Cheap but Good: Buy plain oatmeal in bulk!

I love to have oatmeal for breakfast, a hearty snack, or even for a light dinner on a cold winter night. But I hate buying those little pre-made packets. Why? For me it just doesn't make sense. I don't like the extra packaging, most of them have too much sugar for my taste, and the ones using simple, natural ingredients can be pretty expensive!

But buying a large container of instant oats is definitely not expensive.

I like to do just that. The oats can be combined with other things that I already regularly buy to make many varieties of tasty oatmeal. Ideas for things to put in your oatmeal: almonds, dried fruit, hot cocoa powder, honey, ground spices, milk, other nuts, peanut butter, molasses, jam, applesauce or sliced apples.

In all cases I use 1/3 c of dry instant oats. I add the ingredients I want (except wet ones like milk, molasses, jam or honey) and then add enough boiling water to just cover the mixture. Stir, and cover the bowl using a plate or a pot lid. Let it sit for about 3 minutes, stir, and add your wet flavorings (or a little more water if you don't want any wet flavorings). If the oatmeal is too thick, add hot water a tiny bit at a time, stirring as you go.

Some of my favorite combinations:

-About 10 dried sour cherries, 10 almonds, 1/2 t ground cardamom, 1 t sugar/honey/molasses, 1 T milk
-A generous dash of cinnamon, 1 T milk, 1 T honey
-15 raisins, 4 crumbled walnut or pecan halves, 1 t hot cocoa powder, 1t sugar
-1 t peanut butter, 1 t molasses, 1 T milk

This really is just as fast as opening a package. I don't know if you'll save money if you're currently buying the cheapest oatmeal out there. But if you're buying one that is high quality and has natural ingredients (like I was), this will probably be a more cost-effective option for you, especially since you probably have many of these things on hand for snacking or cooking/baking. In fact, it can help you use up things that you otherwise wouldn't! Maybe you have a jar of pumpkin pie spice from holiday baking, but you never use it the rest of the year. You can put it in your oatmeal! Maybe there's a banana that's all mushy inside, and you don't really want to eat it on it's own. It's also perfect for oatmeal. What I like best about this, and another thing that makes it money saving, is that it doesn't leave me with a bunch of flavors I don't like or eat. When I used to buy the packets, I had to buy a combination box to get the one or two flavors I like, and the rest I hated, so those would go to waste! Plus, if you have plain oatmeal in bulk, you can combine it into breads, muffins or cookies. You can even coat chicken breasts with it to make an easy fried chicken.