We made it to Joplin a little after 10 p.m. tonight.
I can’t believe how much has been rebuilt since the tornado last year. The last time we were here, it was a heart-wrenching zone of destruction. It’s so encouraging and heart-warming to see the new buildings in place of what was ruins and wrecked parts of buildings.
And I’m looking forward to meeting some of the wonderful people who live here (and in nearby towns) at the workshop tomorrow!
Before we headed out of town, I got a double batch of Baked Oatmeal made for the freezer. In less than 20 minutes, I had three pans of Baked Oatmeal ready to go in the freezer!
Yes, those of you with larger families and/or older children can laugh at the fact that one pie pan of Baked Oatmeal will feed our family. This stuff is much more filling than regular oatmeal and it seems like when you add milk, a little bit goes a long way — or at least it does at our house!
By the way, I don’t recommend wrapping these just in foil unless you’re planning to use them within the next few weeks. If you think it might be longer than 3-4 weeks before you’ll use the Baked Oatmeal, I’d recommend sticking it in a freezer bag instead to prevent freezer burn.
Go here for the Baked Oatmeal recipe!
Did you do any freezer cooking today? If so, I’d love to see the results of your efforts! Link up your blog posts below or tell us about your success in the comments.
It almost looks and sounds like it’s made like the cruble of an apple crisp? I am trying to learn to be more frugal and eat more at home. I am going to try this.
It’s somewhat like that — it’s hard to describe, but it’s yummy!!
Thank you, I am going to try it 😊
Let us know how you like them! -Jordan, MSM Team
My husband and I are hypoglycaemic and mornings can be tough to get going so healthy breakfasts need to be prepared ahead of time. I make a double batch and cut each pan in to 6 servings to freeze in individual freezer bags. My husband can manage making it himself in the microwave in the morning despite his morning fog and saves some in the fridge for when he gets home from work to tide himself over until dinner. Very helpful and handy!
I use unsweetened almond milk and for 2/3 of the brown sugar I use brown sugar Truvia, to cut down on the carbs and sugars a bit. We mix in wild blueberries before cooking and my husband likes to put fresh blackberries on top when he eats it. Very nice! Thank you so much for helping to make our mornings easier and healthier!
Thank you, Crystal, for this great recipe! I have tried several baked oatmeal recipes in the past that my kids would not eat. This one is a big hit and gluten-free yet to boot! (My 12 year had to go gluten-free recently.) I make super big batches and freeze 5-6 pans at a time. When I want to serve baked oatmeal, I pull a foil pan out of the freezer and place in to the oven. (I do this pretty late, around 9:00 at night.) I set my oven timer to come on at 7:00 a.m. The oatmeal thaws overnight in the oven and I don’t even have to remember to pull it out of the fridge and turn the oven on in the morning!
so if we’re freezing we still add the milk in? I’m confused by this step: “Stir in milk and oats. Pour into a greased 9×13 foil pan or baking dish and cover well. (Can use a Ziploc freezer bag, if freezing). Freeze.”
Will that make the oatmael soggy? yours doesn’t look soggy in the picture that you have of all three separate pie pans.
Yes, you still add the milk in. You bake it so the oatmeal isn’t soggy at all.
So you bake it before you freeze it?
You could, but I just freeze it and then thaw and bake it.
Thanks, Crystal, for such a great recipe! I have another one I usually use from another blogger “friend”, but love to have more versions or variations to try!
I just baked a batch tonight for tomorrow morning, since I had to use the oven for supper. I actually baked it right away (after mixing), used almond milk for the milk (this time sweetened vanilla; probably should reduce the sugar next time), and added cut up fresh strawberries. I sampled a little piece for dessert (because I couldn’t resist), and it is delicious!
When I used to have to be up much earlier and would get up at 5:30 am to “beat” my sons up (that is, from bed), I would often mix up baked oatmeal or other breakfasts and bake them fresh in the morning. It’s so nice to wake up to the aromas of baking breakfast.
This is now in our regular rotation. It still cracks me up every time I serve this that it fed Crystal’s whole family three times! This one pan feeds my three boys (9,7,5) and if I scrape up a few crumbs, my 3 year old daughter ? so if any adults are eating, I double it and make two pans. I also dice two green apples and throw those in and I now lovingly call it, “Apple pie oatmeal” and my kids devour it! The green apple keeps its shape and texture when cooking. Then I topnit with raisins and pecans out of the oven. If you’re a raisin fan, don’t pitnthe raisins in before cooking; they turn to plump mushy half-hearted grapes after absorbing the moisture in the pan. It’s a drier oatmeal than I was expecting, but pouring the milk in (we use plain, unsweetened almond milk) afterwards is excellent. I also reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup. The raisins and apples make up for it. You’d never miss it. Excellent recipe! It’s in the oven for overnight guests as I type this! Sure crowd pleaser!!
