E’s Breakfast Bowl, Part 1

Old Fashioned Quaker Oats

Next time you grocery shop, meander through the aisles the way you do, filling up your cart. Pause when you get to the oatmeal section. Then - - look down. Bottom shelf. There – where sundries go to wait out their expiration dates – that’s where you’ll find that familiar cardboard tube. Old Fashioned Quaker Oats. Bend down and grab it. It’s time to get re-acquainted!

I know this is not an introduction. I’m 99% sure that when you had oatmeal growing up, it came from this tube. But I have a feeling that most of you oatmeal-eaters out there are pouring it out of cute portion-controlled “packets” these days. . . those convenient little fun-flavored packets that come five or six to a box. . . those boxes that have taken over the oatmeal section. . . am I right?!?! Actually, to be fair, it’s not that these boxes of flavored oatmeal packets have taken over the oatmeal section; they actually created an oatmeal section! And I’m actually not entirely opposed to those boxes and packets. Some of them are quite tasty.

I just feel bad for the tube. Relegated to the bottom shelf, hanging out with “off brands” and bulk items like those bags of cereal. You know about grocery store real estate, right? Nothing about placement of products in the grocery store is random. Top shelves generally go to regional and specialty brands. Anything on the prominent eye- or hand-level shelves has the best chance of making it into your cart. Bottom shelf is everything else – store brands, oversized items, and leftovers. AND, some of the best deals! (You’re going to get more oat for your dollar buying the tube!)

And here’s another little secret: there’s nothing tricky about the plain old oats from the tube. You don’t even have to get the “instant” kind. The regular Old Fashioned Oats will do you just fine. I’m going to break it down for you: Old Fashioned Oats-making 101:

1. You lift the lid off the tube of oats. (You do this instead of opening a box to get a packet out.)

2. You either go with the measurement suggestions on the back of the tube, or eyeball the amount of oatmeal you want in your bowl. (A tad more work than dumping the packet in a bowl, but you’ll get the hang of it.)

3. You add water. (Same goes for the packets)

[3.5 You can add the tiniest pinch of salt at this point (I think it somehow helps the oatmeal absorb the water??), but you can omit if you have a salt problem.]

4. You put your bowl in the microwave. (Same)

5. You eat it. (Same)

Not so bad!

But it’s not as portable, you say. That’s what baggies and Tupperware containers are for, I say.

But your kind is so plain, you say. That’s what toppings are for, I say! Toppings that you have total control over. (In Part 2 of “E’s Breakfast Bowl” – to be posted tomorrow – you’ll find out what E puts on top. . .)

Plus..... can you make a batch of oatmeal cookies with those flavored packets? Nope. Can you make 4 dozen “Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies” using just 3 cups of Quaker Oats from a tube? Yep!!!

E loves her “Old Fashioned” Quaker Oat Man. You’ll recognize the face. It’s the tube that sets this stuff apart.

- E