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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets


The battle of the Grocery Budget continues in our household. Grocery Prices are going up but our grocery budget can't go up anymore then $450/month. I have been doing everything I can to keep my family fed on that budget. I had to recently "up" the budget because $350/month just wasn't working. I have been on a hunt to see what would be cheaper to make "homemade" rather then store bought "convinence" and I have found quite a few. Today was my first attempt at one of the "homemade" recipes. 

My husband had been eating lots of Oatmeal lately and he would prefer the instant, but the instant is so expensive. A box of Instant Oatmeal ranges from $1.99/10 pk box at Aldi to $4.29 a box for Quaker at the big chain stores here. My boys will only eat Oatmeal if it is in Instant Form. I had read about "Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets" about a year ago on Money Saving Mom blog. I found the blog post and then found many, many more online also. I decided to print out and use this recipe that was posted at Vegan Lunch Box. (I am not Vegan, but I liked her blog post alot)

All the recipes I found said to use Quick Oats, but I didn't have Quick Oats. We had just purchased a BIG box of Old Fashioned Oats from Costco a couple weeks ago and didn't want to spend more money on Quick Oats. I did some research and found out that you can make Quick Oats by chopping up the Old Fashioned Oats into smaller pieces. 

What is the difference between Quaker® Old Fashioned Oatmeal and Quick Quaker® Oats?
Quaker® Old Fashioned Oats are whole oats that are rolled to flatten them. They contain all parts of the oat grain including the bran, endosperm and germ portion. Quick Quaker® Oats are made the same way but are simply cut into slightly smaller pieces so they cook faster.

So I decided to try just one portion first. I chopped up some Regular Oats, added some Hot Water from Hot Water dispener on our Coffee Maker and stirred. My husband and 9yr old son were my taste tasters and gave their "thumbs up" so I decided to forge ahead and use the Old Fashioned Oats and just chop them into smaller pieces. I had to ask my hubby to do the chopping after I did the first 2/3 cups as my right wrist started hurting something terriable. I was so grateful he helped because he was able to do it faster and better then I could. I was able to get the "flavors" ready while he was chopping and set up the "assembly line" so that the process could go fast and easy. I also grinded up some Old Fashioned Oats into a powder, just as the boxed Instant has the powder and as suggested in some of the recipes I found online. I grinded up some banana chips for flavoring also. I was able to make 19 Individual packets today. 

I made: 
4 Brown Sugar, Banana, and Cinnamon
5 Brown Sugar and Cinnamon
3 Brown Sugar
2 Plain
2 Banana
2 Cinnamon Raisin
1 Brown Sugar and Banana



We are all looking forward to having Oatmeal fast and easy in the morning and at a large savings! 


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7 comments:

Jenn said... Best Blogger Tips

great idea! i will have to try that, especially for Josiah! he has GF whole oats and it's such a pain to try to make him oatmeal...i wonder what flavors i could use for his...hmmm....
thanks for the tip!!!

Anonymous said... Best Blogger Tips

Could save on the labels (and be more earth friendly) justing using a Sharpie to label each bag.

Unknown said... Best Blogger Tips

Great idea! I just bought a box on maple and brown sugar for $1.99 and that's the off brand! My kids will eat 2 bags per breakfast so it doesn't last long. I'll have to give this a try! I purchased a LARGE cylinder of quick oats as well. Only I think I'll just make one flavor and keep it in a covered container. The kids can measure out 1 cup servings. We don't use plastic baggies here if I can help it. (We're kinda different that way! No baggies, no paper towels.)

familymgrkendra said... Best Blogger Tips

@Jenn

Ohh you are very welcome Jenn! I hope it works for your household!

familymgrkendra said... Best Blogger Tips

@Anonymous

Good idea on the sharpie!

familymgrkendra said... Best Blogger Tips

@Our Side of the Mountain

GREAT IDEA on the big container! I think the next time I make this, which will probably be next weekend, I will get a few large reusable containers and put the flavors in reusable containers. My hubby takes his to the office and eats breakfast at the office. The boys and I can just use it from the big container. I can get some Glad Mini Rounds(4oz reusable containers) and that should work for hubby's servings!

Unknown said... Best Blogger Tips

Very smart! I've done this before, and it worked quite well. Plus when you make it yourself, you are leaving out all those funky chemicals and fake flavors. Healthier.

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