The Reason You Should Start Making Oatmeal In A Slow Cooker

You know that grabbing a Pop-Tart out of the pantry or settling for a stale donut from the break room at work (or worse, skipping breakfast altogether) isn't an ideal start to your morning. But your mornings are busy enough as they are, and you're hardly willing to sacrifice a few extra minutes of sleep just to cook up a nutritious breakfast. Fortunately, you don't have to, as long as you have a slow cooker.

According to popular cooking blogs and publications like The Kitchn, you can make oatmeal in your slow cooker — but why should you? Not only is oatmeal full of good-for-you fiber and hearty protein, but opting to make it in your slow cooker instead of on the stove might be the answer to your weekday breakfast dilemmas. Try this set-it-and-forget-it method and you might never be relegated to those leftover Krispy Kremes again.

Oatmeal isn't the most time-consuming dish to whip up. After all, it takes just 10 minutes on the stove and mere minutes in the microwave. But those could be 10 minutes you just don't have in the morning (or 10 minutes you'd rather spend sleeping). If you make your oatmeal in the slow cooker the night before, however, you'll have your piping hot bowl of oats ready and waiting for you when you wake up. Plus, you can make a large batch of it on Sunday night and have breakfast made for the week.

Want to try it for yourself? The Kitchn provides easy-to-follow instructions for making your own slow cooker oatmeal. Simply combine water and oats in the slow cooker, set it to low, and let it cook for about eight hours. Then, when you're ready to chow down, simply scoop it into a bowl and add any toppings you'd like (they recommend cream, dried fruit, or nuts for extra flavor and nutrients). The result is a whole lot creamier than the usual chewiness of microwaved oats. If you'd still like to graze or save a bowl for someone else, just put your slow cooker on the warm setting.