Buying grains in bulk quantities (25 or 50lb bags) is a great way to save money.
Oats are a great food source and low in cost. They are high in vitamins B1 and E
and also contain protein and many other valuable minerals that our bodies need.
They have the most soluble fiber of any grain. They also help to stabilize blood
sugar. What a great economical source of health providing food to feed your
family!
Now that you know how great oats are for your health and your budget what are
some ways to use this power packed food?
Oats are a great choice for breakfast! Cold breakfast cereals can be very hard
on a budget and feeding oatmeal for breakfast is a great alternative.
Our Breakfast Oatmeal
Oatmeal is a breakfast that my children see often, especially in the winter
months where a hot breakfast feels so good. It warms the insides and starts the
day off right. I always serve oatmeal with toast made from my homemade bread.
Basic recipe, adjust to feed your family
1 cup water
˝ cup oats
pinch of salt
Bring water and salt to a boil, add oats. Cook 5 minutes for quick oats and 10
to 15 minutes for regular oats. Serve with real maple syrup or honey to sweeten
a bit and milk. Raisins and cinnamon added are optional. My son likes to stir in
a big spoonful of peanut butter into his oatmeal.
If you want to improve the nutritional aspect of your oatmeal you can soak it
the night before. I do this quite often. Combine water and oats in a cooking pot
and add 1T yogurt, kefir, or whey for every cup of water. Let this soak
overnight and in the morning add salt and cook oats. Soaking any grain before
cooking allows for better absorption of the nutrients.
Besides oatmeal I have a few more favorite breakfast recipes that use oats:
I really love this recipe. The rolls also make great hamburger buns. If I want
to use them for hamburger buns I make 18 rolls instead of the 24 the recipe
calls for in dinner roll form. I also will often use this recipe to make
cinnamon rolls.
Leftover Oatmeal Make too much oatmeal for breakfast? No problem!
~You can use oats in place of cracker crumbs or bread in foods like meatloaf and
meatballs.
~You can use oats to thicken stews and soups
~In baking you can replace up to 1/3 of the flour called for in a recipe with
oats
~Add a 2 to 4 Tablespoons of oats to your next smoothie
~Ice Cream Sandwiches: Make a batch of oatmeal cookies and let them cool. Take
vanilla ice cream and spread thickly on one cookie and top with a second cookie,
freeze.
There are a few uses of oats that are not food related, but health related. Oats
help to smooth and soften skin. They can also be helpful with eczema as well as
itchy skin. Take an oatmeal bath! Put oats into a muslin bag or even an old
nylon that has been washed and cleaned and tie this to the spout of your tub. As
the water fills the tub it will run through the oats. Or you can boil a cup of
oats in 2 quarts of water for a few minutes, stain out the oats and add the
water to your bath.
A Few More Tidbits of Info on Oats
You can buy regular or quick cooking oats and typically use them interchangeably
in recipes. The only difference between the two types is how thin they have been
rolled. There are other varieties of oats such as “Scottish” oats which are very
thick cut and may not work well in baking. Steel cut oats are the oat groat (the
oat grain) that are cut in small pieces. They are great for a breakfast cereal
but do not work well in other applications such as baking and cooking.
In the mid 1880’s here in the US, a German grocer in Ohio began hulling and
selling oats to his fellow immigrants. At the time the main staple for breakfast
in the Midwest was typically meat, eggs and potatoes, fruit. For most immigrants
this was beyond what they could produce. Oats were mainly considered horse food,
not people food when this Ohio grocer began selling it. He was ridiculed and
made fun of for selling them! And today, oats are looked at as a very important
part of a healthy diet.
Incidentally in a town that was not far from the first milling of oats a group
of 3 men began doing the same thing as the German grocer. But instead of selling
their steel cut oats in bulk they put them in a nice box, added cooking
directions and called their product “Quaker Oats”.
So as you can see oats are a healthy and delicious way to help you stretch your
grocery budget and provide good quality food for your family.
