It just so happened that I spent a small fortune, every month, on delicious oatmeal cups that made breakfast as simple as adding a bit of water to the container and sticking it in the microwave for forty seconds, getting breakfast on the table for me, in seconds. It’s one of those ways to get something in my belly first thing in the morning, because I’m terribly bad at skipping breakfast even though I’m making it for little people.
Finding a better solution was necessary, because of the amount of wasted money on the grocery bill, upwards of $20 a week, and because of the waste in packaging (I mean, I’m already terrible enough at getting the recycling and the green bin sorted).
A trip to the bulk section of the grocery store, a quick rustle through the pantry and a freezer bag had a solution - jarred instant oatmeal cups.
Here’s what I used:
- Freezer bag, half full of quick oats
- Handful of chopped, white chocolate chunks
- Coconut chips
- Handful of seeds from the ‘energy mix’ bulk bin
- Heaping teaspoon of cinnamon
- Extra handful of almonds
Mix all of the ingredients together in the freezer bag, and separate the portions into jars. The half-bag of quick oats, in a standard freezer bag filled twelve jars. For the jars, shallow, 250 ml jars worked best. I found mine at Walmart, when I was there stopping by to grab a whiteboard marker for the last thing on our back to school list.
For the next batch, we’re going to try:
- peanut butter powder, nuts and chocolate chunks
- dried strawberries and mini dark chocolate chunks
- dried apple, cinnamon and pecans
Forty seconds in the microwave and I had a quick something-something to get in my stomach and stave off the hunger. For someone that usually skips breakfast, these oatmeal cups are not only easy on the wallet, since we don’t have to buy the cups anymore, they’re so simple to prep for two to three weeks in advance.
To cook, I cover with enough water to completely immerse the oats and ingredients and put into the microwave for thirty seconds. If desired, you can add milk, or almond milk, or brown sugar. These ones are so delicious, with the hint of white chocolate chunks, that I’ve been eating them plain, without milk or added sugar.
