Food: Easy Instant Oatmeal
There are so many reasons why you should make your own oatmeal. It’s cost-effective, lasts a long time, is great for your heart and cholesterol, and has endless variety to it. I also find that when I have it for breakfast I feel more full (a good effect of eating whole grains) and eat less at lunch. I love simple dishes that can be tweaked and changed, so that’s why I enjoy making instant oatmeal.
Materials you need for instant oatmeal:
- Quick-cooking rolled oats (I have been using Bob’s Red Mill brand which was about $4, but I have seen some places that sell oats by the pound)
- Some salt
- Brown sugar
- Optional: wheat germ, flavored granola, unsalted nuts, honey, cut-up fresh fruit, dried fruit…basically anything that you think will go!
Putting one serving together is so easy: just mix 1/2 cup of oats with a dash of salt and whatever else you want to add to it! Here is how I put my oatmeal together:
- 1/4 cup of oats*
- 1/4 cup of maple granola*
- good dash of salt
- 2 Tbs. of wheat germ
- 1/2 Tbs. of brown sugar
Then I simply add as much hot water as I want. Easy as pie.
*Since the granola is made out of oats, I use half of a serving of regular and half of the granola, which equals one serving. You can also make your own granola out of your oats by baking them with some honey or maple syrup on top!
There are endless varieties to it. If you use dry ingredients with dried fruit, you can making single servings in ziploc bags ahead of time for school, work, or where ever. One bag of Bob’s Red Mill oats is good for 22 servings, so you know you are getting a good deal (and giving Quaker Oats a run for their money–one box of instant oatmeal contains only 6 servings!) You can also bake with the quick cooking oats, so you are not limited just to making oatmeal as a means of adding more fiber to your diet.
I find that making your own oatmeal tastes better than buying the prepackaged instant ones since there are no preservatives or artificial flavors. To me, it doesn’t make sense to buy instant oatmeal that boasts about a weight-loss version (this is because one serving in their regular flavors contains about 16g of sugar)! Oatmeal is healthy if you add the right things to it. Try it!
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