Your Ally In The Crappy BushCo Economy: OATMEAL!

[K8-EEE]

Not the instant, sugary, overpackaged, overpriced kind but the chewy, nutty, yummy steel-cut kind!

Yes it takes forever to cook, but if you make a BIG batch and freeze it in cupcake pans, you can pop them out and put them in a zip-lock bag in the freezer. Then you just either thaw it out in the fridge the night before or nuke it in the a.m.

I love oatmeal with fresh berries and almond milk, or bananas, walnuts and maple syrup, or just some chunky applesauce and cinnamon, whatever's around!

I also love that if you eat it regularly you can see benefits in your cholesterol & blood sugar, it helps you stay regular, in short it does the opposite of what an Egg McMuffin will do to you for pennies a day!

And a big bowl of oatmeal in the a.m. WILL keep you away from the pre-lunch snack machine syndrome, there you go, just saved another $1.50!

If you want to wake up to fresh cooked REAL oatmeal, you can make it in the crockpot. You have to make a LOT for it to turn out right, but that's OK cuz you can freeze it.

Just put 8 (yeah, EIGHT) cups of water and 2 cups of steel cut oats (I love McCann's Irish Oats from Trader Joe's) in the crock pot on LOW eight hours before you wake up and voila! When you open your eyes, it's already done. Fast food that won't kill you!

[ananda]

1. Thanks.

I didn't know you could freeze oatmeal.
Wow.

[MissB]

2. Or, if that is too much work for you, you can just make your own

instant oatmeal "packets" using your own ingredients and a blender to blend some of the oats.

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/00/001009e.cfm

I agree that oatmeal is the best breakfast! My kids love to make themselves a bowl occaisonally as a snack, which I don't discourage. They use quick oats (bought in bulk) and use the microwave. Easy enough for a 9 year old to do, and they don't load up on the sugar either.

[K8-EEE]

6. Yes it's also a great after-school snack!

My teenage girls love oatmeal topped with fruit and nuts after school.

[Blue_In_AK]

38. I like oatmeal, the five-minute kind

I like to soak it in orange juice overnight in the refrigerator with some currents or raisins, add some yoghurt, apple and berries in the morming, a dash or two of cinnamon...yum, yum. It's a great breakfast.

[liberal N proud]

3. Until there is a shortage of oats

As more land is farmed for corn to be used in ethanol, oats will surely feel the pinch as well.

But Oatmeal can be used to stretch other foods, hamburger is one example.

[K8-EEE]

7. But it takes a lot of grain to produce the hamburger, right?

Veggie burger for me, please!

[tridim]

4. Oatmeal rocks

I make the steel-cut kind (Alton Brown's recipe) every few weeks and always have homemade granola on hand made with toasted rolled oats, flax meal, almonds and dates. Mmmmmmm!

[eShirl]

5. steel cut oats are the shit!

here's another super easy way to cook 'em:

1. Adjust oven racks to accommodate a big pot.
2. Turn on the oven to 300 degrees.
3. Get out a big oven-safe pot with a lid.
4. Place in it four cups of water. Add one cup of steel-cut oats
5. Add one teaspoon salt. Stir briefly.
6. Put covered pot into the oven. Cook for an hour.

edited to add: I cut the salt to a half teaspoon, one teaspoon is more for people used to the pre-packaged flavored instant oatmeal

http://www.wikihow.com/Cook-Steel-Cut-Oats

[tomreedtoon]

15. No, that's the result of EATING oatmeal!

And often at quite unpredictable moments. I have to eat the stuff every once in a while, but I always bring an extra pair of underwear along when I do. Should have stuck to putting it in cookies.

[eShirl]

18. uh, that's not a normal result

sorry for your tradgedy

[K8-EEE]

19. Thankfully, it certainly is NOT!!

Yikes! Maybe you're gluten-intolerant, although in that case the cookies would do the same thing as the oatmeal.....

[Ilsa]

34. A bowl of oatmeal must be above your threshold for digesting it.

You probably aren't getting very much with the oatmeal in the cookies.

I am the same way with dairy: a little is okay, but if I get too much, my system can't digest it all.

[Mojambo]

8. God, I hate oatmeal. n/t

[eShirl]

11. steel cut oats are not regular oatmeal

huge difference

[driver8]

9. I love oatmeal! We have it at work in our commissary and I eat it almost every morning.

I like mine with a little brown sugar.

You are right about it keeping you regular...I have never been more regular in my life!!

[DAGDA56]

10. Once you've had the steel cut kind, you really can't go back...

...to the mushy rolled variety. You pay a little more (like for McCann's Irish in the tin) but it's still cheaper than the individual bagged stuff from quaker.

[K8-EEE]

17. I agree!! The McCann's at Trader Joe's is in a bag

Rather than the nice (reusable) tin it used to come in so I suppose it's cheaper...can't remember!

[jojo54]

12. Thanks for all the ideas in this thread.

I never thought about freezing oatmeal but I'll try it now.

I've also taken all kinds of extras to add to it. Sometimes it tends to get a little bland, but a little flavor makes it right.

[UndertheOcean]

13. Oatmeal is the best ! , I have it each day with fat free milk , and no Sugar !

[Festivito]

23. 1.5 cup dry old-fashioned oats and tea: breakfast on the way to work.

And a snack if needed. Doesn't go bad inside the car through hot or cold.

Goes well with Gatorade and other fruit drinks.

Add the occasional raspberry in spring, and WOW!

[Arugula Latte]

14. I do that, too. I add cinnamon and vanilla extract while it's cooking.

:9

[Warpy]

16. My mother and grandmother lived on oatmeal 3 times a day

during the worst of the Great Depression. My mother wouldn't allow oatmeal in the house when I was growing up, for a very obvious reason.

