Healthy and cheap/er breakfast bars

jenniewb

I'd agree- if you make your own it may also entice your husband to take one with him, something about home cooking can give what is otherwise a basic flapjack a bit more appeal.

We used to make very basic versions at school, not sure if you have a set recipy but the one we used was around 300g of oats, mix with honey, add a handful dried fruit and a dash of milk, pinch of salt. Wizz together, place the whole thing on a baking tray and cook for 15 ish minutes on 180. Cool and chop into peices before it totally cools (but not when hot or it just reseals itself!). You can keep these in the fridge.
Add things like lemon or orange zest (grate the skin of an orange or lemon), sprinklings of seeds and/or nuts, drizzle with icing sugar or so on to differ the taste.

Of course you can try things like biscuits, cakes and scones and the like but in terms of keeping you full and not messing with your hunger signals I'd stick to oats and if you can, try not to OD on the honey as it is essentially sugar and too much sugar will just boost your appetite. (Having said that there is often far more sugar and high corn fructose in shop bought breakfast bars then there are in home cooking though this is another generalisation!)

Edwardia

Thank you all for the recommendations so far. OH chose two boxes in Sainsbury's (Alpen) and two in Morrisons (Nature Valley) on the basis of least sugar and no almonds so I'll find out what he thought tonight.

I was shocked to find fructose in the Jordan's ones..

jenniewb

Edwardia wrote: »

I was shocked to find fructose in the Jordan's ones..

Not so shocking when you consider fructose is just a highly concerntrated version of fruit sugar and Jordans is made up of (among other things) fruits which have been dried and cooked, this concerntrating the fruit sugars within them- though they probably add more as the stuff is very very sweet!

Edwardia

Call me cynical, I think 25% fruit and fructose as the second ingredient does indicate added fructose to me. Sugar itself is only 50% fructose and fructose in fruit comes with fibre. Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver and in the quantities in which we eat it these days, it's not good.

My diet is around 99% sugar free and OH eats lower than average amounts of sugar and is finding the Alpen cereal bars too sweet.

Not sure this experiment will work, whether I made them myself or not, when he forgets the bar that's supposed to be his breakfast, as he did this morning !

bossymoo

:j
Hello Edwardia!

It's a nuisance when lunch is all done then forgotten and left in the fridge! I do it all the time.

What about muffins instead of cereal bars? Still quite portable, and again if you make them yourself (or better stil, himself!) you know exactly what's in them! They freeze well too, so could make big batches?

Oh and a post it note on the front door to remind him

X

Edwardia

Hi there bossymoo :A

If I didn't have diabetes that would be an excellent idea and he and I could enjoy warm blueberry muffins every morning BUT as I do have it, resisting blueberry anything is too much temptation ! :eek:

The Alpen Light strawberry flavour is reported as being not bad.. well that is if you're a non-low carber who doesn't mind the odd E number..

Found that Doves Farm do organic cereal bars at Waitrose so will add some on to my next order. I know it would be better and maybe cheaper if I made them, but not being someone who bakes that's a strange thing for me.

jenniewb

Edwardia wrote: »

Found that Doves Farm do organic cereal bars at Waitrose so will add some on to my next order. I know it would be better and maybe cheaper if I made them, but not being someone who bakes that's a strange thing for me.

Why not try? Could even be fun and you could even try roping your husband into it Not to sound patronising but its so easy with cereal/museli bars as your not relying on things looking pretty or for flour to rise, its the sort of thing where you just heap the ingredients together and mix then bake. It can help to have it in a certain order because it makes the mixing easier but if you have a mixing machine (eg like a Kenwood) then its not really something you need to be too fussed about.

You could even try using different cereals to see what works out best.

Edwardia

jenniewb thanks for the encouragement. I confess that I'm a college-trained ex-chef, I just don't do baking. I've never had a real sweet tooth, which is why being diagnosed with diabetes was a shock. I low carb to keep it under control so I'd have to buy a load of ingredients we don't keep in the house.

When OH forgets the cereal bar I'd feel like all that time, effort and money was being wasted

I got bacon out of the freezer for him and bought Brie specially so he could do bacon and Brie rolls. He didn't bother to cook the bacon and it sat there for over a week before I chucked it away. :eek:

OH called me this morning saying he's had "terrible trouble going " to use his euphemism. So not sure the cereal bar experiment will carry on..

jenniewb

Edwardia wrote: »

jenniewb thanks for the encouragement. I confess that I'm a college-trained ex-chef, I just don't do baking. I've never had a real sweet tooth, which is why being diagnosed with diabetes was a shock. I low carb to keep it under control so I'd have to buy a load of ingredients we don't keep in the house.

When OH forgets the cereal bar I'd feel like all that time, effort and money was being wasted

I got bacon out of the freezer for him and bought Brie specially so he could do bacon and Brie rolls. He didn't bother to cook the bacon and it sat there for over a week before I chucked it away. :eek:

OH called me this morning saying he's had "terrible trouble going " to use his euphemism. So not sure the cereal bar experiment will carry on..

Lol- your partner sounds just like my dad! He had a heart attack last month and it was bad enough to keep him in hospital for 3 weeks! He seems not to be able to (or perhaps does not want to) aknowledge his part in his own ill health, ordering things like steak pie, mashed potato and cake and custard with chocolate bars to top up on throughout the day... leaving it to my sister and me, two adults who have since long moved away, to try very hard to educate him on the affects of his own actions!

I sometimes wonder if we don't just leave them to it to show them the results of their own mistakes but of course thats not an option- the result of doing that doesn't bare thinking about!

I wish you luck and hope your reluctant husband realises he plays the biggest part in his health rather then leaving it up to you

Edwardia

To be fair to OH his main meals are low carb, unprocessed and increasingly organic; he watches the saturated fat intake, doesn't have sugar other than in jam and Branston etc. I'd say 90% of his diet is pretty healthy but he's underweight rather than overweight and as he hates getting up early he dashes out without breakfast. If he doesn't have time for lunch that's just not good.

Thinking of trying croissants and pain au chocolat next..