Not really cooking - Overnight Oatmeal

I can't take credit for this.  I saw a co-worker eating it a while back and asked him what it was.  He calls it "overnight oatmeal".  I've since decided it is my ultimate breakfast.  It's gives you lots of energy, easy to digest, tastes great, it very satisfying, doesn't bloat my stomach at all, and takes almost no time to make.  There is almost no clean-up.  I make it in a mason jar, so after eating, I just fill the jar half-full (cuz I'm an optimist) of water, put in a drop of dish soap, put the lid on, shake, and rinse.  It takes less time than it took me to type that :)

The variations of this are probably endless, but here is the way I'm currently making it.
1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal
1 cup of almond milk.  Coconut works well too.
1 spoonful of chia seed
1 heaping spoonful of powdered peanut butter
half a banana sliced
some blueberries

All ingredients are approximations.  Dump them all in a mason jar, stir a little, put the lid on, and throw it in the refrigerator overnight.  It's good for 3 or 4 days if you make extra jars, but after that, the bananas might get gross.  I like the taste best if I let it warm up close to room temperature before eating, but it's okay cold right of the fridge too.

I have often heard of overnight oats, but for me the downside is that it is cold out of the fridge.

Great if it works for you, but for me I go the opposite way:
Put oats and some crushed linseeds in a bowl, pour with boiling water (which I have anyway as I make tea in the morning).
Cover up a bit, prepare lunchboxes for the kids etc., add two tablespoons of mixed crushed nuts (I grind them myself every two weeks or so), cut up some fresh fruit (if I have) or add some apple sauce when there is one in the fridge I have to eat anyway, add a dollop of homemade jam (a good sweetener and a perfect use for my jams as I love to make them but hardly eat them on bread).

By the time the kids leave the house, the oats are perfectly soaked and still lukewarm and I can sit down with my second cup of tea and my oats.
No bloating as I had before when I ate "raw" cereals. It keeps me satisfied for several hours.
I have dairy in my tea and can have a yoghurt later, so the setup with boiling water works for me.
This is actually a cross between a traditional Muesli (which was also soaked overnight) and a porridge.

Swiss Bircher muesli is the original/traditional method for soaking oats overnight.  I used to make various combinations of this and think this suits itself to summer.

My daily breakfast is this Muesli / Overnight Oats too.
Probably the difference is: traditional Bircher-Benner Muesli was soaked overnight in water and then the next morning condensed milk was added. Overnight Oats is soaked in (plant-based or cow's) milk.
I soak my Muesli in water and add thick yoghurt in the morning.
I was used to put it in the fridge at night, but then a therapist said it wasn't OK for me to eat it that cold in the morning. So I let it stay in the kitchen overnight, outside the fridge, and eat it at room temperature.

I have just started trying overnight oats in my breakfast rotation.

I use oats, greek yogurt, a little bit of milk, chia seeds, and whatever fresh fruit I can get my hands on.

I need my breakfasts to be quick and easy as I am rushing in the morning to get set for work. Being able to set them up the night before has been pleasant.

I am impressed with the level and length of fullness I had from a mason jar of overnight oats compared to two breakfast sandwiches which were my breakfast vice for a long time. The texture is off putting to my wife, and I can see where she is coming from. I'm fiddling with some additions to go in at the time of consumption to provide variety. Maybe nuts?

I have tried the overnight oats thing and loved the convenience but didnt care for the "chalkiness" of the uncooked oats.
It's a minor taste/texture difference but it doesn't work for me or my mother so we're sticking to cooked for now.
If I desperately needed the time saved, I might get over it but I'm glad I don't have to for now.
( when cooking oatmeal, I will make a large batch and it usually covers 3 days. It reheats in the micro fine for us.)

When Trace writes "oatmeal" and everyone else writes "oats", in all cases are you talking about rolled oats?

I make oat groats for breakfast sometimes but haven't ever enjoyed rolled oats.

Christopher Weeks wrote:When Trace writes "oatmeal" and everyone else writes "oats", in all cases are you talking about rolled oats?

I make oat groats for breakfast sometimes but haven't ever enjoyed rolled oats.

Sometimes the English language has strange words. "Oatmeal" is one of them. As far as I know this isn't a 'meal', but fine flakes. I think 'rolled oats' is not exactly the same, maybe those are the larger flakes, whole grains made flat between rollers.
My own language, Dutch, has many more strange words ... But for those 'oats' it is clear: there is 'havermout' (oatmeal) and there are 'havervlokken' (rolled oats). And of course there is 'haver' (oat), that's the name of this grain species, both the plant and the whole grains. And there is 'havermoutpap', porridge made of oatmeal, cooked in milk (with sugar).

Christopher Weeks wrote:When Trace writes "oatmeal" and everyone else writes "oats", in all cases are you talking about rolled oats?

I make oat groats for breakfast sometimes but haven't ever enjoyed rolled oats.

I never saw oat groats. I only know groats made of buckwheat, and they're rare to find (only in the good-food stores sometimes).

Christopher Weeks wrote:When Trace writes "oatmeal" and everyone else writes "oats", in all cases are you talking about rolled oats?

To my mind, oatmeal is finely ground rolled oats, with an almost flour like consistency whereas rolled oats are flakes.

Even then, we buy two types of rolled oats in our household, the softer ones for baking and the wholegrain ones for making porridge.

I prefer bircher muesli made with wholegrain oats as I find the flavour nuttier.

Christopher Weeks wrote:When Trace writes "oatmeal" and everyone else writes "oats", in all cases are you talking about rolled oats?

I make oat groats for breakfast sometimes but haven't ever enjoyed rolled oats.

I use Quaker Old Fashioned Rolled Oats.  I've always known it as oatmeal.

