Make Your Own Instant Oatmeal Packets!

For this week’s Frugal Friday we are going to talk about oatmeal!

We all know how convenient instant oatmeal packets are, especially when you have a family to feed when you are trying to get everyone going in the morning.  We also know how convenient it is to just grab a box of the pre-packaged packets at the supermarket and forget about it but what if you could easily make your own instant oatmeal packs at home and in just a few minutes have enough servings premade to last for several weeks?  It really is just that easy to do and we’re about to learn how!

For the basic recipe all you need is a canister of quick cooking oats and some salt.  You will also need small containers that you can use again and again; I’ve found that zipper bags are perfect and they can be reused many times as well.

To begin, put about a cup of the dry oats into your food processor or blender and process until powdery, then set this aside.  Next, add 1/4 cup of your oats (unprocessed) into each baggie, followed by two Tablespoons of the processed oats.  Finish with a pinch of salt in each baggie and you are done!  Seriously!

Of course you can add all sorts of flavor variations if you are so inclined.  My personal favorite is brown sugar and cinnamon, but you might also add dried apples, raisins or whatever else strikes your fancy. 

To keep things quick I will usually just stick with the basic recipe and add the flavors and fruit I am in the mood for that morning and voila!, homemade instant oatmeal packs that only have the ingredients I put there.  They cost less, are better for me and still save just as much time as the pre-packaged version.

Do you have a favorite instant oatmeal recipe to share?  Let us know in the comments!

Circles and Seeds

Over the years I have attempted to explain the pull I have toward a more frugal way of living and with varying degrees of success depending on the situation and my ability to be clear about my thoughts at the time.  A conversation just yesterday my partner made me realize that those in my immediate life don’t even always know where I’m coming from so I am writing this in the hope of making my thoughts on the topic a little clearer.

It all starts with a seed.

Okay, perhaps that may come across as a bit preachy or odd but for me that is precisely where it all really begins – even the story of my frugality.  Let’s take a look at the tomato plants I grew last year as a great example:

The photo to the left shows a rather spindly looking tomato seedling that is barely alive. 

I got that plant in 2008 after a late season move caused me to lose the garden I had carefully cultivated from seed.  It was during a trip to local nursery in Birmingham, Alabama for other things that a worker pointed me to a cart of discarded plants that the nursery workers had given up on.  She told me that if there were any plants I wanted out of the pile I could have them for free.  I didn’t hold out much hope as I passed my eyes over the anemic looking pile, at least until I saw a little name marker that bore the moniker of an heirloom tomato plant I had only just discovered that year when I started two Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes from seed.  There were two of them and sad though they were I carried them home that day.