I hope you bought the big bag of oats, as I have another recipe for you. These can serve as a quick and easy breakfast, or a between meal snack.
I tried to find the simplest version of a granola bars recipe - in this experiment, we can't really afford loads of brown sugar, butter, or expensive dried fruit and nuts.
So after a lot of hunting, I found this simple recipe on Detoxinista. I've adapted it slightly, since we can't really be too choosy on the ingredients.
Equipment:
Saucepan (preferably non-stick)
Wooden spoon
Mixing bowl
Measuring cup or scales
Baking tray (optional)
Parchment (baking) paper (optional)
Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats (180g)
1/2 cup peanut butter (175g)
1/2 cup honey (125g)
1/2 cup (75g) or your preference of sultanas
Instructions:
Bring the honey to a rolling boil (bubbles forming rapidly), and boil for one minute. Take off the heat, mix in the peanut butter, then pour into a bowl with the oats and sultanas. Mix until evenly coated. Yes, the colour is unpleasant!
Then either press into a loaf tin, swiss roll tray, or let cool slightly and shape into bars with your hands. I've used a loaf tin, and I've lined it with baking paper to make it easier to lift the mix out.
Chill in the fridge and then slice. This makes 6-7 bars, depending on how large you slice them. As you can see, I've been quite generous!I've reused the parchment paper to wrap each bar - this makes them easier to separate when frozen. These do take a couple of hours to defrost, so you may want to put one in the fridge the night before if you plan to have one for breakfast. Or throw one in your bag for an afternoon snack.
Cost:180g Tesco Everyday Value Oats @ 75p per kilo = 13.5p
175g honey @ £2.91 per kilo = 50.96p
125g peanut butter @ £1.91 per kilo = 23.89p
75g sultanas @ £1.78 per kilo = 13.35p
Total - £1.02p for 6-7 bars
All in all, it's not actually a massive saving. You will frequently find various brands of breakfast bars on sale for around the same price, or in the various pound shops. They will usually only have 4-5 bars, and probably won't be quite as dense and filling as these ones, but we've still not made a massive saving here.
The Verdict
Unconvinced. The uncooked oats, while not unpleasant, taste odd, and the bars are so dense that they weigh quite heavily on the stomach first thing in the morning. I think these probably would have benefited from being baked, perhaps with some cornflakes or rice krispies to lighten them up a bit.
Given the time and cost to make, I don't think I'd try this specific recipe again. That said, the individual ingredients are something I would try again. Unless you're eating it by the spoonful, the honey and peanut butter don't have any noticeable difference from the more expensive brands, and sultanas are sultanas!
