Oatmeal Project 2024

[erinptah]

Way back in June, I had this realization of “Turns out, when you buy jumbo things of oatmeal every time it’s on clearance, on the theory that it’s a great versatile base you can make a lot of meals with…you just end up with a cupboard of uneaten oatmeal.”

So I bought a bunch of toppings, and started eating 1 variant Bowl Of Oatmeal per day. (I kept track of the variations on Mastodon, I’ll put the whole list under the cut.) Didn’t keep up that pace, I dropped down to 1 bowl every 2-3 days, but after almost two months, I had finally worked through all of it!

…yeah, I finished it off the day before the almost-week-long power outage. You know, exactly when it would’ve been most helpful to have a big stash of food that can be stored at room temperature and will stay fresh and edible for months. Sigh.

I said in the Mastodon thread that maybe I should buy more, but having looked at the contents of my cupboards again…pretty sure what I need next is a Rice Project.

 

Oatmeal Project results:

Day 1: blueberries, walnut pieces, honey

Basically dessert. Most of the honey in the bottle is crystallized, gotta look up how to fix that, but there was enough left to drizzle. Good note to start on.

2: sliced banana, golden raisins, pecan pieces, chopped black olives

Like a fruit smoothie. Pre-diced olives were out of a can; they gave it a weird zing, but not a bad one. (Sliced my own banana.)

3: crumbled feta, rest of the black olives, garlic+herb chicken-seasoning

Savory! The seasoning isn’t my favorite, probably why I never got around to using it on chicken, but you can’t go wrong with enough feta.

4: shredded mozzarella, sliced banana

Was going for a “fruit & cheese platter” vibe. Should try that again some time…with more strongly-flavored fruits and/or cheeses.

5: blueberries, golden raisins, walnut pieces, butterscotch chips

Like trail mix, or a granola bar. This one worked out much better.

6: blueberries, walnut pieces, cinnamon sugar

More dessert. Mostly needed to finish off the blueberries.

Skipped Friday to focus on eating a different “container still sealed, but the best-by date was in May” food item. (Watching Hoarders is a great motivation to crack down on those…)

7: sliced avocado, shrimp

Friendship ended with avocado toast, avocado shrimp oatmeal is my new best friend

8: sliced banana, walnut pieces, honey

Got the honey de-solidified enough to pour! …It came out in crystalline chunks, so the aesthetic suffered, but the taste was fine.

9: sliced avocado, shrimp (reprise)

Had to finish off the leftover shrimp, figured I might as well make more Oatmeal Progress while I’m at it.

10: diced spam, shredded mozzarella

The kind of combo I would normally throw on top of rice, or pasta. Hearty!

11: golden raisins, cashews, butterscotch chips

These granola-bar-style topping mixes land every time.

12-13: reprises of 10-11

If it works, it works!

One economy-size container of oatmeal down, one more big container + one box of breakfast-size oatmeal packets to go.

14: blackberries, sliced banana, honey, strawberry syrup

Mini bottles of the syrup were on sale. Pretty sure it’s intended for ice cream and/or pancakes, but it worked for this just fine.

15: diced spam, walnuts

Hearty. Finished the can of spam.

16: blackberries, honey, walnuts

Almost finished off the bottle of honey! Not sure how overdue that achievement is, I’m not even checking the date.

17: raspberries, walnuts, feta
18: raspberries, walnuts (I used up all the feta)

Second version used the apple cinnamon oatmeal mix as a base. Figured I should start using it on the sweeter topping mixes, instead of running through the basic carton and then having just this left as an option for savory.

19, 20: apple cinnamon base + just walnuts

Too hot to think about topping combos, I just needed protein.

21: apple cinnamon base + sliced banana

…and, wow, I hadn’t realized how little of this was left. That finished it up! Just the rest of the last carton to go.

22: diced black olives + bacon bits

Did not care for this one. “Top it like a salad” apparently doesn’t hit the way “top it like a pancake” does.

23: blueberry pie filling + honey

Much better. (I’m basically finished with the honey now…but this is going to leave me with way too much extra pie filling.)

24: strawberries + blackberries + last of the honey

Featuring the top half of a big mixed-fruit cup I got at the store.

25: grapes + blueberries + the strawberry syrup

Bottom half of that big mixed-fruit cup.

