DIY Oatmeal Station

A couple of weeks ago Kristie at Beneficial Bento posted about a salad bar she had set up for her family.  I love the idea but my kids are not big salad eaters.  They like their veggie plate.  However, we eat a TON of oatmeal.  I have tried making the DIY instant oatmeal packets that I saw on  A Little Yumminess.  I used her recipe as a jumping off point when making my own packets.  We go through so many of them though it was becoming wasteful.  I decided to make an Oatmeal Station based off of Kristie's salad bar idea.

I have a large Lock & Lock container (I think I'll invest in the Snapware container Kristie has!) with smaller containers inside.  These contain freeze dried fruits.

Then in a Rubbermaid container I have 2 layers of  Wilton silicone cups with other mix-ins.

The mix-ins will change from time to time depending on what I have on hand.  I usually store my seeds/nuts in the freezer but these are such small amounts that I know we will go through quickly so I don't mind leaving them out.  I also keep a container of freshly ground flax seeds in my fridge that we mix in pretty much every bowl.  I also have chocolate and original Whey Crisps that we sometimes mix in.  You can mix them in and let them sit to soften but we like the texture of them when they are crispy so we add them at the last minute.

This is my set up.  I have seen lots of recipes online for the oat mixture.  What I did was 5 cups of oats (I have used quick oats and old fashioned oats, my kids like a mix of the two best) and 1 1/2 nonfat dry milk powder.  I choose not to sweeten the entire mixture.  Depending on the mix-ins it can get pretty sweet before you are done.  So we sweeten on a bowl by bowl basis.  To make a bowl of oatmeal we use 1/3 cup oatmeal mixture, 1/3 cup hot water and a couple of scoops of mixins.  For the water I just eyeball it.  If it is too watery we just had a little more chia seeds or ground flax seeds and it thickens up nicely.