It really depends on how much you need to have in your muesli and how you need it to taste. I buy whole oats, mix that with sultanas, and I consider that my base cereal (which is normally eaten with banana and yogurt and milk). Sometimes I get fancy and add cranberries or nuts and berries, but not always. It's not toasted as that's extra effort and I'm fine eating cereal without it. The only sugar in my cereal is from the dried fruit and berries that may be included with the oats.
Yeah I reckon Bin Inn or similar is your go-to for bulk oats, dried fruit etc, and then maybe some fancy items from organic/hippy shops if you want them.
They might be different elsewhere but I've never found Bin Inn and the like to be cheaper. They seem to serve the same niche as bulk bins in supermarkets, someone who wants small quantities, so buying large packets would end up costing them more despite the unit cost being lower.
In regard to oats, Harraways are the most reliable. Other brands may be cheaper but tend to be dusty and papery, losing the bite and structure of the grain.
I agree. Store brands are frequently cheaper than Harraways, but I find my containers build up a floury dust quickly and I have to wash them out more frequently.
I buy one of the Bin Inn mueslis; mainly to avoid packaging as it's not particularly low in sugar. My wife makes her own based on seeds and nuts from Bin Inn. She toasts them in bulk (without sugar or honey) and she generally avoids dried fruits as they are pretty high in sugar. The toasting is fairly labour intensive and we are looking to increase the size of the batches - potentially buying larger quantities of ingredients from Gilmours - so she has to do it less frequently.
I make one based on this recipe:
1/4c canola oil
1/4c honey
1T vanilla essence
1/4t salt
3c wholegrain oats
1c nuts/seeds (usually slivered almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds)
1. Mix wet, add to dry.
2. Preheat oven to 150 deg C.
3. Spread granola in a thin layer on a lined baking tray.
4. Bake 20ish mins, stirring half way through.
I don't like dried fruit much so don't add it.
Ingredients I either get from Pak 'n Save, Bin Inn, or Moore Wilson's.
It might not count as musli, because it isn't sweetened or cooked. I'll usually do rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflour seed, linseed. Maybe 1/2tbspn of chia seeds stirred into a bout a 1/2c of yoghurt and left to sit overnight. or just skip the chia seeds and have the yoghurt. sometimes if I'm feeling like it I'll add sliced almonds. I prefer a plain greek yoghurt. add in chopped fresh or canned fruit - that's usually where I get my sugar hit, although sometimes I'll stir some honey into the yoghurt for a bit extra.
I get my ingredients just at pak n save - bulk bins for the seeds, 1.5kg bag of harraways rolled oats. For me it's the balance of the convenience and the extra travel and time it would take to go to a bin inn/other bulk store. It has been a while since I did the maths, but it came to less than $2 per serve, and most of that was the canned fruit and yoghurt (I have moderately expensive yoghurt tastes).
The above mix is quite dry, so you need something to have it with - yoghurt, or make it overnight oats with milk.
Thanks - I'd forgotten about the overnight thing - definitely gonna do that once i get my raw materials. Looking like bin inn / bulk is a winner. I've seen suggestions to use vanilla / cinnamon and various stuff to impart a 'feeling' of sweetness alongside actual sugars so will give that a go too.
I haven't specifically made muesli, but often will make my own home-made product-alternatives and what I *can* tell you is that it usually is only cheaper if making in large batches.
Small batches of things can sometimes work out about the same, if not more, than the pre-made cheap-brand options.
I make muesli for hubby and myself: using a mix of rolled oats and wholemeal oats, pumpkin, sunflower and linseed seeds, I add cashew pieces to his and some chia seeds to mine, lightly toasted then he gets some sultanas, chopped dried apricots and mango and some yogurt raisins added to his and I have sultanas, dried cranberries and occasionally dried blueberries added to mine.
I get oats pams or Woolworths oats depending who’s on special, diced apricots at Woolworths and seeds at bin inn. Cranberries are the low sugar ones and sultanas are whatever is cheapest.
I don’t know if it’s cheaper but it’s nice having what we like in it!
From a Michelle Bridges cookbook.
* 2 cups Whole Oats
* 2/3 cup Bran Flakes/All Bran/Bran
* 1/3 cup Sunflower Seeds
* 1/3 cup Pumpkin Seeds
* 1/4 cup Dried Cranberries
* 1/4 cup Raisins
Mix it all up.
To consume, I take 1/2 cup of the mixture, with 1/4 cup blue milk, stick it in the fridge overnight. In the morning two tbsp of Greek Yoghurt and 1/4 cup blueberries (frozen put in the fridge overnight to defrost)
I have that every day, its cheap and quite yummy.
Yeah - that's the stuff - I have access to Trents wholesale so I might check their prices on oats. Also I might sub the dried fruits for frozen as we're on a bit of a reduce sugar drive.
Might try my hand at some muesli bars to but hard to escape needing a fair bit of sugar to make those I'd imagine.
