Recipe of the Week: Tim J.’s Thermal Steel Cut Oats

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This recipe for “no fuss” Thermal Steel Cut Oats comes to us courtesy of blog reader and frequent content contributor Tim J.

You will need an 18-ounce Thermos-style vacuum jar. (Weighs 1 pound.)

Ingredients:
  • Slightly less than 1/2 cup (minus 1 tablespoon) of steel cut oats.  Note: Do not use the quick (3-minute) variety of oats.
  • 1 & 3/4 cups boiling water
  • 1/2 cup of your favorite dried fruit
Directions:
  1. Combine the oats and boiling hot water in a thermal jar.
  2. Seal it tightly.
  3. Shake the jar.
  4. Let sit on its side for 8 hours (overnight.)
Chef’s Notes:

Preparation time is very quick, basically the time required to boil the water.

The containers allow for sealed transport on the move, like hiking.

A home, I make it at night. I store any leftovers in a ziploc twist top in the refrigerator, and microwave before eating.

You can vary the water amount for the desired consistency.

This can be scaled up, for groups.

This requires patience and planning, it is for your next meal.

This is what I use:

For some reason, thermal cooking with less than 18 oz doesn’t seem to work, I think it is an issue of insufficient thermal mass.

I learned this recipe from some former Force Recon Marines, decades ago. They would also cook bulk grains while on the move, with minimal fire. They were using the old glass thermal jars, which I seemed to break on a regular basis. The newer metal vacuum containers are totally superior.

Also, I have been having some issues with dried fruit, digestive (old fruit) and chewing (hard fruit). I have found that reconstituting the fruit, boiling water in a thermal container for 30-40 minutes eliminates these issues. This works well with Raisins, Prunes, Peaches, Pears, Apples, Cherries, and Blueberries.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!


9 Comments

  1. Tim J! This is an excellent recipe, and the thoughts about the crock and thermos are great additions. Just last night my husband and I were talking about in-ground shelters, and ways to improve survival comfort for any period of time required in one of those. We very much enjoy steel cut oats, and the crock you’ve recommended is now officially on our shopping list! This is a great addition to the SB community cooking and meal prep ideas.

  5. Yes, or bulgur wheat (what we used to call Ralston). And an alternative to the Thermos while you still have electricity is to use one of the small crock pots and let the grains and fruit slow cook overnight.

  6. As I mention during each conversation about oats:
    For the over-night soak, I add a splash of lime juice or vinegar to dispel the naturally-occuring pesticides.
    The phytates / phytic acid and lectins, pesticides innate to most plants, get blamed for many ‘allergy’ symptoms, so they are probably best avoided by some folks.

    Around here, we make the base oatmeal breakfast recipe, then stir-in seasoned browned ground meat such as lamb or venison.
    This approximates the fantastic Scot supper called ‘haggis’.
    Yum!

  7. My version uses rolled oats and milk. No cooking, no soaking, just a little sugar. It may not have the texture you are used to but I like it just fine. For backpacking I just put some powdered milk in when I bag it up and out on the trail just add water. Good with raisins too.

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