Trace Oswald wrote:I use Quaker Old Fashioned Rolled Oats.  I've always known it as oatmeal.

I think that's how Americans (at least) generally use "oatmeal", but with other grains a "meal" is a fine(ish) powder ground from the whole grains. I just wanted to make sure we're all talking about the same thing.

I call cookies made with rolled oats "oatmeal cookies" and enjoy them.

I feel caught off balance! I never put much thought into the words but I always considered oatmeal to be a hot breakfast item and oats to be the un-cooked version.

I suppose I have to go down the oat rabbit hole and learn more about the varies forms and functions it has.

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:

Christopher Weeks wrote:When Trace writes "oatmeal" and everyone else writes "oats", in all cases are you talking about rolled oats?

I make oat groats for breakfast sometimes but haven't ever enjoyed rolled oats.

I never saw oat groats. I only know groats made of buckwheat, and they're rare to find (only in the good-food stores sometimes).

I believe when he is saying "groats" he means the unrolled oats, sometimes called steel cut or Irish oats. they're usually broken in half, but they're not flat. They take a bit longer to cook and can be a bit like kasha, buckwheat, etc- nutty and chewy.

Tereza Okava wrote:

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:

Christopher Weeks wrote:When Trace writes "oatmeal" and everyone else writes "oats", in all cases are you talking about rolled oats?

I make oat groats for breakfast sometimes but haven't ever enjoyed rolled oats.

I never saw oat groats. I only know groats made of buckwheat, and they're rare to find (only in the good-food stores sometimes).

I believe when he is saying "groats" he means the unrolled oats, sometimes called steel cut or Irish oats. they're usually broken in half, but they're not flat. They take a bit longer to cook and can be a bit like kasha, buckwheat, etc- nutty and chewy.

Actually, I found (somewhere on the internet a decade or two ago) that whole oats are called groats and I picked up the habit of calling them that to distinguish between the steel-cut oats that my wife likes and the whole oats that I like. (I'm willing to change what I call them if that's not normal for English.)

This is how we keep them in the pantry:

Christopher Weeks wrote: whole oats

ah, we have those whole unrolled oats-- good for making oat milk and sprouting!

FWIW:

Wikipedia wrote:Oatmeal is a preparation of oats that have been de-husked, steamed, and flattened, or a coarse flour of hulled oat grains (groats) that have either been milled (ground), rolled, or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called white oats. Steel-cut oats are known as coarse oatmeal, Irish oatmeal, or pinhead oats. Rolled oats were traditionally thick old-fashioned oats, but they can be made thinner or smaller and may be categorized as quick oatmeal or instant oatmeal depending on the cooking time required, which is determined by the size of the oats and the amount of precooking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oatmeal

Oat groats (hulled, whole oat grains) are quite long cooking. So we cook them up the night before on the woodstove, along with any dried fruit (or fresh apples in season) and some whole amaranth. We serve with some nuts and it's a satisfying breakfast ready to go.  During the summer we flake the groats and "cook" them in an insulated pot by adding boiling water. Buying the whole groats lets us flake them as needed or use them whole, our choice, and they keep well in long-term storage.

Christopher Weeks wrote:FWIW:

Wikipedia wrote:Oatmeal is a preparation of oats that have been de-husked, steamed, and flattened, or a coarse flour of hulled oat grains (groats) that have either been milled (ground), rolled, or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called white oats. Steel-cut oats are known as coarse oatmeal, Irish oatmeal, or pinhead oats. Rolled oats were traditionally thick old-fashioned oats, but they can be made thinner or smaller and may be categorized as quick oatmeal or instant oatmeal depending on the cooking time required, which is determined by the size of the oats and the amount of precooking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oatmeal

I feel vindicated :)

Tereza Okava wrote:

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:

Christopher Weeks wrote:When Trace writes "oatmeal" and everyone else writes "oats", in all cases are you talking about rolled oats?

I make oat groats for breakfast sometimes but haven't ever enjoyed rolled oats.

I never saw oat groats. I only know groats made of buckwheat, and they're rare to find (only in the good-food stores sometimes).

I believe when he is saying "groats" he means the unrolled oats, sometimes called steel cut or Irish oats. they're usually broken in half, but they're not flat. They take a bit longer to cook and can be a bit like kasha, buckwheat, etc- nutty and chewy.

Yes, what I consider 'groats' ('grutten' in Dutch) is not rolled but broken (steel cut). But here I never saw groats made of oat (Avena sativa), only of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum). Whole grains (not cut, rolled or anything) are sold in the good-food stores to, all species (oats, wheat, barley, rye, and buckwheat too) are available, but not in all stores. In larger stores in the cities there's more choice than in the small town where I live. Maybe there they have oat groats too ...

Christopher Weeks wrote:
Actually, I found (somewhere on the internet a decade or two ago) that whole oats are called groats and I picked up the habit of calling them that to distinguish between the steel-cut oats that my wife likes and the whole oats that I like. (I'm willing to change what I call them if that's not normal for English.)

This is how we keep them in the pantry:

Aha! I call those 'whole grains'. The word 'groats' ('grutten' in Dutch) I use for broken grains, probably also called 'steel cut' in English. But as I find out here, not all English-speaking people always use the same words. Maybe it depends on where they live (UK, Ireland, USA, different states). Or maybe they heard others use a word and they took over. My English words I learned at school (in the Netherlands) or I read them on the internet and in books.

I have 8 different sorts of oats suitable for making breakfast cereal (and it's a tiny little shop!)...it seems each of my local customers have their own preference. I like jumbo oats (whole grain oatflakes) but I cook them for porage for breakfast when I can (usually have left over bread so make toast). Sometimes I leave the oats overnight to soak in water (not milk) which makes the cooking quicker - but porage is a whole different thread subject of course!