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.

(Taken from Quaker FAQ's)

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

Homemade Instant Oatmeal - slideshow dvd

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

Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets

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