Alan travels a lot for work, which can present challenges for eating plant-based and healthy. When he’s at home, he eats old-fashioned oats, which he loves. For years, he’s traveled with packets of instant oatmeal to have for breakfasts and meals in a pinch. They are convenient, but not all instant oatmeal packets are vegan, a lot have milk powder, and artificial colorings and flavors, not to mention a lot of added sugar. In addition, we’re picky about our oats, preferring non-GMO, organic oats to reduce our exposure to glyphosphate (the herbicide Roundup). The Environmental Working Group has found levels of glyphopate in the majority non-organic oatmeal products they tested to be higher than what they consider safe, posing an increased cancer risk. You can check their studies out at https://www.ewg.org/childrenshealth/glyphosateincereal/ and https://www.ewg.org/release/roundup-breakfast-part-2-new-tests-weed-killer-found-all-kids-cereals-sampled. And, instant oatmeal packets generate a lot of trash, which we are actively working to reduce. One would think they are just a paper bag and therefore would be recyclable, but no, they are lined with some sort of plastic (check out this hack about cooking your oatmeal right in the baggie https://lifehacker.com/5879863/cook-instant-oatmeal-in-the-packet-when-you-dont-have-a-bowl), which we certainly don’t to expose to our food. So, given all of these things, coming up with a better alternative for Alan’s instant oats was high on the list to find a solution for.

Red Talley Stasher Snack Bag

The hardest part of change was not in making the instant oatmeal mix, which I’ll share in a moment, but in the packaging. Alan needs something durable but lightweight and small, something that will easily fit in his computer bag or carry-on for the airplane. A glass jar is too bulky and we aren’t using plastic storage bags anymore. I’d considered sewing up one of my vegan wax wraps, but we didn’t want wax inside of his computer bag or carry-on in case it got warm on the airplane or in the trunk of a rental car. I finally discovered the silicone resealable Stasher bags and decided to give them a try. They come in different sizes and the snack bag size seemed perfect! And it was—it fit perfectly in Alan’s carry-on with no spillage.

Ingredients for Trimazing! Instant Oatmeal

For the oatmeal, here’s a little info on what ingredients I use. I use organic quick oats because Alan usually only has a little coffee pot available in his hotel room, no microwave. Quick oats cook up great in a coffee cup with hot water from a coffee maker (truth be told, he often uses hot coffee to cook his oats half the time!). Use whatever dried fruit you want, or omit. I’d rather use fruit than adding sugar. Flax adds healthy omega fatty acids, which we should eat every day. Adding it to morning oatmeal gets your daily dose of omega fatty acids done first thing so you don’t have to worry about it later. You could exchange ground chia seeds or hemp. For milk, I’ve used Wilderness Family Naturals powdered coconut milk or powdered soy milk I find in bulk bins at my grocery store, but you can use other powdered plant-based milks, such as soy. I bought the powdered coconut milk a while ago for our trip to Iceland because Wilderness Family Naturals had small labeled resealable

sample bags that I thought would go through security better than unmarked baggies of white powder! Finally, I put in a little coconut sugar, but you can use other dry sweetener of choice or omit, and cinnamon.

Alan loves this instant oatmeal, in fact, he likes it better than the packaged stuff we used to get at the store. It’s fresher and tastier than what we used to buy. We hope you love it too!

Print Pin

5 from 7 votes

Trimazing! Instant Oatmeal

Course Breakfast/Brunch, Zero Waste

Cuisine Camping, Gluten-Free, Kids, Nut-Free, Soy-Free

Keyword oatmeal

Servings 2

Author Cindy Thompson, MS, NBC-HWC | Trimazing! Health & Lifestyle Coaching

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

• 2 cups organic quick oats use gluten-free if sensitive
• 1/4 cup organic raisins or dried cranberries, dates, apples, other fruit)
• 3 tbsp ground flax
• 2 tbsp coconut or soy milk powder optional, you can find online or in bulk section
• 1 tbsp date sugar or other dry sweetener, like coconut sugar.
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

• Mix all together and store in a sealed container. To use, add 1/3 cup of oatmeal mix to a cup or bowl and add 3/4 cup of boiling water. Stir and let stand 2 minutes before eating.