Oatmeal Packets - Waste or Savings?

  A few years back, our family income was cut in half. This was a problem, because my children entered the “I am so hungry” phase of life.  My youngest was the worst; I could not keep that child from feeling hungry.

 I decided the best way to approach the constant eating was to educate them on which foods keep you feeling full and which foods were fluff. We picked their favorites and increased our diet with, white potatoes, eggs, hot oatmeal, beans, apples, popcorn, and soup. These foods are high in protein or fiber, and keeps your mouth moving fooling your brain, you are eating a lot of food.

I grew up eating Quaker oatmeal single serving packets as did my kids. When we started consuming two boxes of oatmeal week, something had to change.

 A 15.1-ounce box of Quaker oatmeal (10) packets at Wal-Mart today costs $2.88 or $.19 per ounce. A 42-ounce container of unflavored Quaker oatmeal is $3.84 or $.09 per ounce. Per ounce, you will pay $.10 more for the packets. If you purchase the Great Value Brand by Wal-Mart a 42-ounce container is 2.24 or $.05 per ounce. Buying the generic oatmeal will save you $.14 per ounce over the brand name packet.  

I have actually taste tested this generic oatmeal with Quaker and there is no difference. I bought the generic and poured it into the empty Quaker container. I know, bad mommy pulling a fast one over on the kids. There was no complaint from them because there was no difference. I was able to keep this ruse up for half the school year!

Yes, I know I am comparing doctored up oatmeal to plain, bland oatmeal. Do you have brown sugar and cinnamon sitting in your pantry? When was the last time you used them? Making it from scratch is still going to cost less than a packet, especially if you use generic oatmeal.

 We like our oatmeal thick so we use a 1 to 1 ration (½ cup oatmeal to ½ cup of water), instead of a 2 to 1 (1 cup water to ½ cup oatmeal.) The kids also like it sweet.

1 cup of oatmeal

1cup of boiling water

1 heaping serving tablespoon of brown sugar

¼ measuring teaspoon of cinnamon      

You can still add other items such as butter, or fruit. The best part about making it from scratch is if you are diabetic, you can use sugar substitute. I would suggest Splenda’s brown sugar.

I bought the packets a couple of months ago and my kids told me not to buy them anymore. They prefer to make from scratch and it takes the same amount of time.   

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