Boats of Oats

When I was a kid, we had two different breakfasts.  If the weather was warm, we'd eat cold cereal like Cheerios, and if the weather was cold, we'd eat oatmeal.  On Sundays, we'd vary our routine and have pancakes, or french toast, or bagels, but the rest of of the week, we were pretty predictable.  We ate either oatmeal or cereal 300 days a year.  We were a busy family, so eliminating guesswork probably made it easier for my parents to get us four kids off to school. 

Flash forward many years.  I'm an adult and I still eat oatmeal almost every day.  I've been consistently eating oatmeal 5-6 days a week for almost 5 years, and it's my perfect way to start the day.  I know, I sound like an oatmeal cheerleader, but it works for me.  When I was fresh out of college and newly married, I ate a lot of waffles with syrup for breakfast and found I was hungry by 10 am.  Only oatmeal, with it's protein and filling fiber, keeps me satisfied until lunch.  Since we live in a cold-weather climate, it's nice to start the day with something warm and Connor and Grant have learned to love oatmeal.  Even though I add a little brown sugar to our bowls, I'm sure it's much healthier than their old favorite breakfast: Poptarts.  I still reserve Sunday for a bigger family breakfast: eggs, or pancakes, or something really fun like donuts or cinnamon rolls, but Monday-Saturday, I'm an oatmeal woman. 

I checked out the Quaker Oats website for some facts about oatmeal and found that a serving of oatmeal has 4 grams of fiber, which is as much as 2 cups of Cauliflower.  Oats also help lower cholesterol and were the first whole grain recognized by the FDA to help reduce cholesterol.  And if you're looking to lose weight, a serving of oatmeal has only 150 calories (which is 2 Weight Watcher's points).  All for seven cents a bowl!!!

That's my seven cents on oatmeal.

Here's what we ate today

Breakfast
- S Cereal and Milk
- KC&G Oatmeal with Brown Sugar
- C Apple and Milk
- G Banana and Milk
Total $0.78

Lunch

Lunch never looked more delicious

- SK&C Chicken Salad Sandwiches (leftover homemade bread, chicken breasts, apple, scallions, celery, mayo, lemon, tomato)

- G Bread and Margarine, Tomato, Yogurt, Milk

- C Yogurt and Milk

Total $3.81

Snack
- G Milk
Total $0.06

Dinner

- SKC&G Homemade Cheeseburgers (beef patties, buns, tomato, cheese, mayo, ketchup) and French Fries, Leftover 5 Bean Taco Soup

- C&G Milk

Total $4.84

Dessert

- SKC&G Leftover Brownies

Total FREE

Total Spend $9.49

Tomorrow - Bunco: Budget Buster?