**UPDATE: I am partnering with Vigilant Eats to offer 10% off and Free Shipping! Use coupon code FittingItAllIn10 at Checkout!
The day before I left for my east coast trip, I received product samples from Vigilant Eats.
I’d seen these “just add cold water” breakfasts first on Elise’s blog, where she gave them a good review, but I have to admit I was still really skeptical.
It’s an oatmeal blend but you add cold water? I’ve done that before when I was desperate and didn’t have access to boiling water, but never on purpose. It was a last resort.
Anyway, I wanted to give these a shot and figure my trip would be the perfect time. I knew I’d have some mornings where I needed to eat a quick breakfast at the hotel. And honestly, I didn’t think I’d ever willingly choose to eat this instead of a freshly made bowl of hot oatmeal or a sweet Greek yogurt mess when I was at home.
Wednesday morning before the GenerationKNOW video shoot was the day. I had a 9 am call time, had to be dressed and ready to go, and did not feel like venturing into Times Square to find a decent meal.
I spent 30 minutes walking on the treadmill, then went upstairs to shower and get ready. Once out of the shower, I set up the teeny coffee maker (that I finally found hiding in the closet. New Yorkers are so tricky with their space-saving techniques) and pulled the ready-to-go breakfast from my suitcase. It had stood up fine in there through the past three days of travel.
While it said you could add hot water or milk, I wanted to go with what makes this product unique and got some water from the bathroom sink. I filled it up until just the top of the oats were wet, and then stirred with the little plastic spoon it comes with.
I will say the spoon was not the easiest to use. It comes folded so it fits in the container, but the fold made it hard to get a vigorous stir going.
Moment of truth. I took a bite with a little bit of oats and a goji berry.
My response was audible.
“MMMM!”
And like an addicted good social media addict, I got right on Instagram to profess my love. I was kind of concerned I’d have to give a half-hearted “it’s a good idea” review of these, but no way. These were AWESOME.
The oats weren’t at all rough or gritty. It was smooth and soft, cinnamon-y and slightly sweet. Bite after bite was delicious and I would have thought the oats were made with hot water by the creamy texture if I hadn’t just added the cold water myself. I think it’s the addition of oat flour and hemp flour.
They sent me the Goji-Cacoa flavor which is made with:
- gluten-free organic rolled oats
- gluten-free organic oat flower
- organic coconut palm sugar
- organic goji berries
- organic cacao nibs
- organic maple syrup powder
- organic hemp flour
- organic yacon root powder
- organic cinnamon.
That gives one 300 calorie serving 11 grams of protein, 7 grams of fat, and 6 grams of sugar.
The other flavors are Espresso Maca Mulberry, Maca Double Chocolate, and Coconut Maple Vanilla. They are all gluten-free, organic, vegan, non-GMO and Kosher. I’ll try them all, please and thank you.
I would definitely buy these again (they are available online with free shipping), especially if I were out camping or somewhere with limited resources. I will say that since they are slightly pricy and the container isn’t tiny, carrying a little baggy of oats in your purse is easier. BUT you’d have to doctor your own oats up quite a bit to get the great ingredients and taste of these, plus make sure you can get hot water.
So THANK YOU Vigilant Eats for surprising me! And thank you for sending me two so I can have these again sometime soon.
- What’s your favorite easy breakfast when you’re traveling or on-the-go?
Usually my go to is a PB&J sandwich or overnight oats.
Wow this a great idea! I don’t know if I’d like cold oatmeal though… I can barely get past hot oatmeal mushy texture. If I was in a pinch, I’d definitely be willing to try them though.
The coffee shop near my work had these and I tried it on a whim once and became obsessed! NOT good for the wallet but seriously delicious. They no longer carry them (or haven’t for the past few months) which I am okay with because otherwise I’d be broke, but I agree with you…so so good.
No way! COLD water?? I gotta try this! Thanks so much for reviewing it first!
Let me know if you try it
I absolutely love raw oatmeal with cold almond milk! After seeing this on your instagram I looked up their website. They were a bit pricey for me right now so I made my own version of it by following (most of) their ingredients for the goji and cacao flavor. I had it this morning and it was delicious!
So impressed you recreated that!!!
Also – you won my tea giveaway!!!
What?! I did! How did I miss that? Is it too late for me to snag the tea?
Haha, I just saw it! For some reason i thought that happened awhile ago. I will email you now! thanks Clare!
This looks delicious. I am surprised by your super positive review as well, and it makes me want to try them. The whole idea of cold water makes me skeptical too! Glad you enjoyed them so much!
This sounds awesome, and really handy for those days when you’re short on time in the morning. One thing: when you say oat flower, do you mean oat flour? (Not trying to be mean – if I had a typo I’d want someone to tell me.)
hahah did I seriously type flower? I really need to edit my posts before I publish. Thanks!
How cool! I travel all the time and sometimes I hate going to grab breakfast wherever is close, and the hotels don’t always have fresh/healthy options. I am so intrigued by the cold water thing!
-AJ
FitTravelerAJ.blogspot.com
Wow, what a great idea! I’ve had to use cold water to make instant oats in my hotel room before and it was not so great. But I totally trust your word that these were fantastic. I’ll keep an eye out!