Homemade breakfast bars - clever ideas?

[yondavies]

I live in a dorm on campus with no access to an oven, though I do have a fridge.

I need to make breakfast on the go, and I was thinking of making breakfast bars using oatmeal. However, I was wondering how I could get the oats to stick to each other. I would rather not use peanut butter because it can give me an upset stomach -- any other ideas? Also, it doesn't really have to taste that good, I only require it be healthy and enough to get me through until lunch.

Thank you for the tips! Greatly appreciate.

-Student in Need

[sandylc]

I made this one over the weekend:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/20...

I didn't want that many raisins in it, so I put in a mixture of about 5 different dried fruits.

They are VERY flavorful and quite good.

[HillJ]

they look delicious but the OP doesn't have an oven (dorm).

[sandylc]

OOPS!! Sorry....forgot that! I'll look up my old no-bake balls...

[HillJ]

http://fussfreeflavours.com/2013/01/r...

We made these snacks over the weekend and they were super easy, will keep for more than two weeks easy and very tasty. I thought I'd post to this thread in case the OP was looking for a few new ideas. The recipe calls for drying the balls out but we liked them moist and expect that just sitting out they will become drier on their own.

[chowser]

Try baked oatmeal. There are a lot of variations but they're like big oatmeal cookies. I like them best when you let the batter sit overnight and then bake. This is a general idea:

http://littleindiana.com/2011/08/amis...

You can make it healthier using applesauce instead of butter and egg whites instead of whole eggs (two whites per egg).

[firecooked]

Here's one of my favorites.. I use a scale, goes faster and fewer dishes! Cutting into bars is quick, but you can just make balls if you want.

8 oz 1 cup almond butter
6 oz 1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
9 oz 3 cups old fashioned oats
3 oz 1/3 cup dried cranberries
3 oz 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Combine all ingredients together; mix well. Dump onto cutting board covered with wax paper, and form into a large square, about a ½ inch thick. Cut into 1 or 1 ½ inch squares. Place squares on another piece of wax paper, refrigerate.

[sandylc]

How about another nut butter, such as almond or sunflower?

[nemo]

I like HillJ's trail mix idea. Stir it into a little, or a lot, of plain yoghurt in reusable plastic containers with lids (or buy a few small yoghurts and wash and reuse them). Save plastic spoons from fast food joints, or buy a pack (they're pretty cheap). Wash and reuse them, too. It would be great if you could put the spoon in the container for ease of bringing it home.

[HillJ]

Would making homemade trail mix be easier? In college we'd pool our money head to the health store and buy bags of nuts, dried fruit, brown sugar and cinnamon. We'd mix the everything together in a bowl and then enjoy it with milk or dry on the go. Kept fresh a long time and we didn't have to fuss with heating, binding together or cutting into bars.

Honey, brown rice syrup, Agave, corn syrup, egg whites will all bind a breakfast bar mix together but without some minimal baking you'll need a good deal of minced fruit to bind it and then refrigeration to keep the bars from spoiling. More work.

I would recommend trail mix, lots of combinations and no fuss.

[yondavies]

Yeah, trail mix does sound like a great idea! I think I'll head over to the store and buy me some goods. Thanks for your ideas everyone

[ursy_ten]

You can google raw food breakfast bars and get some ideas.

Here are two that I just found: http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/homemade-energy-bars.html

http://www.myrealfoodlife.com/raw-vegan-gluten-free-coconut-breakfast-bars/

You will also find some ideas here (look for balls, rather than bars):
http://pinterest.com/ursyten/raw-most...

[eviemichael]

I love this recipe for breakfast bars: http://www.deliciousmusings.com/?p=13678

It's a smitten kitchen recipe. It's easy, healthy and tasty.

[eviemichael]

Ah! I'm so sorry, I must have skipped over the part where you say you don't have an oven. :-/ FAIL.

Maybe honey would bind it enough, especially after some time in the fridge...?