I am only learning now to appreciate it. The texture turned me off for a very long time.

Still, cheap foods like oats, root veggies, and home made sprouts for extra vitamin C will get you through hard times with the lowest chance of getting sick.

We old boomers had to learn that lesson in the 70s. We'll probably teach it to Gen X and Y now, if they're willing to learn.

[K8-EEE]

31. I would hate anything if I ate it 3 times a day!

But you are right, there are some foods, although you would get sick of them, that you can live exclusively and come out of it none the worse for wear. Lentils are a favorite of mine!

[unkachuck]

44. I love Oatmeal....

....Malt-o-Meal/Cream of Wheat too....most hot 'original' breakfast cereals are great and they satisfy....I especially love hot cereals while camping....makes a great quick and easy start to any day....

....you reminded me, I would help my Grandmother pick dandelion leaves and my Grandfather trap small birds under boxes so we would have a salad and a little protein to compliment our lunchtime polenta....

....they/we weren't poor or desperate, but as immigrants who survived the Great Depression, it was just something they occasionally did....

....should another Great Depression occur, I've got plenty of salad in my backyard right now not to mention the wild asparagus along the road....

[hootinholler]

20. Ok after you make that big batch of oatmeal...

Turn it out into a greased loaf pan. Refrigerate for a day, turn it out and slice it down about 1/2" slices. Fry in butter until golden brown and serve with maple syrup. Eggs and sausage complete a breakfast that stays all day.

-Hoot

[renate]

39. OMG that sounds delicious!

I could eat steel-cut oats three times a day... but oatmeal fried in butter, with maple syrup? I bet it's unreal! I want to set up a fried-oatmeal IV!

Thanks for the recipe!

[Arctic Dave]

21. I've never heard of steel oats. What is the difference?

I'll be on the look-out for them.

[K8-EEE]

29. Less processed than the ones with Barbara Bush on the package....

I like the McCann's brand, they are the traditional Irish steel-cut oats.

Once you get used to the nuttier taste and texture, the rolled ones taste mushy & bland!

http://www.mccanns.ie/

[havocmom]

22. Play with recipes and make oatmeal muffins too.

Use orange juice instead of milk for a real treat. Add a pinch of nutmeg. Make ahead and freeze. For those who are getting iffy about wheat (lots of allergies and near-allergies with wheat these days) oats can be whirlled in blender to make flour.

Oat flour and rice flour are helpful for many.

[Raksha]

24. I already eat it every day...I love the stuff! It's good and it' s cheap.

I use the quick-cooking microwave kind (no sugar or anything else added) and nuke it in the microwave in the bowl. I do add milk and brown sugar before I eat it but I get it in big containers, not those ripoff overpriced envelopes.

I agree that if you're using the old-fashioned kind, it would make sense to cook a big pot of it at once and then reheat it as needed.

[roody]

25. I am munching on raw, soaked oats right now

in my delicious muesli. They are good sweetened with raisins or other fruit.

[Edweird]

26. I LOVE oatmeal.. with honey or bacon... but it does something fierce to my stomach

I must be intolerant. It kills me. Horrible cramps and burning bung-hole... :(

[Dogmudgeon]

27. Just cook, eat, and fart

Oatmeal gives many people gas.

Lots and lots of gas.

Any suggestions?

:shrug:

--p!

[K8-EEE]

30. Noone in my family has ever had a bad reaction

Not being a Dr. I would guess you are either allergic or have some kind of gluten intollerence or something?

[Ikonoklast]

32. Blame it on the dog. n/t

[Zhade]

37. True, but it's a cheap way to heat your bed in winter!

:evilgrin:

[childslibrarian]

28. Love it!

Thanks for the post!:P Trader Joe's is the best...

[K8-EEE]

33. Really decadent and GOOD: dark chocolate chips, pecans

If you throw the chocolate in when the oatmeal is hot, it gets all melty and then I like pecans and raisins in the mix! YUM!

[Ilsa]

35. Oatmeal helps build milk supply in nursing mothers.

Really. There is research to back it up. Most whole grains are helpful for increasing lactation, but oatmeal and hops (stick to nonalcoholic beer) are wonderful. Oatmeal, oatmeal cookies, use oatmeal as the filler in meatloaf, etc.

[tammywammy]

36. Overnight Oatmeal

1 cup steel cut oats
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup dried figs
4 cups water
a little salt

Also a cranberry & apricot mix is good.

add 1/2 cup half & half for a little more creamy oatmeal.

or

1 cup oats
3 cups water
1 pinch salt
1 cup half-and-half cream
1/4 cup brown sugar, or to taste

or

2 apple, chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 cups old fashioned oat (NOT quick-cooking)
4 cups water
1 pinch salt


Put in crockpot and cook on low 8-9 hours.

[1620rock]

40. Try a spoonful of mincemeat pie-filling from the jar as a topping on a steaming bowl of oats.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

45. Cook it in MILK! DO NOT cook it in water! It tastes awful that way.

Most people who hate oatmeal don't know to cook it in milk. I cook it in milk, and put butter, salt and brown sugar in it. Then it's good!

[OhioChick]

41. If Only I Liked Oatmeal....

:puke:

[mindfulNJ]

42. I eat oatmeal

every morning...It's a great substitute for the bread crumbs in meatloaf too.

[Fireweed247]

43. I cook with it in all kinds of things

...salmon or veggie loafs, veggie burgers and of course Oatmeal Cookies and muffins.

Great idea for saving money and eating healthy.
:toast:

[blondeatlast]

46. Use the rice cooker! 2 parts water to one part steel cut oats--perfect every morning

with no muss, no fuss, no timing preboiling or simmering--and YUMMY!

I buy in bulk at Ssunflower Mrket for 0.89 cents a pound.