Tutorial Tuesday: Instant Oatmeal

 My husband LOVES Quaker's Instant Oatmeal. However, he does not love the price of said oatmeal, and neither do I. Usual prices for a box of 10 packets range from $2-$3.50, and they are pretty skimpy servings (in my opinion). When we would made this oatmeal for breakfast in the morning, I would usually use two packets and Tyler would use three. At this rate, we would eat up one box of oatmeal in just two breakfasts. Driven away by the cost and the short life of a box of oatmeal, we didn't eat any for a really, really long time. And then, thanks to Pinterest, I slowly started to realize that I could make those yummy packets of goodness myself for cheaper. As an added bonus, I would also know exactly what was going into my oatmeal, and it would be free of preservatives, dyes, and cellulose. Huzzah! I love it so much, I'm going to share it with you!

Confession: I have no idea where I found this recipe. I even tried looking around online this morning, with no luck. Actually, I was surprised at how hard it was to find a recipe that is as straight-up and fool-proof as this one. I hope you'll like it as much as I do!

Ingredients:
2 & 1/4 cups rolled oats (also called old-fashioned oats)
3 cups quick oats
3/4 cup sugar (you can use white or brown; I prefer brown--it really gives it that Quaker Oatmeal taste!)
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp cinnamon (or more, if you are a cinnamon lover like me)

Special Equipment:
Blender
Some sort of container

Step 1: Measure out the rolled oats into the blender. Process on low until powdery. (In case you are wondering about the splotches on my my Bosch, it happens to be some of the green beans I pureed for Noah a while ago. And yes, I was too lazy to clean it off.)

 Step 2: Put the powdered oats, quick oats, cinnamon, salt, and sugar into your container. Mix it up, using either a mixer or your hands to incorporate the brown sugar (otherwise, you'll end up with great big clumps of brown sugar in your oatmeal).

Here's what it looks like when you're done mixing:

Personally, I like to keep my oatmeal mixture in this big container. If you want to go for a real "instant oatmeal packet" feel, scoop 1/2 cup of the mixture into little ziploc baggies. This recipe makes 10 servings of 1/2 cup each.

To prepare, mix 1/2 cup oatmeal with 3/4-1 cup boiling water or milk.

This oatmeal is quite satisfying. I only use 1/2 cup now (compared to the 2 packets I used to consume). I think Tyler uses about 3/4 cup, compared to his normal 3 packets (which would be a cup and a half). This oatmeal give both of us 4-5 breakfasts, twice as much as a box of Quaker Oatmeal. I think the difference between Quaker's instant oatmeal and ours is that theirs has a lot of fillers in it, making a very thin oatmeal. Ours, however, makes a serving that is nice and thick. It isn't too sweet, either--just enough to know the sugar's there.

Variations: This recipe is easy to customize. Add dehydrated strawberry chunks, blueberries, apples, or raisins for a fruity flavor. Add some nutmeg and extra cinnamon for a yummy fall-spice flavor. Use powdered coffee creamer to make the oatmeal creamy. If you wanted to be super healthy, you could leave out the sugar and replace it with high-quality maple syrup or honey when you make it.

 Although I don't have an exact estimate of how much it costs per batch, I estimate that it costs around $1.50. Considering that it lasts us much longer than the usual box of 10 packets, I consider this to be a really great deal!