Instant Oatmeal

[Jeepers]

I need to eat more oatmeal. So I thought I'd make a big jar full of homemade instant oatmeal. That way I could just scoop out some and add fruit/nuts or nothing at all. Then zap it the microwave. Those little packets (Quaker) are so overpriced for a couple of spoonfuls.

 

I've seen a few recipes on line that are so simple. But one person said that the powdered milk can go bad after awhile. She recommends using that dried coffee creamer type product instead. I don't remember the name brand. Probably 'Coffee-Mate'. Anyway, have any of you made this? Does the powdered milk really go bad? Actually vanilla flavored coffee mate does sound pretty good.

 

What about pre-sweetening it? Sugar, brown sugar or Stevia stuff?

 

I know I tend to over think things. I just hate to waste food. $$$

Also, living alone I've become a lazy cook. When I say instant, I really mean instant.

[Andrea]

Why do you need to use any powdered milk at all?

[themartianchick]

You could just add the powdered milk when you make it. It would just be one small step. I wouldn't use the coffee-mate type creamer, though. It's non-dairy, but what the heck izzit made from?

[sassenach]

Well maybe just making up enough pkts. for sixty days might work if you want the dry milk in it , that way you are likely to use it up before it would get rancid. Or vaccuum seal the milk into smaller packets and add when you cook it to eat, keeping it separate and easy to replace later if you found the milk to be soured.

I would not use the coffee creamer either. Ick. The milk will do you some good. If you need to eat more oatmeal I bet you need the actual vitamins, minerals and calcium daily as well, from actual milk, as it does have meaning to most at our age for general health and metabolism.

If you make it yourself , you get rid of most of the preservatives and sugar. I suggest truvia for sweetening. Dried diced apples, blackberries and such dried fruits would be nice. Cinnamon, etc.

The blackberries will color it purple but so what? ( once cooked). I use them a lot with my whole wheat muffins and they go sorta purple but they taste really good! I also would like to make up my own instant or minute oatmeal packets too, good idea. I have not had a problem with dry milk going rancid so far in this climate and it is similar to yours as long as I don't let it go past six months usage. Some in a can, went for a year before I wondered about it ( what was left) and tossed it. If I made more than 60 days of instant pkts. I would just stick them in a bag in the freezer if I had the space for that, to be used later.

[Jeepers]

Thanks Arby. Great thought about the value of milk over the dairy creamer stuff. I didn't even consider that fact.

I'm going to use dried milk. It isn't really for long term storage anyway. I'd be continually using it up.

[Jeepers]

Oops, I didn't see the other comments.

 

The milk makes it creamier and will add vitamins/minerals.

[The WE2's]

Making up your own "quick oats" packages is a genius idea! I agree with the rest, I'd be a NO on the creamer stuff. I do keep some of the regular cream packets in my fridge though (the kind they give you in restaurants for your coffee...when asked, I always say YES) and find them useful for a variety of small cream needs. I think just adding your own powdered milk in a snack baggie and then sealing it would work out just fine, as the others have said, you'll not be expecting it to last over a year. Personally though, I'd probably just open a can of evaporated milk, pour what I needed into my oatmeal after it's cooked, and then pour the remainder in a jar & vacume seal it for my refrigerator until the next morning. I don't use my shelf stable milk for daily needs, I buy a quart of milk from the store and use it for drinking etc.

[Jeepers]

I made my own vanilla sugar a couple of years ago. Bet that would taste good in it too.

[The WE2's]

Mentioned packaging our own instant oatmeal to Mountain Man, and he went to our "patio library" and dug out two books you might be interested in, and hopefully can get them free from your library. The first one is "Backpack Gourmet" by Linda Frederick Yaffe (ISBN 0-8117-2634-7) and the second one is "Lipsmackin' Backpackin'" by Tim & Christine Conners (ISBN 978-1-56044-881-5) The Backpack Gourmet says if you're using regular rolled oats to grind them to a powder...I would assume you'd want to do the same with any type of oats? The recipe says 2 cups of oats, 1/4 cup of any variety of nuts, 1 cup of instant dry milk, 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 cup of any variety of chopped dried fruit (raisins?) They're ready for storage...and when you're ready to eat it, you put it into your pan, cover with water about 3 inches, and bring to a boil, and serve immediately.

 

The backpack gourmet book (in their recipes) call for you to put it on dehydrator leather trays and dehydrate for storage, so I'm thinking if you make your own bags and keep them rotated you'll be fine!

Edited February 5, 2013 by Philbe

[Jeepers]

That first recipe sounds just like the ones I've been seeing on line. I'll check out the library here. Thanks for taking the time to look!

[PoorMusician]

There's some good suggestions here, but I thought I'd share what my husband and I figured out.

Yes, if you're not using instant, grind oats to powder and add dry milk. It cooks much faster. My husband said this method didn't "stick to his ribs" as well, though.

Dry milk does go bad, but get all the air you can out of your baggies and it'll make 60 days easy.

We make individual bags of quick cook oatmeal (no grinding) with whatever seasonings he wanted. Then I freeze individual bags of reconstituted dry milk (with a bit of vanilla extract). I reuse the bags every batch (I do clean them :-) ) and all he does is throw a few in the fridge every few evenings. I do a month at a time, more when I get a good deal on dry milk.

For the rare morning he doesn't have thawed milk (because I stole one, shhhh!), he just uses boiling water instead.

I will say my husband likes his oats more savory and less sugary. One of his favorite flavors is a sausage seasoning blend that he adds apples/pears to.

I can't comment on the coffee creamer cause I'm allergic, but my husband refuses to use it and he eats everything!

[Jeepers]

Thanks PoorMusician. I wasn't going to put it in individual bags. I think what I'm going to do is put the mixture in a jar and store it in the fridge and that way the milk won't go bad. I can put a scoop in there and just scoop out some, add water and microwave. I like my oatmeal with a little bit of 'bite' to it too. So, I'll go easy on the blender.

 

If your hubby won't eat the coffee creamer stuff (and he eats everything) I'm not going to either! LOL

Beside, I want to go more healthy and the creamer sort of defeats my purpose.

[rootdiggr]

I saw this at another site, and thought of this thread. It sounds REALLY yummy!

 

http://lollyssweettreats.com/2012/07/23/homemade-vanilla-bean-creamer/

[ScrubbieLady]

If you are going to zap it in the microwave, why are you worried about instant oatmeal? I make my oatmeal in the microwave all the time.

[The WE2's]

The REAL stuff!

[PoorMusician]

A jar with a scoop?!? What a novel idea! I've been doing this for my husbands breakfast for over a year and it honestly never occurred to me to do that!

LOL

 

I'm due for another batch soon and I think there might be a big change coming!