Ahhhhh oatmeal, my favourite breakfast food. I used to hate it, but ever since I started living in a hostel, I had it so often, I fell in love with it. Why? Because with hostel cooking, for a food to make it to my favourite list, apart from being delicoius it must not need the 3 M’s, Mess, Money, and Minutes (aka time).
No mess because we will be using instant oats so no need for cooking and/or cleaning, apart from the bowl and spoon. No money (actually its not reaallly no money) because there are only 2 main ingredients, oats and plant milk powder. The oats cost about RM8 for a month’s worth, the plant milk powder costs about RM25 for a little longer than a month. That’s just around RM1 per serving! Even with toppings the cost isn’t too high. Lastly, no minutes because literally, you just scoop, pour, mix!
I could rave about oatmeal all day. The ingredients are cheap, non perishable and easy to store. The meal is filling and pretty nutritious. You can change the flavour easily by changing the toppings. You don’t need a kitchen to make this. I honestly don’t have anything negative to say!
Hostel food is more than just instant noodles guys!
Simple oatmeal
Time: 2-3 minutes
Ingredients:
- 4 tablespoons Instant oats (I used Quaker brand)
- 2 tablespoons Plant milk powder of choice (I got mine at Jaya Grocer)
- Hot water
- Optional: Toppings of choice
Instructions:
- Add oats and the plant milk powder to a bowl.
- Add hot water to cover the oats. If you like your oatmeal more watery, add more hot water.
- Stir until the plant milk powder dissolves.
- Let the oats soften for 1 minute.
- Add optional toppings and enjoy!
Personally I like non perishable toppings like dried friut or seeds just for the sake of convenience. My favourite though has to be cinnamon. Sometimes I’ll also stir in cocoa powder or peanut butter to change the flavour. If I’m feeling adventurous, I’ll add some ripe banana slices on top. Here are some topping ideas:
- Dried fruit (eg. raisins, dried cranberries, goji berries aka “geiji”. These can be found at supermarkets or convenience stores)
- Sprinkle of sugar (white sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar etc)
- Seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds. These can be found at supermarkets, convenience stores, baking shops, or pharmacies/health shops)
- Nuts or nut butter (peanuts, almonds, cashews etc. These can be found at supermarkets, convenience stores, baking shops, or pharmacies/health shops)
- Fresh fruit (eg. banana (least messy), mango, strawberries, dragon fruit, apple)
- Coconut flakes, cocoa powder, cinnamon powder, marmite (for a savory twist)
Don’t be afraid to experiment to find your favourite flavour! But hey, plain is good too 🙂
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