How to Make Your Own Organic Oatmeal Packets

Oatmeal is one of the world's superfoods. Inexpensive to produce and easy to make, oatmeal is delicious as well as healthy. It is packed with vitamins, helps lower your cholesterol, helps prevent heart disease and can help you lose weight. Because you can add almost any fruit and nut to it, and it's amenable to a wide variety of condiments like maple syrup and cream, oatmeal is a hearty, versatile breakfast or snack food.

Of course, making oatmeal can be a hassle, requiring at least half an hour of slow-cooked preparation over a simmering stove - that is, unless you prepare it from those single-serving packets sold by Quaker Oats and other manufacturers. This is an expensive way to cook oatmeal, and it's also usually laden with sugar, preservatives and low-quality oatmeal. Also, they usually only offer rolled oats, which is a detriment if you're like me and prefer the Irish steel-cut oats kind, which is chewier and chunkier. If you prefer to eat organic food, it's even more expensive: organic single-serving oatmeal packets can cost you nearly a dollar per packet!

Fortunately, you can make your own single-serving oatmeal packets entirely to your preferences cheaply at home. It's easy and quick to whip up several dozen batches of healthy, organic single-serving oatmeal packets exactly how you like it prepared.

What You'll Need
Snack-sized zip-up baggies
Dry measuring cup
Teaspoon
Organic quick-cooking oats, of the variety you prefer (steel-cut, rolled, etc.)
Organic sugar (optional)
Organic non-dairy powdered creamer (optional)
Organic dried fruit or nuts (optional)

First, lay out enough baggies to make the required servings of oatmeal.
I've found that an ordinary canister has enough oatmeal for about 15 baggies. If you have a larger canister, or you've purchased the oatmeal in bulk, you may need more. These baggies are reusable and you're not going to be storing any non-perishable goods in them, so when you're done using them, you can rinse, dry and re-use them, thereby cutting down on the amount of waste you create with the single-serving packets. In theory, you can re-use these indefinitely.

Scoop 1/4 of a cup of the oatmeal into each bag.
Level each scoop off with the straight edge of a knife for exact measurements. Once you get the oatmeal in the bags, they can more or less stand up on their own, or be leaned against the canister for easier distribution of the other ingredients.

Add one teaspoon of organic non-dairy creamer to each bag.
This is optional, if you like thicker, creamier oatmeal. This may be a little more expensive up front, but you use so little that you can use one canister for dozens of baggies, and the cost is negligible in the long run. Some people like non-fat powdered milk instead, but I like the non-dairy creamer because it's cheaper, adds a thicker consistency and doesn't get moldy the way powdered milk can.

Add half a teaspoon to one teaspoon of organic brown sugar to each serving.
You may prefer to add maple syrup or honey, or eat your oatmeal unsweetened. Sweeten to taste, or don't sweeten at all - that's one of the advantages of preparing oatmeal this way. You can pre-make it exactly how you like it!

Add a tablespoon of dried fruit, spices and/or dried nuts to each bag.
I like adding chopped hazelnuts and dried cranberries to some bags, minus the non-dairy creamer, or adding a rounded teaspoon of powdered creamer with a tablespoon of dried blueberries. You can also add a heaping tablespoon of chopped dried apples and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon for apples and cinammon. These are so much better than the dessicated, flavorless little bits of mystery fruit chew that you get in the Quaker Oats and pre-packaged varieties, and they're all-natural.

You can make any variety you prefer this way, and it only takes minutes to fill up dozens of baggies.

TIPS AND THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

Seal each of the baggies tightly to prevent messes.

Try to press out most of the air before you finish sealing the bags. This will make the baggies take up less space, which is also why it's important to use the snack-sized baggies, not the larger sandwich-sized variety.

Do not try to skip the baggies and just add all the ingredients in one lump sump to an air-tight container. The smaller particles and heavier ingredients will settle and separate, meaning you won't be able to just scoop out enough to make one serving - all the creamer and sugar will have settled at the bottom!

Do keep them in an air-tight container, though, such as the kind in which you can keep flour, pasta and cereals. This ensures that your baggies will last longer and stay fresher longer.

Cut out the directions on the oatmeal canister and stick them in the airtight container. When you're ready to cook, just pull out a baggy and cook the oatmeal as directed. This usually only involves adding a little boiling water or heated milk.

Ready in minutes, all natural and exactly to your liking - you can't buy that kind of breakfast goodness at the store!