"Weird Harold's oatmeal is so old." "How old is it?" "Weird Harold's oatmeal is so old that [insert rest of the joke]."
The old Match Game reruns had this pattern, which was a homage to the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson audience.
The modern human response is to buy food even with food in the house. You need a specific item or want to use up food and desire another ingredient that can put them together.
Truly empty refrigerators feel like a cheap prop in a movie or TV show. We shop for more food while we have food in the house.
Some food gets lost in the shuffle. The food is lost until you rediscover it, more of a problem if you live alone.
I came across a container full of locally sourced whole hullless oats. The kind of oatmeal that takes 20-30 minutes to make. The kind we never "time" to make.
With my recent look at reduced enthusiasm for food, which is sadly a real thing, I knew I had to jumpstart meals to increase enthusiasm. That is when I ran across the oats.
On the surface, the "best by" date was an alarmingly long time ago: October 2019. The hullless oats were still in good shape, not at their best. Still edible? Turns out to be rather good.
Our sibling blog — CanadianCrossing.com — had a story on how the CFL Edmonton Elks had a record home losing streak that went back to October 2019. That streak finally got snapped in 2023. How old were the oats? The oats were that old.
The only noticeable shift was that cooking the oats didn't take 20-30 minutes to cook, the time now close to 10 minutes on the stovetop. I have time for 10 minutes on the stovetop in the morning.
I'm also using up maple sugar and cinnamon that have been in the cupboards for awhile.
Coping with reduced enthusiasm for food
I plan to use up the oats ½ cup at a time until the oats are gone. I save money because this money is spent. Using up food in the house is a good way to go to the grocery store less often. Fewer headaches since you don't have to stare at the prices these days in the grocery store.
We are told to be creative with our food bill to save money. Switch to beans and rice instead of steak. Hamburger Helper by itself? All of that is good. This is a simple solution. Eat what is in the house already.
The oats taste good and with the colder weather, oatmeal feels good inside my body. As long as the oats taste good, this helps my food budget.
Chances are your creative eating solution won't involve something as wild as 4-year-old oatmeal well past the "best by" deadline. Feel free to share your solution in the comments section, provided you are comfortable sharing with the whole class.
photo credit: me
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