A lot of people say they can't cook. They fall prey to convenience and the idea that "cooking is hard" so I'll just get prepared food. Perhaps you are just too lazy to cook.
Cereal is among those foods which people just "add milk and eat". A go to amongst teenagers and lazy people everywhere. Recently I read an article about Kelloggs CEO saying "People can eat cereal for dinner" as a way to combat high food prices.
Well, I actually do like cereal grains like Oatmeal as a high fiber and high nutrition, low cost food. What I don't like is people getting the prepackaged single use versions and paying way too much money!
But here is the details of how I would save time and money.
The Price of Convenience
Here is the convenience packaging for sweetened oatmeal. Just open a package, add water, and put in a microwave for a couple minutes. Still too difficult for some people but still, fairly convenient.
Unfortunately the cost is $4.47 for 304g
Now lets look at the "inconvenient" version.
At 900g it is THREE TIMES LARGER than the convenience packaging. It is $3.97 which makes it 10% cheaper than the convenience pack. Plus it has less packaging to go into the landfill.
In short if you are willing to do a little work you can save over 70% on breakfast!
A solution for lazy people
But I'm still lazy and I really don't want to get the oven going in the morning to make breakfast, even if I will save 70% of more!
Then I found out something that I never knew before. I don't have to cook oatmeal! Who knew? Obviously smart people out there knew but I wasn't one of them.
Here's the lazy person version of making oatmeal.
Get a container.
Add some fruit
Add some oatmeal
Add some milk
Place in the fridge overnight
Come back to edible oats
In the morning the oats will be ready to eat. They will have absorbed the milk over the evening and be good to go!
Cereal in milk gets soggy
Ask any cereal lover what happens if they leave their cereal in milk too long. They will give you the same answer: It gets soggy and gross. However, with oatmeal that's actually a good thing.
So, for any lazy cereal eaters who are looking to stretch their hard earned money. Consider overnight oats. It is way cheaper than regular cereal. It is healthier than regular cereal as it doesn't have artificial colours or preservatives. It only has the sugar that you add to it. It is just as easy as whatever you are currently eating....It just needs a few hours prep in advance.
Maybe this isn't worthy of a #creative-sunday post. However, after having an emergency stay in a hotel a few days ago and being able to make breakfast in a hotel without any heat source. I figure this is a hack people should know to get nutritious food, cheap, tasty, with no skill required and just a little advance prep needed.
Feel free to leave comments
...But I'm so glad I found out about this little gem
...Even if it is so simple as to be embarassing to post 😁