Oatmeal

Ok, let's just throw this out there up front. Oatmeal is oatmeal (Update: instant oatmeal is instant oatmeal - from comments we've received, the majority opinion out there seems to be that non-instant oatmeal brands vary in terms of mushy-ness! We found these two instant oatmeals to be the same consistency/texture). Buy the cheapest oatmeal you can find. You can stop reading here or continue reading, but if you choose to continue you're not going to learn anything else, so if you're short on time just know that oatmeal is oatmeal!

For this post we compared Quaker Oats 100% Natural Whole Grain Quick 1-Minute oats, and Great Value 100% Whole Grain Quick Oats (which cook in 1 minute).

Price: Yes they are different sizes in the picture above, but we compared the price of the same-sized containers and found that Quaker Oats cost 48% more (!!) than the Great Value Oats. And after doing this comparison we're kicking ourselves for spending that much more on oatmeal our entire lives, just because we were "used to" buying the Quaker brand, so we never bothered to try anything else. Keep that in mind when you are shopping! Step outside your comfort zone and try the generic! Hopefully this blog is helping you do just that, while saving you money at the same time. 

Ingredients: Rolled oats. No surprises there!

Calories/Nutritional Information: 1/2 cup of oatmeal has 150 calories per serving, 3 grams of fat per serving, 0 mg cholesterol, 0 mg sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 1 gram of sugar and 5 grams of protein. Who knew oatmeal had protein? We didn't expect that. Rolled oats also contain 10% of your RDV of iron per serving, and the Great Value oats list 140 mg of potassium. The Quaker oats don't list any amount for potassium but we're assuming that's just because they're choosing not to, since oats are oats (again, it appears different companies use different nutritional value listing guidelines).

Appearance: Oatmeal looks like oatmeal. The oatmeal in uncooked form is on the top, vs. cooked on the bottom.



Quaker vs. Great Value



Quaker vs. Great Value


Texture/the chew test: We prepared these the same way and they had the same texture and consistency (the texture/consistency of cooked oatmeal).

Taste: They tasted the same to us.

Bottom line: If you've read this far, we are jealous that you have so much free time! Like we said at the beginning of this post, oatmeal is oatmeal, so buy the cheapest one! We won't be buying Quaker oats again, as long as there is a cheaper alternative.