BF Review: Oat Fit Oatmeal

I came across this product in the breakfast aisle of my local supermarket and thought I’d check it out.

The packaging looks promising enough. It’s called Oat Fit and the packaging is particularly good, in my humble opinion. Here’s what I could tell just by taking a glance:

• It’s 100 calories per serving
• It comes in Cinnamon Roll and Maple & Brown Sugar flavors
• It has no added sugar
• Individual portions come in a “pouch” (that made me smile)

I have to say I don’t usually have much faith in pre-flavored oatmeal. As I’ve said ad nauseum, I am a Splenda crack-head. I like sweet things to be sweet (it’s the southern gal in me ya see…). But still, the packaging was so good it prompted me to do the “360” on it (if you are a Facebook fan or Twitter follower, you know what a 360 is, don’t you?).

The side panels explained to me how eating whole grains helps you feel satisfied longer (I already knew that but if I did not, I think I’d find that fact intriguing). The other side explained how having the portion controlled pouches that did double duty as prep containers (I’ll explain that in a minute) made eating healthy fast and convenient. I was all but sold, but I had to check out the nutrition label.

Now for those of you not yet adept at reading labels, let me point out a few things. First, my morning oats are usually a half cup serving that is 150 calories and about 33g of carbs. As you can see, this oatmeal beats my oatmeal hands down on calories and carbs. It also has some good stuff in it like flax seed and the whole grain oats. It has some nutrients like calcium (but it’s carbonate so don’t get too excited). Overall, it’s not a bad choice for you or your family, based on the label.

Now the only question that remained was: would the portion size be enough to satisfy “the Wonder Pouch”?

You can’t see from the pictures I provided, but the instructions tell you to put your oatmeal in a microwave-safe bowl, fill the pouch to the fill line (which is 2/3 cups) with water and add it to the oatmeal.

True fact about oatmeal, you have a lot to do with the volume of your bowl of oatmeal. If you add a lot of water and cook it for a long time, the oats will expand (and get mushy in the process). You add a little water and the oats keep their firmness (unless you overcook them, in which case they dry out).

The most important factor in all this is how much liquid you add. So the fact that the box called for 2/3 cup of water, then, was encouraging. I could eat this and I would not be hungry afterward.

So I bought two boxes (Cinnamon Roll and Maple & Brown Sugar) and vowed to give them a go.

After prepping up some of the Maple & Brown sugar, here’s what came out of the microwave:

It looked and smelled like any other oatmeal, but how did it taste? For me, the determining factor was not if I had to add anything to it, but whether I had to add a specific thing to it: peanut product. If an oatmeal is too bland I usually add either peanut butter or peanut flour to it (I am using more of the latter these days as my peanut butter habits can get out of control very easily).

I tasted the oatmeal. Not bad…not bad at all. Mind you, I DID add a bit more Splenda (three packets) and a “splick” of salt (True fact: a bit of salt in prepared oatmeal reduces the amount of sweetener you need — try it! But don’t go crazy with it.). I shook some cinnamon over my bowl as well and…walked away…peanut free!

Folks, I consider that a success.

And as I thought, the bowl did, in fact, satisfy me very much. It was yummy, sweet, just a touch salty (that really does it for me) and…my breakfast was only 100 calories. Holy Cow!

The packaging suggests adding milk for a creamier consistency. That could be good. Since I take my iron right out of bed, I can’t do that but maybe I’ll try this for dinner someday and see. I like my regular oats in milk so why not these?

And of course, while I didn’t need to add peanut to my oatmeal, I am also not above doing so if I get the urge. And with 100 calorie, lower-carb oatmeal, why not?

Verdict: Diva says Divine!