I really don't mind eating oatmeal on a regular basis and was thinking of picking up a quantity. I tend to like the rolled oats and not so much the instant, but have also been reading about steel cut. Anyone have any thoughts on the taste differences?

Since UPSing 50 lb sacks is expensive, the best deals are from a local store that gets their shipment via truck freight.  Our local feed stores can get oat groats which are unrolled, but hulled oats.  You would still need a roller mill (available at lehmans and elsewhere), but whole oats are probally going to last longer.  You DO NOT want unhulled oats, dehulling the oats is not a simple task at home.  Rolling is easier (much easier then grinding grain)

I got rolled oats at the food co-op/health food store, that was years ago, I don't have clue what they cost now, oat meal is not my favorite.

Steel cut oats are the bomb!

I love them!

Same here!!  

Don't know how long they keep though.

Excuse my ignorance, and this is a serious question, whats wrong with just buying Quaker Oats from someplace like Sam's Club and vaccum/mylar sealing it?

1 #25 bag is 1/4 the price of 10 store size packages

I've been putting oatmeal away for the past two years. I just wait for my local Publix grocery store to offer a "buy one get one free" deal and I stock up. Original oatmeal, no instant. I vacuum pack it and store it away.

I've been told that the best way to buy oatmeal in quantity is to buy feed oats (for horses). Supposedly, the quality is of a higher standard than people oats for food. Ask some horse people, they can give you the straight story.

One option is to get them from the LDS church.  You can get 6 10# cans, for a total of 14.4 lbs of oats, for $23.25 (http://www.ldscatalog.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10151&storeId=10151&productId=11155&langId=-1) which includes shipping.

The cheaper way to go is to find an LDS home storage center near you, or buddy up with an LDS member who is ordering for himself.  You can get a 25 lb bag of oats for $9.80 that way.

I suggest Coaches Oats - I get them as Costco.

They are already in a resealable Mylar bag and cook reasonably fast.
http://www.coachsoats.com/co_difference.html

^This.

So how long would this store?  Is there a way to make it last longer?

Oats used for horse feed is not oatmeal. It is either whole oats or rolled oats — oats that are run through the roller bars at the mill to crack the hull and gain to make it easier to digest. Sometimes oats are cooked to a mash and fed to horses that are sick or have digestive problems. Also, oats used for horse feed can be as good as oats used for human consumption, but there is no reason that it should be better.

Oatmeal is steamed and rolled. There are not all the many plants across the country that make oatmeal. Quick oats are just steamed (cooked) a little more.

For OP —

I searched for weeks to find an economical source for oatmeal in bulk, but didn't have much luck. I wound up buying 50 lb. bags of from Honeyville when they had a 10% off special and shipping was a flat $4.99.

FYI, Quick oats (usually costs more) can save some cooking time (about 3 minutes vs. about 15 minutes) but the texture is not as good as regular oats. However, if you are on the move and needing to conserve energy, quick oats is the way to go.

I can't say.  I just note that it is in mylar and after opening the first time, is resealable(zip lock style).

It turned out to be a hectic day and I didn't get back to this thread until about 2:00AM. And was pleasantly surprised at the responses. I figured there'd be some people that didn't like oats, but they are versatile. Can be used for baking, eating, animal feed. Mix well with sugars, fruits, milk, water, etc.

I have been trying steel cut oats lately.  They do taste different - more nutty.  Longer cook time and/or soak the night before.  Supposedly they are slower to digest = lower glycemic suger spike.

Do you live near an amish community?   The best prices I can find on oats and bulk baking/cooking supplies & spices are at an amish bulk food store.

www.honeyvillegrain.com



Honeyville Grain company sells grains, dried fruits, flour, and powdered milk and eggs in bulk (up to 50 lbs.) to bakeries and survivalist types.  They offer an oxygen capturing "dessicant" package said to preserve them for years.



See:  Honeyville Home > Canned Food Storage > Oxygen Absorbers

This is what the people at Coach's say,

Thank you for your email. Coach's Oats have an 18-month freshness date from the time of milling, when stored away from excess heat in their sealed, zippered bag. Once the bag is opened, that time frame diminishes, but storing it in a cool place such as a refrigerator or even freezing the oats (one time, no repeated freeze-thaw) can extend the freshness life. For how long? It depends on the conditions where you store them, such as temperature and moisture contact.

Maybe that's just for freshness, and they would remain viable as a food source for a long time?  Don't know.  I can't think of a reason, if sealed, that oats would go bad.  Save for the errant bug that got sealed in with it I guess.

Just checked at my local feed store and rolled oats was about $14.00 for a 50 lb bag - wheat and rolled barley were both within $1.00 +/-

Looks like I will need to find some buckets and mylar soon

QFT - all others are mush by comparison