Oatmeal in the Freeze Dryer

My mind never stops thinking about things I can freeze dry. Lately, it seems when I buy steel cut oats, they smell rancid after just a short while, way before the expiration date. It may be an Aldi issue because it’s only been their oats that I use and we had that same problem with sunflower seeds.

We like oatmeal and it’s supposed to be good for you . . some even say it will lower cholesterol and I’m all for that.

With oatmeal, I can cook it, add in fruit, homemade yogurt, and then freeze dry it. When it’s time to eat it, we will add warm water, then we can either microwave the yogurt a bit to warm it up or we can leave it in the fridge overnight and eat it cold, which is my preference. Once we’re ready to eat it, we can add sweetener (or not) and add nuts if desired.

Another good thing . . there are times of the year when blueberries and strawberries aren’t great; sometimes our bananas get brown . . so I can add fruit before freeze drying, and while the fruit is in season, that will save money and hassle.

In the bowl shown above, I have oatmeal, blueberries and homemade yogurt. That amount filled two trays.

Third tray is apples and cinnamon, along with yogurt.

Fourth and final tray is pumpkin, yogurt and pumpkin pie spice.

And there was yogurt and oatmeal left over.

From the yogurt, there was about half a gallon of whey and the chickens got that. They love it and it’s good for them.

Other ideas I have for fruit to mix with the oatmeal: strawberries, bananas, raspberries. Then, if next year we have peaches and I think even plums would be good.