Just to update: My family can now eat almost the entire pan in one sitting. 🙂
Adults included? ? you’re my hero ? lol! If I want my hubby and I to eat, I have to make two unless I fill the kids with fruits, etc. to get by! You should try it with the green apples. I cut up 2-3, depending on the size, but it comes out to around 3 cups of diced green apples. Thx again for such a fun recipe!
Looks yummy, will have to try. Oatmeal is so filling and does go such a long ways. 2 out of 5 of us love it, yet maybe more will give it a whirl with this recipe. Thank you!
Would this work with rice milk?
I use unsweetened almond milk and it works great!! I’m sure rice milk would be the same…
Have you tried making with honey or maple syrup instead of sugar?
I haven’t. Let us know if you try it!
Baked Oatmeal was a hit!
When I mentioned oatmeal for breakfast both of my boys started complaining… popped it in the oven and served with milk and they were both wanting more. A weekly must have!
For those who are wondering if they would like this – if you like cake, you will most likely love baked oatmeal. Depending on the recipe (we toss chocolate chips in ours), it reminds me of oatmeal cake – a lovely dessert. Except we get to eat it for breakfast….
I would line the pie pans with foil or plastic wrap first. That way after they are frozen, you can remove the pie pan from the oatmeal and not have them tied up in the freezer for several weeks.
Do you think you could use steel cut oatmeal?
this is great! thanks for this challenge! we are going on a trip soon and I would LOVE to not have to immediately go to the grocery store once we are home 🙂
We love baked oatmeal! I never thought to split it up and freeze. Thank you for that idea! Now, we can have it more often without anymore effort 🙂
love this post! i havent been on the website for several days due to moving but now that im pretty settled i cant wait to start freezer cooking for the first time! the previous homeowners graciously left us a good size chest freezer 🙂
I made this recipe a few weeks ago, and LOVED it! I threw a handful of frozen blueberries in, and my kids enjoyed that. We nearly cleaned out a single batch (Me, and three girls, 5 and under). Also, I did not cook it in a 9×13 pan. It looked barely half full, so I switched to my favorite 5×7 (ish) pans.
One more tip: My oven has a timed bake setting, so I put the pan of cold/frozen oatmeal covered in foil in the oven the night before and set the oven to turn on at a certain time the next morning. It worked so well! We had a hot breakfast, without me having to rattle around in the kitchen before the kids were up.
Today I did 2 dozen muffins, 16 breakfast sandwiches, and 3 1/2 cups cooked and shredded chicken. Part of the chicken for dinner tonight and the rest into the freezer. I also got all my laundry done with the dishes! Feel accomplished today.
I am laughing. My 3-year-old doesn’t like our baked oatmeal, and we STILL usually go through a pan in 2 days!
The way I learned a similar recipe years ago was to microwave it. We used a glass pie plate or similar size casserole dish and covered it with plastic wrap (with a little place for steam to escape) and microwaved it for 11 minutes. I think our microwave was a bit on the slow side then, but you want it to be dry in the middle. My husband likes it with some red-hot candies thrown in. Now that our kids are grown and have their own kids, I’ll make it when they are visiting.
I made this last weekend and replaced the butter with apple sauce. It was awesome and lowered the calories! We add Craisins and pecans and my husband and three year old eat it like a bar cookie for snack.
I would have never thought of freezing oatmeal. I’ll have to try this! Thanks for the recipe and inspiration!
So let me see if I understand this (I’ve been dying to try making this, it looks so good)…you can either make it and freeze it BEFORE baking and then thaw and bake, or you can bake and freeze in individual portions???
And would it be good with soymilk instead? (milk allergy in the family)…would that affect the freezing in any way?
And lastly (sorry so many questions but this is a GREAT idea!)…you mentioned putting it in a freezer bag…are you putting the pie plate in the freezer bag or just the oatmeal mixture (this is the dumbest question, I know, but I really want to make this and have it come out right!) 🙂 Thanks a bunch for this great blog 🙂
Ive been anxious for this recipe! When I was a teen and on Teen Missions trips, we made this and I loved it. I’ve never found the right recipe. Your picture looks like what we made. I’m anxious to try it.
