Real Recipes for Real People Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets

by Kaylin Cherry
kaylin@
realfood4realpeople.com

I love the convenience of the instant oatmeal packets sold in grocery stores, but I do not like the cost. My children also love the instant oatmeal packets, and so I researched until I came up with this recipe for making them ourselves. Over time, we have added to the list of variations for this recipe, and have come up with some very fun packets, which are delicious as well as economical. We make these up as a family project, and the children help to choose which extra ingredients to add to the basic oatmeal packets. This is not only fun, but keeps them excited about eating them later, because they helped to make them. I hope you find them useful.

Instant Oatmeal ala-Home

• 3 cups Quick-Cooking Oats
  
• Salt
  
• Small sized Zip Baggies

Put 1/2 cup oats in a blender and blend on high until powdery. Set aside in a small bowl, and repeat procedure with an additional 1/2 cup oats. If you're using a food processor, you can do the 1 cup of oats in one batch. Put the following ingredients into each zip baggie: 1/4 cup un-powdered oats, 2 Tbsp. powdered oats, and 1/8 tsp. salt. Store in an airtight container.
To serve: Empty packet into a bowl. Add 3/4 cup boiling water. Stir and let stand for 2 minutes. For thicker oatmeal, use less water - for thinner oatmeal, use more water.

Variations:

Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal- To each packet add 1 Tbsp. sugar, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, and 2 Tbsp. chopped dried apples.
Sweetened Oatmeal- To each packet add 1 Tbsp. sugar or 1 packet 'Equal' artificial sweetener.
Brown Sugar/Cinnamon Oatmeal - To each packet add 1 Tbsp. brown sugar & 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Oatmeal w/Raisins & Brown Sugar - To each packet add 1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar and 1 Tbsp. raisins.
Health Nut Oatmeal - To each packet add 2 Tbsp. any kind of wheat germ
Fruit & Cream Oatmeal - To each packet add 1 Tbsp. non-dairy coffee creamer and 2 Tbsp. dried fruit
Fun Fruit Oatmeal - To each packet, add 6 or 7 pieces of 'fruit snack' type dehydrated fruit.
Confetti Oatmeal - To each packet, add 1 tsp. decorative cake/cookie sprinkles.
S'More Oatmeal - add 6 miniature marshmallows and 1 Tbsp. Milk Chocolate Chips to each packet.
Cookies n Cream Oatmeal - add 1 crushed Oreo cookie and 1 Tbsp. non-dairy coffee creamer to each packet.
Exploding Oatmeal - add 1 tsp. sugar, and 1/2 tsp. 'Pop Rocks' candy to each packet. This one is fun for celebration days, such as birthdays.
Bart-man Oatmeal - add 2 Tbsp. 'Butterfinger B.B's' candies to each packet.

Protein Smoothie Banana and Pineapple

Ingredients:
2 bananas
some strawberries
pineapple
4 raw fertile eggs
blend everything in a blender and drink.
Very nutritious, enjoy.

I'm not sure if this is good, but it may float your boat. When I was younger, my older siblings loved banana smoothies. We called them shakes because it had a large amount of milk in them. I remember that my sister Johanna would prefer her smoothie to at least have one egg because it made the shake/smoothie have a better consistency. I personally don't remember the difference, but I remember loving every shake that my siblings made for me. It's more of a nostalgic item of food with me because of that.  I was the youngest of 3 older brother and sisters, so I pretty much followed them to anything and I owe my love to smoothies to them!

Banana Oatmeal Smoothie Recipe

This is a great breakfast, or a brilliant way to get some essential nutrition into your kids.

Ingredients:

{ This is so delicious!!!!}

1 cup milk
1 cup of oatmeal
1 banana
1 cup orange juice
Cut banana into chunks.
Place all ingredients in blender container.
Blend until smooth.
2 servings

Superfood Smoothie Banana and Blueberries

Ingredients:
½ cup fresh spinach, washed and dried
1/3 cup frozen blueberries
½ large banana (1 small)
½ cup orange juice
¼ cup soymilk
1/3 cup crushed ice

Put all the ingredients in a blender and give it a whirl until smooth. Drink up!

Mango Orange Smoothie
 

Serves 1-2
 

Ingredients:
1/2 banana
1 cup frozen mango chunks
1 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons vanilla yogurt
1 scoop vanilla protein powder

Optional: *1/2 cup uncooked oats (not instant) Directions: Place all the ingredients in your blender container and blend on high speed until everything is smooth. Blender times will vary depending on the type of blender you have. Enjoy!