Apparently my phone predictive text can’t figure out to suggest “strawberry” as an autocorrect for “atrawberry.” Aeriously?

26: diced spam + mixed nuts/raisins

Protein! Hearty.

27: just blueberry pie filling

If I plop a hefty layer of this on every bowl of oatmeal from here on out, I might finish off both of them at the same time.

28: walnuts + butterscotch chips + feta

Trying another granola bar variant. I don’t think the feta worked for it.

29: walnuts + butterscotch chips

Much better.

…And that’s it!

 

Comments

[lb_lee]

Rogan: You clearly have WAY more tolerance for sweet things than I do in the morning!

We tend to eat more oatmeal in the winter (HOT FOOOOD) but swear by making oatmeal with water (easier to clean), adding yogurt, raisins, and some kind of seasoning. (Successes included herbes de provence, sage/rosemary/thyme, curry powder...) Helps cool it down so you can eat it right away, you can use frozen berries for ULTIMATE coolage in summer, and it reheats well.

[erinptah]

You know, I don't think I had any of these *in* the morning? More likely to have them in the evening after things had cooled down, and I didn't even try during the days when we were having serious heat waves.

And yeah, I made them all with water! I don't go through milk fast enough, even the smallest container goes bad before I can finish it. So I have a bag of the instant powdered stuff to mix up when a recipe really needs it, and the oatmeal just wasn't worth the effort.

[melannen]

Wow that's impressive!

I need to do a similar project I think, but with pasta.

[erinptah]

Sounds like a plan! (Cooked some expired pasta myself for dinner tonight, but it doesn't rate the Project label, it was just the one box.)

I was a big oatmeal fan in a previous life*

[jesse_the_k]

Honey can last a millennium! Next time pour boiling water from the kettle into a saucepan, wait a few, then put the honey in the pan to get all melty and consistent.

My favorite oatmeal variation was definitely savory: slice some mushrooms fine then sear in dry saucepan until right before they stick. Then add butter to pan and toast the oatmeal (I used steel-cut, which are similar in size to arborio rice, so you can imagine where I'm going with this.) Slowly add in hot water from the kettle and stir until it begins to thicken. Stir in parmesan (feta would also be great) and the seared mushrooms. Cover and cook until done.

* then my body decided to rebel, damn it.

Re: I was a big oatmeal fan in a previous life*

[acorn_squash]

Ooh, that sounds delicious. What kind of mushrooms?

Re: I was a big oatmeal fan in a previous life*

[jesse_the_k]

I’ve done this with fresh white, cremini, and portabella—along the way I discovered that these are all the same mushrooms!, varying in age from baby, teenage, and adult.

[acorn_squash]

...Meanwhile I use 100% of the oatmeal that I buy to make oatmeal cookies. I think your idea might be healthier!

[erinptah]

Alas, baking cookies requires a lot more planning and coordination than "dump a bunch of stuff in a bowl and microwave for two minutes"! Which is the main reason I haven't done that in...a while.

[e_k_braveman]

*shows up the the DW post 2 months late with curry*

Huh, after ██ years of eating sweet things for breakfast, it's really not my thing anymore and I've wanted to try having savory meals more often, but I could only come up with sandwiches for something low effort and that would get boring after a while. I genuinely didn't consider savory oatmeal was a thing. Sounds like a good thing to try.

If you want to try a Rice Project, I'd recommended getting a decently sized rice cooker if you don't already have one and making one pot meals with it; saves so much time and effort! I got the idea from tiktok but you can probably just throw anything in there without a recipe, as long as you adhere to health & hygiene rules for animal products. Allegedly you can add raw chicken and it'll cook fine, but I haven looked into it enough to feel safe trying it.

I was also going to suggest making homemade curry to go with your rice, but it's significantly more labor intensive IME, altho some of that might be due to inexperience. But it's lowkey a hyperfocus rn after I made a proper one (read: with decent spices rather than a mediocre spice mix from the supermarket) for the first time, so I felt the need to mention it. Maybe when you have free time and feel like making yourself a more special meal.

[erinptah]

I have a crock pot! It's my go-to for making rice, the only method where I'm guaranteed not to burn a bunch of it. Sometimes I throw other things in to cook with it (chicken included), sometimes I just do the rice and add toppings/sides afterward.

I've made a couple rounds of rice since this post, but not any recipes that require specific prep or effort. Still got plenty left, though, so I have time.