Oh, and also….
I was one if the very negative commenters on your FB link regarding your clothing minimalism. Though I had a light hearted lol kind of emotion when I posted I feel it may have come across harshly. The fact is, the Lord convicted me that I have too much clothing and I’m even today cleaning some out ( a lot actually lol). I also noticed that on the last few Target deals you let yourself get some tops. I think that’s good. We all need to fine tune out extreme sides. Otherwise one of us will be on the Hoarders show and the other on Monk! Lol). So thanks and I hope you can sense the humor of it all.
Wow. I think your family must not be big eaters. Or do you serve this with other things…like fruit and eggs and juice? Because just serving this with milk on top, we nearly eat the whole recipe….just me, a 2 yr old, and a 4 yr old. Oh, and the kids will still be hungry an hour or so later! And, no, none of us are overweight.
I feel like I can never get ahead when it comes to buying and cooking food. I don’t get it. I’ve often wondered if we just need to eat more meat and less grains, and maybe that will fill us up and actually save money. Anyone find that to be true for them?
Oh my gosh, we are right there with you. Kids are 4 and 19 months. DH can easily eat half a 13 x 9 casserole and the kids and I usually finish the rest. None of us are overweight, either; we are just super active and eat full meals! It is frustrating, even when I try to “overcook” in order to have something to freeze I find we go through it. My favorite is when people tell me I should be able to get 3-4 dinners from one full chicken. On what planet?!?! I get two, tops, and that’s because I boil the bones for broth and hide any leftover meat for soup LOL. Anyhow, I have no good advice, just thought I would commiserate. I will say that I would spend lots more if I didn’t “fill in” with grains like rice or bread…meat is so much more expensive and if I make it they will eat it all in one sitting…
We are all “big eaters” in my family too, and I don’t think it’s at all weird or abnormal. I often double a recipe just to have enough for supper plus maybe a tad leftover for a lunch or 2. I triple or quadruple if I truly need to make more than 1 meal out of it, and yes, we eat a lot of chicken too! I tried the baked oatmeal recipe because we all love oatmeal, but while no one in my family cared at all for that recipe, the vast majority of recipes on this site have been huge hits and I’m very grateful for them!
I made granola and got my dough for cinnamon rolls in the bread machine. Then I made smoothies. I have the ingredients for southwest roll-ups ready, I just have to put that together and freeze tonight.
Since I haven’t made cinnamon rolls in awhile, I baked a few (plus I was using a new recipe, your other one for the bread machine). I froze the rest. It was a success! This was quite an accomplishment for me.
I love this series. I love the way you are breaking it up (breakfast foods this week). It’s a great guideline, yet allows us flexibility to do our own thing. Many thanks!
I remember when a pie plate (half my recipe) fed my family. Now I make a double batch and sometimes we have to fight over that. I don’t understand how they can eat that much but it’s a favorite and you know kids, if they like it they can stock up for awhile on something. I wonder sometimes how much I’d have to make to have leftovers.
I’m really interested to try this recipe now. I’ve never been a huge fan of oatmeal, and neither my husband or children are either. However, I’m trying to slowly add more whole wheat/whole grains to my diet. I think I’m going to half the recipe and try it. That way I can split it up into a few single servings for me.
I’m also making bread for the freezer today. I decided not to actually make the pancakes for the freezer, because they just never taste as good as fresh. I don’t want to make a whole bunch of things that we won’t really enjoy. That’s usually what happens when I try to do “freezer cooking” and it’s what has seriously turned me off to “freezer cooking”.
Instead, I scouted all through my cabinets and found three dishes with lids that seal well. I’m going to just mix up the dry ingredients for the pancake recipe and put it in my pantry. I’ll also write out the recipe for the wet ingredients on part of an index card and tape it to the outside of the container. That way I can have part of the process already done, saving time and energy, but will have the benefit of the fresh taste.
You should try this! I hate oatmeal but really like this. It totally takes care of the mushy texture part of oatmeal. (I don’t add milk to this when serving it for myself. I just eat it dry. Some of my kids add milk.)
I made oatmeal packets for the pantry as this is how we enjoy oatmeal the most. We have never made baked oatmeal but we will be giving this recipe a try.