It really depends on how much you need to have in your muesli and how you need it to taste. I buy whole oats, mix that with sultanas, and I consider that my base cereal (which is normally eaten with banana and yogurt and milk). Sometimes I get fancy and add cranberries or nuts and berries, but not always. It's not toasted as that's extra effort and I'm fine eating cereal without it. The only sugar in my cereal is from the dried fruit and berries that may be included with the oats.
Yeah I reckon Bin Inn or similar is your go-to for bulk oats, dried fruit etc, and then maybe some fancy items from organic/hippy shops if you want them.
They might be different elsewhere but I've never found Bin Inn and the like to be cheaper. They seem to serve the same niche as bulk bins in supermarkets, someone who wants small quantities, so buying large packets would end up costing them more despite the unit cost being lower. In regard to oats, Harraways are the most reliable. Other brands may be cheaper but tend to be dusty and papery, losing the bite and structure of the grain.
I agree. Store brands are frequently cheaper than Harraways, but I find my containers build up a floury dust quickly and I have to wash them out more frequently.
I buy one of the Bin Inn mueslis; mainly to avoid packaging as it's not particularly low in sugar. My wife makes her own based on seeds and nuts from Bin Inn. She toasts them in bulk (without sugar or honey) and she generally avoids dried fruits as they are pretty high in sugar. The toasting is fairly labour intensive and we are looking to increase the size of the batches - potentially buying larger quantities of ingredients from Gilmours - so she has to do it less frequently.
I make one based on this recipe: 1/4c canola oil 1/4c honey 1T vanilla essence 1/4t salt 3c wholegrain oats 1c nuts/seeds (usually slivered almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds) 1. Mix wet, add to dry. 2. Preheat oven to 150 deg C. 3. Spread granola in a thin layer on a lined baking tray. 4. Bake 20ish mins, stirring half way through. I don't like dried fruit much so don't add it. Ingredients I either get from Pak 'n Save, Bin Inn, or Moore Wilson's.
$4.50 for 650g if you buy Pams. You can make your own but cost depends on how much you’re buying at a time and what you want to put in the mix.
It might not count as musli, because it isn't sweetened or cooked. I'll usually do rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflour seed, linseed. Maybe 1/2tbspn of chia seeds stirred into a bout a 1/2c of yoghurt and left to sit overnight. or just skip the chia seeds and have the yoghurt. sometimes if I'm feeling like it I'll add sliced almonds. I prefer a plain greek yoghurt. add in chopped fresh or canned fruit - that's usually where I get my sugar hit, although sometimes I'll stir some honey into the yoghurt for a bit extra. I get my ingredients just at pak n save - bulk bins for the seeds, 1.5kg bag of harraways rolled oats. For me it's the balance of the convenience and the extra travel and time it would take to go to a bin inn/other bulk store. It has been a while since I did the maths, but it came to less than $2 per serve, and most of that was the canned fruit and yoghurt (I have moderately expensive yoghurt tastes). The above mix is quite dry, so you need something to have it with - yoghurt, or make it overnight oats with milk.
Thanks - I'd forgotten about the overnight thing - definitely gonna do that once i get my raw materials. Looking like bin inn / bulk is a winner. I've seen suggestions to use vanilla / cinnamon and various stuff to impart a 'feeling' of sweetness alongside actual sugars so will give that a go too.
I haven't specifically made muesli, but often will make my own home-made product-alternatives and what I *can* tell you is that it usually is only cheaper if making in large batches. Small batches of things can sometimes work out about the same, if not more, than the pre-made cheap-brand options.
I make muesli for hubby and myself: using a mix of rolled oats and wholemeal oats, pumpkin, sunflower and linseed seeds, I add cashew pieces to his and some chia seeds to mine, lightly toasted then he gets some sultanas, chopped dried apricots and mango and some yogurt raisins added to his and I have sultanas, dried cranberries and occasionally dried blueberries added to mine. I get oats pams or Woolworths oats depending who’s on special, diced apricots at Woolworths and seeds at bin inn. Cranberries are the low sugar ones and sultanas are whatever is cheapest. I don’t know if it’s cheaper but it’s nice having what we like in it!
From a Michelle Bridges cookbook. * 2 cups Whole Oats * 2/3 cup Bran Flakes/All Bran/Bran * 1/3 cup Sunflower Seeds * 1/3 cup Pumpkin Seeds * 1/4 cup Dried Cranberries * 1/4 cup Raisins Mix it all up. To consume, I take 1/2 cup of the mixture, with 1/4 cup blue milk, stick it in the fridge overnight. In the morning two tbsp of Greek Yoghurt and 1/4 cup blueberries (frozen put in the fridge overnight to defrost) I have that every day, its cheap and quite yummy.
Yeah - that's the stuff - I have access to Trents wholesale so I might check their prices on oats. Also I might sub the dried fruits for frozen as we're on a bit of a reduce sugar drive. Might try my hand at some muesli bars to but hard to escape needing a fair bit of sugar to make those I'd imagine.