I often ate instant oatmeal before going to school. Tear open packet, dump in bowl, pour boiling water and stir.
I haven’t bought any for decades. Got nostalgic and bought Quaker Maple. They didn’t offer the variety pack I remember from childhood. It had raisin, apple cinnamon, maple and a couple other varieties.
This new “instant” oatmeal wants the oats and water zapped in the microwave. My first attempt resulted in mushy paste. I had to drown it in cold milk to eat.
Next try, I doubled the amount of water and ignored the boxes’ recommendation. Zapped in microwave. Still mushy but at least it didn’t stick to the spoon.
I’ll probably throw out the rest of the box. It’s absolute crap.
When did they get rid of the instant oatmeal we grew up with and loved?
It even looks like mush on the box. Instant oatmeal had separate flakes that didn’t break down when you added boiling water.
I’ve seen the variety packs in the grocery store. My wife likes the instant stuff, she makes it in the wave according to instructions, the only way she knows how to cook. I still add it to boiling water and it comes out about the same as ever. I think you may be using too much water if you get mush. But it is probably somewhat more pre-cooked to make it work better in the microwave which could get it to be more mushy.
I wonder if my microwave is over cooking it?
The water boils over and out of the bowl. I am zapping with the time they recommend on the box.
I’m going to try 85% power in the morning.
I worked at Quaker Oats in the late '90s, and I was the market researcher on Instant Quaker Oatmeal (among other brands) for a time.
I don’t think that there’s any one thing that anyone can point to and say “it changed on date X”, but when you were a kid, nearly everyone made it by pouring boiling water into a bowl that had the dry oatmeal in it. Now, the default cooking method is to cook it all together in the microwave, and it’s possible that the formulation was changed at some point to reflect that cooking method.
A few things I’d suggest:
- Yes, your microwave may well be a higher-wattage oven, and is overcooking it. Microwaving instructions are calibrated for a certain wattage (and it probably says what that is on the package). Boil-overs in the microwave are a not-uncommon problem when microwaving instant oatmeal. Try less time or lower power; it’s probably going to be some trial-and-error.
- Try microwaving it with milk instead of water, which should lead to a better texture and flavor.
- Try doing it the old-fashioned way, and boil the water separately, then add it to the dry oatmeal in a bowl. Cooking it in the microwave, with the water already added, will give a different texture than adding boiling water to the dry oatmeal.
All of that said, memories can get hazy, and an adult’s tastes are different. You simply may not be able to replicate what you remember it tasted like, decades ago, because what you liked then isn’t actually what you’d like now.
I see amazon has the variety pack I remember from childhood. Apple & cinnamon was always my favorite.
My grocery had this variety pack. Didn’t look too appealing. Peaches & cream? Banana & cream? I always have bananas on my countertop. I don’t need their dehydrated banana. I never have liked peaches in cereal. I eat peaches by taking a big bite out of a fresh one. 
Just noticed neither variety pack offers raisin. WTH Quaker? Is that bad wig on too tight or something?
Oatmeal Raisin is by far the most popular choice by a long shot. I add a handful of my own raisins to EVERY bowl of cereal I eat.
I’ll experiment more with instant oats. See if I can get the results I want.
I can always pull out the double boiler and cook old fashion oats. Takes more effort but the results are more consistent.
Quick oats are so simple to make. I never got the instant part. They are nearly instant anyway. Saying that, my kids always wanted the instant variety pack. The flavors, I suppose. I cooked them with boiling water from the kettle. No one complained of mushiness. Now let’s talk instant grits; The absolute worst product in the grocery store!
Boil the water in the microwave & then add the oats. Then it wont be mushy.
See, I like to add just enough water to make it mushy, and then microwave it. Then I add milk afterwords – I think it tastes better that way, with the cold milk added. I’ll then mix in some brown sugar and cinnamon, and voila! The perfect bowl of oatmeal!
I just checked: the instant oatmeal I have on hand gives both “conventional” and microwave directions. So, you can still do it the way you did when you were a kid. But nowadays there are enough people who don’t have an easier way of boiling water than using the microwave, the microwave directions save a step.
The problem is, the amount of water to add is different, because some will boil off and evaporate during cooking—how much depends on how high the wattage is and how long you nuke it.
I found a kindred spirit on this blog.
This is how I prefer oatmeal. The flakes are easily seen. They aren’t mush.
She used old fashioned oats. I wouldn’t have the time before going to work.
Instant is the choice on weekdays.
The cardboard canisters of Quick Oats - One Minute cook fine if you pour them in a bowl and add boiling water. It cooks in a couple of minutes, and it’s not mush when it’s done. Add a bit of salt if desired and any combo of brown sugar, spices, and raisins. No need to have the instant packets at all.
Microwave oatmeal, like popcorn, is one of those things that you can’t just set the timer and let it go. You have to keep an eye on it. When I make oatmeal in the microwave, if it starts looking like it is going to bubble out the top of the bowl, I stop the microwave, let it sit for a few seconds, maybe stir it up, then start it again, repeat as needed.
On the other hand, when I make microwave oatmeal I use real oatmeal. Instant oatmeal has always been crap, even before there were microwaves.
Quaker absolutely makes instant oatmeal with raisins in it, aceplace:
http://www.quakeroats.com/products/hot-cereals/instant-oatmeal/raisin-and-spice.aspx
http://www.quakeroats.com/products/hot-cereals/instant-oatmeal/raisin-date-and-walnut.aspx
Now, whether those are easy to find in your store is another issue, but I found those in 15 seconds of googling, so it’s not like they’re some sort of secret. They probably don’t have them in the variety packs because, contrary to your belief, they are not the most popular flavor, at least not among kids, who are the primary consumers of instant oatmeal. (The most popular flavors are, in fact, Maple and Brown Sugar, and Apples and Cinnamon.)
If you want the texture of old-fashioned or quick oats, you need to go with those – as Beckdawrek and needscoffee note, quick oats aren’t terribly hard or time-consuming to make. The little bits of oats in instant oatmeal are that small because they have to be that small in order to hydrate more-or-less immediately. And, no, compared to oats that you actually have to cook, instant oatmeal simply cannot have the big visible oats, with a bit of a chewy texture to them.
I was referring to the variety packs that I linked. Raisin used to be in the variety packs.
I guess these days you buy Raisin separately. That’s not a big problem. Amazon will have it.
I’ll experiment with one minute oats. I like the suggestion to add boiling water to the oats. Let it sit 30 seconds. Then zap it for 30 seconds to keep the water hot while it cooks.
I’m at an age where eating oatmeal is a better choice than pancakes.
I need to eat more wisely.
Yeah, I misread your post when I originally replied. I edited my reply to include the info about variety packs, but probably while you were writing your last post. Sorry about that.
BTW, when I make instant oatmeal for myself, I boil milk (not water) in the microwave, in a Pyrex measuring cup, making sure to keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t boil over. While the resulting oatmeal doesn’t have the texture of quick or old-fashioned oats (because it simply can’t), it’s still a far sight better than nuking it with the water pre-added.
Cooking in milk a good idea kenobi. Something else for me to try.
Thanks
One of my sisters-in-law makes her oatmeal overnight: stir quick oats and cold water together in a covered bowl and leave in the fridge, then the next morning just zap for about a minute in the microwave, add brown sugar/whatever to taste, eat.
(Personally, I consume oatmeal just two ways: mixed into a meatloaf or baked into cookies.)
I take the 1 minute oats, put them in a bowl, add water, then microwave for two minutes. It comes out nicely cooked and ready to go.
Watching the boiling oats try to lift themselves out of the bowl is often the best part of my morning!