Could you add some flax seed to this? If so, are there any other things you would add to or take away from the recipe?
I’d probably just add them in — unless you were going to add more than 1/4 cup or so, I don’t think it would make much of a difference. Great idea!
I’ve done this recipe with flax- probably about 2 to 3 tbsp. Works well. I usually do it with about 1/2 c brown sugar- (or a little less) and then substitute half of the butter with applesauce. (Or I’ve also done it with coconut oil- yum!) And I add choc chips (probably makes up for the reduction in sugar.)
have you ever tried this with almond milk instead of regular milk?
Yes, I have, and it definitely works well.
I also like to bake it first &, after it’s cooled, freeze it in serving size pieces. My teens can heat it up quickly before school in the mornings. They leave for school by 6:45am; we’re too rushed if I try to bake a pan in the mornings.
What a great idea; thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing this idea, Kelly! I am going to do that when I make this.
Thank you for posting this! I was scrolling down to ask how it would do freezeing after baking. With the summer heat quickly approaching, I am trying to fill up my freezer now with things that need baked so I can limit my oven use this summer. I’m going to make several batches of this today and freeze the baked portions.
Thanks so much for sharing! I was just scrolling to see if that was answered in the comments since I wondered about single serving portions.
I am glad you posted this. I too would like this in the morning but no time Thanks
I was gone most of the day and evening yesterday so I am hoping that this afternoon I will be able to get another item ready for the freezer. I will link up later tonight. 🙂
I’m not an oatmeal fan either but this looks really good! I think my kids would enjoy it…thanks for sharing.
I am loving the freezer cooking posts. I am looking forward to trying some new recipes for my family. I was curious, have you ever put fruit like strawberries or blueberries in the baked oatmeal before freezing it?
We sometimes top it with fruit, but I personally don’t like the sort of mushy taste of fruit baked in. But that’s just me… 🙂
When I make baked oatmeal to serve right away I often add frozen blueberries. I’m not sure how they would be if you put them in and froze them already in the oatmeal. Probably a little mushy. Another favorite at our house is to put sliced fresh apples or peaches with a bit of cinnamon and sugar sprinkled over them in the bottom of the pan and then put the oatmeal on top. It’s sort of like having apple pie for breakfast. 🙂 Craisins or raisins are yummy too if you stir them in before you bake it.
Mmm. . . I love pie for breakfast. My parents used to let us eat leftover slices of pie for breakfast when I was little and that sounds so good!
I am so glad you made it to Joplin safely =) We will be headed that way in about 2 hours after my morning run =)
I have a question… Do you freeze it in the pie pan or ziplock bags and pour on the pan before baking?
I froze these in the pie pans. But I wouldn’t recommend doing that unless you’re planning to eat the oatmeal within 3-4 weeks.
I never thought about freezing oatmeal. Just my daughter and I like it, so I would probably have to do an even smaller pan for just the 2 of us. I hope your sessions go well today.
I did giggle at the amount of oatmeal, because my son (5) will eat the equivalent of 5 packets of PLAIN oatmeal with about 1/4 cup of raisins & a dash of cinnamon mixed in. I will have to try this because my kids LOVE oatmeal, even if I don’t. 🙂
Wow! 🙂
Is it safe to substitute splenda or truvia for the sugar in the recipe?
This recipe never interested me until I saw the pixs tonight. May have to try it. I went to the Amish bulk store and stocked the freezer with Wheat Germ, raspberry chocolate chips, 7-grain baking mix, no whey and unsalted butter, lite english and combo walnuts. I calculated double and triple the savings so splurged and got whole wheat peach/apricot fig newtons for a treat.
Raspberry chocolate chips? What are those? They sound good!
They are chocolate chips which have raspberry flavoring. It is an item unique to our Amish store. They taste like chocolate and raspberry. My nieces love chocolate chip pancakes/waffles. I make them batches for their freezer.
They also have grapefruit gummy candy which is another unique item.
I think the Prepared Pantry carries things like that too. (online)
My sister lives in NY state and they have an Amish store within a half hour from them. It’s one of the highlights of our visit to go and buy bulk dry goods to take home! I get such a great buy on their wonderful Prairie Gold flour that I stock up with enough for six months to a year, drive it all the way home with us to Massachusetts, and put it in containers in my freezer. What a gold mine!
That baked oatmeal looks really good with milk and simple to make. I’ve never been partial to oatmeal, myself… but I may have to give this a try. Thanks for the recipe!