Place all the ingredients in a glass jar and any extras. Add your plant-based milk of choice, enough to cover your oats and stir to combine. I find the nut butter adds an extra depth and makes your oats more creamy.
Leave in the fridge for at least twenty minutes if that is all you have, or if you are impatient. Overnight if you plan ahead.
There is no shortage of oatmeal recipes, this is not so much about the oats but more about the fact that simple food can be and more often is good food. Oats are peasant food, affordable food in the sense that you can pick up a 2 kg bag of unadulterated oats for a few dollars. You could spend more, for organic but the brand does make for a better oat, only the process. Spend your money accordingly. Oats are an everyday food for everyday eating, not smoothies or oatmeal bowls made with ingredients that most people do not either have the time, interest or money for, nothing wrong with those. I love smoothie as thick as soft serve but those are not for full days. Food should not be laboured over, it gets in the way of everything.
I have been for several years now obsessed with preparing overnight oats. I'd take them on the bus, the train and even now since most days I work from home, I'm still using the same jars — these hard working wide mouth mason jars with screw lids. Each morning I'll prepare oats for my partner and me, this takes around three minutes. Overnight is preferable, creamier but only achievable if you thought ahead which I seldom do, so it's more like twenty-minute oats. I've also included my other additions for making your oats super functional, entirely optional but highly advised. I found oats the ideal vehicle for incorporating a myriad of superfoods into my diet with the least effort. My current version has vegan protein powder — I’m currently using Amazonia, maca powder, ground flaxseed, adaptogens and hemp seeds and chia seeds.
And healthy fats, nut butters. At the moment I am partial to Fix and Foggs’ Coffee and Maple Peanut Butter, created in collaboration with Coffee Supreme. Fix and Fogg creates wonderful nut butter, sustainably and fairly, they are not paying me to say so; their nut butters are just extremely good. If you want to read more about their story you can do so here, or just buy yourself a jar of Coffee Maple Peanut Butter, their credentials are on the label. To soak, I like to keep a steady supply of plant-based milk in the house, but once in a while, I indulge in preparing hazelnut milk from scratch. I keep a steady supply of plant-based milk in the pantry, I love Rebel Original Mylk which is organic. I also buy Minor Figures oat milk because honestly I never had much success making my own and I like the flavour.
For whatever reason oats are commonly omitted from those high protein food lists and yet a cup of oats contains 12 g protein. More than eggs, than dairy or any other ‘breakfast’ food, more than quinoa and that’s how its’ sold to us. Same for fibre. A cup of oats has 9 grams of fibre, not the levels you’ll find in fortified cereals but oats are natural and wholesome and it’s only 8 am, there are other opportunities that will get you far closer to the 25-30 grams of fibre that’s recommended. If you are making an effort to increase your intake of high fibre foods, oats are a good place to start, they also happen to be one of the most economical sources of fibre. Interest in oats originated from scientific research that showed oats can help lower LDL cholesterol, potentially cardiovascular risks; much like almonds and work published in the 90s regarding cardiac benefits. The active component identified as cholesterol-lowering in oats are the beta-glucans, a form of soluble dietary fibre that you can also, interestingly find in reishi, maitake and shiitake mushrooms. And so if you have a gluten intolerance or coeliac disease, the latter are better options since mushrooms are gluten-free and oats are not.
Oatmeal, oats are not gluten-free. Bob's Red Mill Rolled Oats are not gluten-free, technically yes, scientifically no. They are not gluten-free, they are wheat-free. Oats and by extension oatmeal contains a form of gluten, avenin. Gluten is a composite of storage proteins representing gliadin in wheat, hordein in barley, secalin in rye and avenin in oats. So when gluten-free oats are discussed, it means they are free from wheat contamination (gliadin, hordein and secalin). Avenin is an essential part of oats and will never be truly gluten-free even if they are described as being gluten-free. I think why this seems conflicting is the popularity of Bob's Red Mill's Gluten-Free Rolled Oats, which are American and in America gluten-free is defined as 20 parts per million of gluten or less (20ppm). Under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, gluten-free is defined as 3 parts per million (3ppm) - globally one of the strictest standards. Oats and their products are not permitted in foods that are labelled gluten-free, this oatmeal is therefore not gluten-free but if you can tolerate oats, eat oatmeal.
That said if you can eat oats, eat oats. They are supremely good for you. And keep in mind oatmeal is not for breakfast, oatmeal is for when you feel like oatmeal. A 1944 marketing campaign launched by General Foods to sell more cereal, “Eat a Good Breakfast—Do a Better Job,” and lobbyists made breakfast 'the most important meal of the day' - cereal has aggressive marketing. And while the combination of morality and science would suggest high demand for oats, in industrialised countries, demand for oats have been modest. So buy oats.
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