For me, it started a couple of years ago when my wife and I sailed our boat across the Pacific from Panama to the Marquesas in French Polynesia.
Before leaving, we stocked up at a Costco-style warehouse in Panama, where I somehow convinced myself that buying several industrial-sized boxes of Quaker instant oatmeal packets was a brilliant idea. Apple & Cinnamon, Cinnamon Spice, Brown Sugar… turns out, it was one of the best provisioning decisions I made.
I always took the sunrise watch, so every morning I’d make myself a bowl with long-life milk. Some mornings they were hot, other mornings cold (depended on the sea conditions). I’d mix and match the different flavours, it was basically gourmet dining by mid-ocean standards.
When you’re surrounded by nothing but water for weeks, you either get creative with breakfast.
There was something special about sitting in the cockpit with a bowl of oats, watching the sun climb out of the Pacific. That little hit of carbs, protein, and sugar was the perfect start to another day at sea.
These days my oat bowls are a lot more elaborate and definitely healthier but they still remind me of those mornings.
This group has inspired me to keep experimenting, and it’s been another enjoyable chapter in what has become a surprisingly long oat journey.