around the fire, or a rushed task in the middle of pack up.

I’m positive that camping food always tastes better, and having a nice breakfast when you are in the middle of the bush is hard to beat. We have a number of camping breakfasts that we always fall back on, and are constantly looking for more.

Keen for more camp cooking? We have a whole section of the site dedicated to it, including our Easy Camping Meals! Anyway, onto the breakfasts:

Bacon and eggs

For many people, bacon and eggs is the ultimate camping breakfast. Whether you eat them on their own, with toast, Bacon and Egg Muffins or wraps, or you do the full cook up with spinach, hash browns, sausages and baked beans, the choice is up to you.

We love cooking over the fire, and a full cook up with friends and families is one of the best ways you can kick a camping day off. These are often done in a frying pan, but cooking them over the fire is a great way to start the day too.

Pancakes

The next item that always goes down well is pancakes. You can cheat and buy the pre-made mix bottles, or make your own. We use the following recipe:

• 1 egg
• 1 cup of self raising flour
• 1 cup of milk

Whisk it all together carefully, and if its the right consistency, cook it in a frying pan with some butter in it. We have pancakes with maple syrup, lemon and sugar, ice cream, strawberries and blueberries, or literally anything else you want to throw onto them.

Custard and fruit

I’m not sure if this is really a breakfast, or a dessert, but we often eat it when camping. Custard is easy to make over the stove, and canned (or plastic container) fruit is easy to take with you, and tasty. The only downside is cleaning the saucepan afterwards, but its worth it!

Fresh damper

If we have plenty of time, damper for breakfast is amazing. Plain damper with butter and jam does the trick, or we do apple and cinnamon damper, or apple and sultana.

Obviously this takes a bit of time to cook, especially if you need to get the fire suitable prior, so it sometimes rolls into a morning tea meal instead! If you’re not sure how to cook camp oven damper, we’ve got you sorted.

Fruit toast

Fruit toast lasts a long time, and is easy to cook, and tasty. We normally cook ours on a frying pan, with nothing else on it, and then eat it with butter and cinnamon sugar.

We’ve tried a heap of different camping toasters, and found that putting the bread down in a frying pan works just as well (and limits what you need to take!)

Muesli and yoghurt

A good bowl of roasted Muesli, yoghurt and fruit is our go to meal for a fast getaway. Its tasty enough that you don’t mind shovelling it down, its healthy and super fast to make.

There’s lots of things you can add into the bowl today, but we generally keep it pretty simple and quick.

Scrambled Eggs

Cooking scrambled eggs is a quick, and easy meal in the morning. We’ll have them on toast, in a wrap, muffin or on their own. Just whisk a few eggs up with a dash of milk, and away you go.

If we have it available, we like putting a bit of grated cheese, and chives into the mix too.

Omelettes

Another great way to use eggs is to make an omelette, and Sarah does a mean job using the below recipe:

2 eggs, a dash of water, salt and pepper, grated cheese and herbs. Mix the eggs and water together, season, then pour onto a warm pan with butter or oil, and add the cheese and herbs onto one half when cooked. When mostly done, flip the omelette onto itself, and you are done!

Spaghetti or Baked Beans on toast

We take a reasonable amount of canned food with us, as its the only thing that lasts outside of a refrigerator. I love having spaghetti, or baked beans on toast, or in a wrap. It’s quick, tasty, and easy to do.

Avocado on toast

My favourite breakfast overall is avocado on toast. When they are in season, and cheap, I’ll have it nearly every morning. If we have tomatoes available I like having it with slices of tomatoes and salt and pepper, but this is the one food I can eat over and over again without getting sick of. 

Ham and Cheese Toasties

I’ll eat ham and cheese toasties for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Some people like to add tomato in too, but its personal preference.

We make our sandwiches up, put a bit of butter on the outside and then stick them into a jaffle iron on the fire for a few minutes. If you don’t have a fire, you can do them on your gas burner, just be careful!

Porridge

Our kids often ask for porridge on a cold morning. The dishes are a bit messy to clean up, but its a simple, quick and healthy meal. We often have ours with blue berries and honey, and do a mix between the pre-made packets (with apple and cinnamon etc) and using normal quick oats. This is the perfect example of long term camping food.

French Toast

Sarah loves French toast. I’ll eat it, but its certainly not my go to breakfast. The kids love it too, and its a quick, easy and simple meal to make in the morning.

Camping Overnight oats

If you haven’t tried overnight oats before, you need to get onto it. This is so simple, tasty and pretty healthy if you add some tasty fruit.

Tomato, onion, mushroom and bacon on toast

One of my favourite breakfasts is the above, but it really needs a better name. Simply soften the sliced onion and mushrooms, then add the small pieces of bacon and cut up tomato, and let it simmer down.

A bit of sugar added onto some toast and you have one of the most tasty breakfasts around.

Cereal

Last, but not least is cereal. We always have a box of Weet Bix in the Camper trailer for the kids, and usually take a couple of other options to have as alternatives too.

This is the quickest, and easier breakfast to have on a pack up day, and the kids are used to it. I’ll occasionally have fruit bites, or corn flakes, but I can’t stomach Weetbix anymore!

What do you like to eat for breakfast when camping?

Sharing is caring!