Thrifty Instant Oatmeal

Another of my favorite Pinterest finds is a thrifty little "recipe" for how to make your own instant oatmeal.  The girls eat A LOT of oatmeal, almost daily at times.  We were blowing through a Costco-sized box of instant oatmeal in a few weeks.  That's a bunch of oatmeal for two little girls to consume.

Since I'm not working, I've been looking for ways to cut corners.  While this isn't a HUGE corner to cut, the cost difference between a box of oatmeal is pretty dramatic.  A box of instant Quaker Oats, 10 packets is approximately $4.00 for about 2.5 cups of oatmeal.  The equivalent amount of oatmeal in homemade packets costs $1.10!

1/2 cup quick oats – $.11
 2 T. brown sugar – $.04
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon – $.05
pinch of salt ~.01

These are so easy and fast to assemble.

1/2 cup of quick cooking oats
2T brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
a tiny pinch of kosher salt

To prepare, dump in a bowl and add 1 cup of  water. Microwave for a minute or so.  This makes a thick oatmeal so the girls usually add some coconut milk to thin it some.

Just LOVE the cost of these!  I put them into snack sized zipper bags and we reuse the bags so there's no plastic waste going into the garbage from this every day.