Overnight Oatmeal

Cold porridge vs hot porridge.

Wow I'm really glad I clicked on this thread and witnessed this inspiring debate.
 
I've done this for years, didn't realise it was a 'thing'.

I put 50g oats in a tuppa with a sliced banana and a handful of frozen blueberries. Add four tablespoons of plain yoghurt and mix it all up so the banana and oats are covered in the yoghurt (stops the banana going grey).

I leave it in the fridge over night, get into work in the morning and add a splash of milk, mix it up again and nom nom nom.

My girlfriend uses mixed berries instead of blueberries (but I don't like the seeds) and she adds milk the night before instead of yoghurt.

It's a great breakfast that keeps you full until lunch time. I really notice it at the weekend if I have toast for breakfast how quickly I run out of energy and feel hungry compared to the oats.
 
Irish_Tom said:
I've done this for years, didn't realise it was a 'thing'.

I put 50g oats in a tuppa with a sliced banana and a handful of frozen blueberries. Add four tablespoons of plain yoghurt and mix it all up so the banana and oats are covered in the yoghurt (stops the banana going grey).

I leave it in the fridge over night, get into work in the morning and add a splash of milk, mix it up again and nom nom nom.
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But you're not actually soaking the oats in anything. So you're eating 'raw' oats essentially? No wonder it fills you up, they'll be expanding in your stomach for 6hrs :p Can't be good for you. That's why I soak my oats overnight before making porridge, it feels a bit easier on the stomach to be honest. Might be nonsense, who knows.
 
Scam said:
But you're not actually soaking the oats in anything. So you're eating 'raw' oats essentially? No wonder it fills you up, they'll be expanding in your stomach for 6hrs :p Can't be good for you. That's why I soak my oats overnight before making porridge, it feels a bit easier on the stomach to be honest. Might be nonsense, who knows.
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I think they soak up liquid from the yoghurt and fruit. I always add milk to it in the morning so it's not like eating dry oats.

I'll try yoghurt and milk tonight and see how it goes tomorrow morning. :)
 
I might have to try this finally. I noticed that I cant really eat anything in the morning before I go to work and I try to force myself but then as I dont really eat enough Im hungry at work. So could take those in with me and eat when I get in...
 
The way I do this is quite simple.

In a Douwe Egberts coffee jar I chuck 100g of any frozen fruit mix - The one I prefer is Morrisons Black Forest fruit. There are some summer fruit mixes which work but I'm not so keen. In the summer when we can get native strawberries, I'm going to prepare those and then freeze them in 100g portions to use for just this purpose.

On top of that I dump 50g of oats and then I load it up with 200g of greek yoghurt. My favourite greek yoghurt after trying loads of different types is the Co-Op reduced fat stuff. The premium brands are far to thick and so are the full fat ones. The reduced fat is runny enough that it settles well.

I don't mix or stir it, I just put it in the fridge for about 12 hours. In the morning, I take it out, put the lid on and it goes in my man bag for my 35 minute drive to work. Once there, it sits on my desk for about an hour before I eat it.

The oats soak up the moisture from the fruit and the yoghurt and it's absolutely delicious. The only downside is that it's not a cheap breakfast, working out at around £1/portion.
 
Proats (protein oats) have been common place in the world of gym/sports people for many many years - a great way of getting calories and nutrition in :)

I can quite happily eat uncooked oats - find them rather pleasant.
 
Part of the appeal of porridge is hugging a hot the bowl in a cold kitchen in the morning. In summer cold porridge maybe, in winter forget it.
 
Irish_Tom said:
I think they soak up liquid from the yoghurt and fruit. I always add milk to it in the morning so it's not like eating dry oats.

I'll try yoghurt and milk tonight and see how it goes tomorrow morning. :)
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So I'm on my second bowl of milk-soaked oats this morning. It's definitely a different texture, more sloppy and I suppose like cold porridge.

I didn't feel any different yesterday, will see how I get on today with being hungry etc.
 
People keep calling this cold porridge - It's not porridge! Porridge is cooked oats, these oats aren't cooked. Cold porridge would be dreadful, all claggy and horrible but overnight oats are absolutely delicious.
 
Dimi said:
Anyone else wake-up to this first thing in the morning? No microwave or cooking involved, prepared before bed and eaten in the morning.

My word, it's delicious! :eek:

Oats
Milk
Chia Seed
Greek Yogurt
Honey
Banana
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I eat this pretty much every morning, i tried the banana and honey and it wasnt to my taste so i started using summer fruits instead and it tastes much better!

Heres where i found it http://www.theyummylife.com/Refrigerator_Oatmeal
 
Made is yesterday, chucked it out and made some fresh hot porridge which is just vastly superior to cold soggy oats.
 
Feek said:
People keep calling this cold porridge - It's not porridge! Porridge is cooked oats, these oats aren't cooked. Cold porridge would be dreadful, all claggy and horrible but overnight oats are absolutely delicious.
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it is worse than cold porridge, way worse texture.


Whether you cook pasta in boiling water or you soak it in cold water overnight it will do the same thing and swell up, but if you cook pasta in hot water you can achieve a good al dente pasta with some bite, leaving it in a pan of water overnight give you a mushy cold pasta. IF you cook pasta in boiling water then you have great control over how crunchy->chew->soggy you want the end result. The same is true for oats, cook it less to get a crunchier texture, more to get soemthing smoother. If you leave it in water overnight then you have no conrtol and can only stop the process once you wake up and start eating it.


Hot oats in the morning is easier in just way more fulfilling with a better control over texture.
 
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Are you sure that it always turns out like that? For instance, if you'd used less liquid might the oats have turned out a little less soggy?

I've still not got round to trying it so I'm not trying to say you're wrong - just interested really.
 
FrenchTart said:
Are you sure that it always turns out like that? For instance, if you'd used less liquid might the oats have turned out a little less soggy?

I've still not got round to trying it so I'm not trying to say you're wrong - just interested really.
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You probably could reduce th r amount of liquid. I had yogurt, frozen berries and just a splash of milk.

I still don't get it though, even if you can resolve the texture issue it is way harder to achieve than varying cooking time and in the end you just get cold porridge.

I think people just don't understand that you can cool porridge to any consistency you want. To start with you can add some hot milk to porridge with no cooking at all.

For reference I add a handful of oats to my smoothies which have most mornings.

I would be much more like simply not to Make this in advance, just mix.oats with fruit and yogurt and eat fressh. That is basically what my smoothies are, just blended.
 
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