I have seen ‘refrigerator oats’ on a few blogs and on pinterest, and although a Bircher muesli type breakfast soaked overnight isn’t a new concept for me, the idea of pre- preparing and serving breakfast in mason jars made me keen to give it a try.

The idea of these is that you can prepare a week’s worth on a Sunday night, and then have a healthy breakfast ready to go that you can eat on the run if necessary. I personally didn’t have space in my fridge for so many mason jars, so made them on a nightly basis to save precious morning time.

Like porridge, the possibilities flavour-wise are endless, and a few I came up with included blueberry and coconut, strawberry and slivered almonds, banana and cacao nibs and raspberry and macadamia nut.

Other ideas I am keen to try include grated apple and cinnamon, passion fruit with toasted nuts and other seasonal summer fruits like mango, peaches and plums.

 

My theory was to make up a jar of ‘base’ mixture using a variety of dry ingredients including:

Oats, chopped almonds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, dried coconut, chia seeds

I have a big appetite at breakfast – so found that a cup of this mixture was a perfect amount.

• Add some flavour:

Ground cinnamon, raw cacao, other spices

• Add some liquid:

I used 2 tablespoons natural yoghurt mixed with some water but regular milk, almond milk or coconut water would also work well

• Add some fresh fruit (or frozen berries):

Banana or apple should probably be added immediately before eating but berries are great popped in the jar the night before

• Top with something crunchy:

To give a bit of extra texture I added one of the following – toasted coconut, slivered almonds, macadamia nuts, cacao nibs

• Sweetness (if required):

I skipped this step as the fruit was sweet enough, but this would be delicious with a drizzle of honey or maple syrup or a sprinkle of stevia.