My family LOVES oatmeal.  This is great as it's incredibly healthy.  Unfortunately, they also like the convenience of oatmeal packets.

But..have you looked at the ingredients for those packets lately?  Yeah.  Um.  Not exactly healthy...or even pronounceable in some cases.  Even those that are organic or healthier are full of refined sugar.

Even if you did find a healthy packet of oatmeal with only good ingredients, I challenge you to find one that's reasonably affordable.

So...I set out to make the bulk oatmeal also convenient.  I have promised a couple of friends who have asked that I will detail out the process with cost and pictures the next time we make packets.  In the meantime, here's a basic ingredient list for each of our 3 favorite oatmeal packet "flavors" (which are pictured above):

Oatmeal Raisin:

• 1/2 cup oats (I put these in the food processor and pulse them a couple times to break them up some.  That's not necessary if you're using quick oats.)
• 1 TB ground oats (see note below)
• 1 TB ground flax seed
• 1 tsp cinnamon (You can use 1 tsp -1 TB; depending on your taste preference.)
• 1/8-1/4 tsp ginger 
• 1/4 cup raisins

Strawberries & Cream:

• 1/2 cup oats (I put these in the food processor and pulse them a couple times to break them up some.  That's not necessary if you're using quick oats.)
• 1 TB ground oats (see note below)
• 1 TB ground flax seed
• 1/4 cup freeze-dried or dehydrated strawberries processed in the food processor to your desired consistency (We've also used blueberries in this recipe instead of strawberries.  YUM!)
• 2 TB powdered milk (You can use 2 TB -1/4 cup powdered milk; depending on taste preference)

Apple Cinnamon:

• 1/2 cup oats (I put these in the food processor and pulse them a couple times to break them up some.  That's not necessary if you're using quick oats.)
• 1 TB ground oats (see note below)
• 1 TB ground flax seed
• 1 tsp cinnamon (You can use 1 tsp to 1 TB; depending on your taste preference.)
• 1/8 tsp ginger  (1/8 tsp to 1/4 tsp; depending on taste preference
  
• 1/4 cup freeze-dried or dehydrated apples processed in the food processor to your desired consistency

Put all ingredients into a sandwich-size baggie.  Close the baggie, shake to mix the ingredients, & you're ready to go.  I do re-open the baggie after mixing the ingredients so I can get the air out before storage to save space.   I'll typically do a couple hundred packets at once.  No.  Really.  That means I don't have to do them again for awhile.  We keep them in a food-grade storage bucket that we got from a local donut shop for $2.

To cook, you simply dump the oatmeal packet into a bowl and add 1 cup of hot water. (We use the hot water from our water cooler right now, but have used water from our stove-top kettle in the past.)  Stir and enjoy!  Yes, you MUST enjoy.  We also add honey to ours when serving.  We don't typically use much.  A 2 lb container that we use only for oatmeal lasts us a couple months.

A note on the Ground Oats:  You know that powder that you see in store oatmeal packets?  That's what this is.  It's a combination of the sugar...and some ground oats which helps your oatmeal be more "mushy".  If you like mushier oatmeal, then you'll want to add some of this to each packet.  (It doesn't take much.)

The thing to remember here is that these recipes are VERY forgiving.  You can add healthy things (like the flax seed) that your family likes and take away what you don't want or like.  You can add different fruits to suit your liking. Experiment and find what your family likes best.

Exactly HOW healthy is our oatmeal?  The oats, flax seed, and raisins that we use are organic.  The powdered milk isn't organic, but is rbgh-free. 

Like I said, I will detail out the exact cost in a later blog when I do our next batch.  The estimated cost here, though, is about 36¢/packet.  If you include the cost of the honey, it makes it a little over 38¢/packet.  Note that this is for largely-organic oatmeal that contains only ingredients you can pronounce.