easy overnight oats

Easy overnight oats are one of our regular go-to breakfasts. This and a warm porridge, our plain oatmeal family breakfast are staples for us. You can easily have these at hand on a weekly basis. This is a no-stress solution.

It is so easy to prepare and quick to get ready. Often before going to bed at night I prepare the basics and then in the morning add in the rest. It does not matter how many people I am preparing for, it can be scaled up or down very easily.

mix it through at night

We usually just mix it up in a regular-sized bowl, pop it into the fridge and that is it. I do not worry too much with a lid. If the container has a lid, then I do use it, but it is not essential. The other option is, of course, mixing it up in a smaller individual container. This is super useful if you are wanting to do meal prep and then you can have a few breakfasts ready to go. It also helps if you are needing to have breakfast on the go and you have to carry it with you.

The benefit of preparing the oats the night before is that it softens the oats and makes them easier to digest in the morning. Overnight soaked oats are very high in their fiber content. This will keep you feeling fuller for longer. This has helped me not to need a snack mid-morning, I can easily make it to lunchtime.

easy overnight oats dietary thoughts

Are overnight oats fattening and will they make you put on weight? Whole grain oats are not fattening, however, overnight oats can be if the add-ins and toppings used are high in fat. Stick with simple ingredients and overnight oats can be a healthy and nutritious addition to your regular breakfast routine.

The basic ingredients are regular oats, not fine-cut oats, milk, lemon, yogurt, and grated apples. This is it at its simplest. The night before you take half a cup of oats and milk per person and put that in a bowl or individual containers. Squeeze half a lemon over this, using on average half a lemon per four persons. Pop it in the fridge.

quick morning additions

In the morning add half a cup of yogurt per person to the bowl and grate a small apple or half a bigger apple per person into the bowl too. Give it a stir and you are ready to go.

Depending on where you are at on your diet and or fitness journey, the additions to this are endless.

favorite additions

The favorites for us that we add in at night are the following: raisins, linseeds, and sometimes collagen powder. In the morning we also slice bananas over and if we have some mixed seeds lying around, those will be added in too.

Many people add in honey and maple syrup and we do that on the odd occasion. We do not need the added sweetness, we are totally happy just with the fruit.

Having a good supply of frozen fruits in the freezer is a wonderful standby when the fresh fruit has come to the end. We love adding in mangoes and sometimes blueberries too. Keep these on hand and you’ll never be caught without some good options.

As you develop your taste for this then you can make flavor combinations that work really well together. We love having desiccated coconut with mangoes and we also love have peanut butter with banana. The possibilities are endless.

add-ins, proceed with caution

Work of caution, be very aware of what you are adding in as these ‘hidden’ calories may be super healthy additions but packed with more calories than what you are needing. Be mindful and sensible, set yourself up for success.

The addition of the yogurt and the milk can be varied too. When we have someone who is lactose intolerant then we get and use lactose-free milk. If people want total vegetarian or vegan options, those are super easy to switch out to. It is especially easy to prepare the individual portions to meet individual dietary needs, allergies, and intolerances too.

yogurt

Making your own yogurt at home is also very easy to do and you can get into a rhythm too. We started making our own yogurt at home for a couple of reasons, firstly to know what was exactly going into the yogurt, and secondly, we simply got so tired of lugging all the little or big pots from the grocery store. I simply just buy milk now, boil up the milk in the microwave (I know, will deal with that later!), and then let it cool to room temperature. We then add in some yogurt from the previous batch, give it a good stir, and put it into the yogurt maker to do overnight.

We switched out the plastic container that came with the yogurt maker and just use heat-resistant glass jars now. I have gotten to know that milk from the fridge takes 6 min in the microwave and if it is room temperature milk, then it only takes 5 min in the microwave. We also keep a good supply of long-life milk in the pantry and that ties us over till we can buy the delicious fresh milk again. I do not sweat this! We prefer the fresh, of course.

Using store-bought and flavored yogurt are other ways that one could add variety to this breakfast. Being aware the whole time of what it would and could do to the calory count is important. If you’ve followed the eating plan, you would’ve figured out what you want and need.

adapting and enjoying

Adapting the basics of the overnight oats is what makes this super healthy breakfast so easy to do. It is a breakfast that we love. Have fun making up your own combinations and share your creations in the comments, I would love to hear from you.

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