Convenience

So I get this big box of oatmeal in the mail yesterday … (Thanks, Kristen!)

And then Bittman just happens to write about McD’s attempt to ruin a perfectly good food that everyone thought was nearly bomb-proof.

How to Make Oatmeal . . . Wrong

 

You can read it for yourself … all common sense … oatmeal was just fine the way it came out of the ground, and only a corporation as big as McDonald’s could find a way to ruin it.

Money quote: The aspect one cannot argue is nutrition: Incredibly, the McDonald’s product contains more sugar than a Snickers bar and only 10 fewer calories than a McDonald’s cheeseburger or Egg McMuffin. (Even without the brown sugar it has more calories than a McDonald’s hamburger.)

So yeah, duh, if you make your own, it will be healthier than what you can get from a drive-thru lane.

But this is the part that gets lost of westerners: it’s less convenient, not more, to buy oatmeal from these guys.

Take a scoop of regular (not quick) oatmeal, dump it in a ziplock, add some brown sugar, some nuts, some dried fruit, whatever. Dump it in a bowl at work (coffee cups work great) and nuke it for a minute. (Personal preference: 50% power for 3:30.) Enjoy when and where you want it.

I’ve never lost this bet: we both leave work at the same time, and I’ll drive into a grocery store, run in and grab some to go lunch (apple, grapes, small block of cheese, kaiser roll, etc), and I’ll spend less and get back to work faster than you will going through the drive thru.

I know, preaching to the choir …