Argument with DH over oats

[SummerInSun]

To save time (maybe 30 seconds?!) tomorrow morning, I've just measured out the oats for tomorrow's porridge into a saucepan and left them ready on the stove. In the morning I'll get the milk out of the fridge, add it, and cook the porridge.

DH has just come into the kitchen and said that the oats will go stale overnight and put a lid on the saucepan. I think he is insane and oats can't possibly go stale in ten hours. He thinks it's obvious that oats left not in an airtight container will suffer a major quality deterioration and doesn't see why I wouldn't have automatically put a lid on.

What's the Mumsnet verdict?!

Spiders' willies!

Actually, isn't the traditional Scottish way of cooking porridge to leave the oats soaking in salted water overnight

I believe that's the traditional Scottish way of making wallpaper paste...

they won't go stale, but I would put a lid on.
we occasionally have mice and I wouldn't want to eat mice piss.

Breakfast now consists of; stale oats, atmospheric moisture, spider willies/poo, flies and their detritus, fruit flies, crane flies, rice weevils, mouse droppings, and DARKNESS.

Yum!

...adds mice piss to breakfast list...

I was going to say mice piss ^^ but @redchocolatebutton beat me to it

when I found cat fluff

I wouldn't be surprised to find the cat herself, tbh, depending on the size of the pot.

How much time is that saving?! I make over night oats for the children, they love them and that actually saves time!

finally a real, thought provoking topic!

I think I'd put a lid on >.< mainly incase spiders/bugs or whatever get into it. yuck.

I don't care about the lid. I am far more interested in why on earth you would do this. If you're soaking them, fine, but just to measure them out? Breakfast in your house must be like a bloody Formula 1 pitstop!

This thread has brightened up my morning and made me actually lol so thank you everyone for your hilarious posts!

I think you’re crazy to measure out oats the night before to “save time”
It takes 12 seconds to get oats in a pan.

Thank you for this thread. I now fancy porridge for breakfast, which is , of course, very good for me . However, as others have said, I’d woud have put the milk in and leave to soak overnight; covered and in the fridge.

I believe that's the traditional Scottish way of making wallpaper paste...
This made me
I'd put a lid on to protect the oats from the atmospheric moisture, spider willies/poo, flies and their detritus, fruit flies, crane flies, rice weevils, mouse droppings, darkness, mouse piss and house dust.
(This feels like that game - 'I went to the shops . . .'

Anyone else get caught out all the time by the ridiculous design flaw that the instructions are on the opposite edge of the box to the opening? I can never remember the oats to milk ratio so always have to look. Still, the puppy enjoys raw oats off the floor.
OP - lid

I always cover things up, just because I’ve had pantry moth infestation and never ever want one again!!!

@KatyCarrCan it's the way my dad used to make it that way and he offered me a taste once. It does taste exactly like wallpaper paste. Don't ask me how I know how wallpaper paste tastes.

This thread is a massive eye-opener for me...

Measuring oats into a saucepan the night before, ready for breakfast? Some people obviously live in a world far better organised and regular than mine!! I just get up and make whatever I fancy, toast, cereal, porridge... It's not like any of it takes long to make. Or skip breakfast if I'm late.

Spiders and flies "spider season"?? Is this a thing? I can't remember the last time I saw a spider in our suburban house. Maybe it's different in the countryside? Mind you, we have 2 cats who eat anything they come across.

Do you wash fruit before you put it in a fruit bowl or wash each piece every time you get, say an apple? I mean, what about the spider willies then, if it's pre washed?

toomuch it reminded me of my dad - both when he mixed oats and when he made wallpaper paste

Do you wash fruit before you put it in a fruit bowl or wash each piece every time you get, say an apple?

Yes I do, unless it's oranges or bananas. I don't bother washing it until just never I'm going to eat it. In the past it was nectar I was too lazy to wash my fruit as soon as it's bought it and put it in the bowl, but in future it will be because of spider willies, mouse wee, and fly vomit.

Does nobody else have slugs? My kitchen in the middle of the night is a writhing infested mass...but maybe slugs don't like oats?

This sounds like the beginning of a child's rhyming book now.

Slugs. What new hell is this? And where on earth do you live?

Next, they'll be slugs in the bed unless you put a lid on it.

Oh christ you're that person. You measure out breakfast cereal :)

I've lived 49 years on this earth and only met chuckers, tippers and flingers.

I’d cover them, but not due to staleness, it’s just Instinct to cover food for me.
But if he thinks that they are kept airtight in the harvest and packaging process, he should expect them to be much more expensive.