Umpqua Oats: Delicious Healthy Oatmeal to Go

Recently, I discovered a new product in our local grocery cereal aisle.  I am not a big cereal person, but in the fall and winter, I do like hot cereal to warm me up in the morning, or later in the day for a snack.  The packets of oatmeal or similar cereals are messy to take with me to work, and the usual hot cereal in a cup has too much sugar.

The new hot cereal that I discovered is made by a company called Umpqua Oats.  All they make is oatmeal to go, in a one serving size cup like the one shown here.  My grocery store had 4 varieties on the shelf, but when I decided to check further, I realized that there were several more types that they were not carrying.

Umpqua Oats was started by two women, Mandy and Sheri, who were looking for healthy, delicious, and nutritious breakfasts for their very active families.  But the key ingredient was that the breakfasts also had to be fast to make, because they were always on the run, taking kids to soccer games, and all the other places that busy moms have to run around with kids on a typical day.

I can completely related to their problem, because although my children are out of all the after school activities at this point, I myself need fast, easy to carry, nutritious meals that I want to eat for work each day.  I tend to work from about 9 am to 8 pm, sometimes in my shop, and sometimes at home, and don't want to grab the wrong snack or breakfast.  But if it is too complicated, I will not bother to make it.  I just do not have the time.

These two ingredients are in every cup of Umpqua Oats: (from their website)

Whole Rolled Oats
We use only whole thick rolled oats for an “old fashioned” taste.  Rolled oats contain thiamin, iron and fiber.  Fiber is helpful in reducing cholesterol levels in the bloodstream.  Whole oats are also the only source of antioxidant compounds known as avenanthramides.

Sucanat Sugar
Another quality ingredient we add to our oatmeal is sucanat sugar.  Sucanat is whole cane sugar that is simply made by crushing freshly cut sugar cane, extracting the juice and heating it in a large vat.  Once the sugar is reduced to a rich dark syrup it is hand paddled to cool creating the porous granules called sucanat.  Sucanat adds that caramel flavor to our oatmeal.

I can't speak for anyone else, but so far, my favorite is the R U Nutz? flavor, which has added flax seeds, almonds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, and cinnamon.  But I also like the Old School flavor which has apples, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts and almonds.  I originally didn't think that I would like the apples in Old School but I was wrong.

Since I can't get all the flavors in my local store, I will have to order the others online, but I do not think I will have any trouble eating them all.  They seem to mysteriously disappear from the cupboard shelves in my house.

 Umpqua Oats uses all recycled boxes and packaging when filling all orders. They also have some suggestions for recycling the cups when they are used.

• Use the cup to plant your favorite flower or herb garden

• Use the cup to store leftover food

• Help your kids create a piggy-bank out of the cup and lid

• Store color crayons or fun craft supplies in your Umpqua Oats cup