Good Ol' Granola

Here is my recipe for granola:

6 cups oats
1 cup walnuts
1 cup almonds (preferably sliced, but whole works fine)
1 cup honey
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
Dash salt
Oil/cooking spray for baking pan
2 cups raisins or craisins

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together oats, walnuts, almonds, honey, cinnamon, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Grease a 9x13-ish baking pan or sheet (I like to use a glass one) and pour in the granola. Press it as flat as you can. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through. After stirring, press the granola flat again. Let cool, and sprinkle with either raisins or craisins. Break it up into pieces and store in a closed container.


And here's our cost analysis (google drive version here):

Food Item	Cost	Quantity	Calories	Price per 'Meal'
Old Fashioned Oats	$0.85	6 cups	1800	$0.31
Walnuts	$0.89	1 cup	800	$0.74
Almonds	$1.15	1 cup	680	$1.13
Honey	$1.78	1 cup	960	$1.23
Cinnamon	$0.05	1 tsp	6	$5.48
Salt	$0.00	1/16 tsp	0	N/A
Oil	$0.02	1 tbsp	120	$0.10
Raisins	$1.57	2 cups	960	$1.09
Granola Totals	$6.30	~10 cups	5326	$0.79

After trying a few granola recipes and mixing them together, this is what I ended up with. It's a solid breakfast with milk or yogurt, and a nice dessert with some M&Ms or chocolate chips mixed in. I also like to add sliced strawberries or bananas.

Food Item	Cost	Quantity	Calories	Price per 'Meal'
Granola	$0.63	1 cup	533	$0.79
Yogurt	$0.36	1/2 cup	80	$3.01
Strawberries	$0.38	1/6 lb	25	$10.20
Fancy Breakfast	$1.37	1 bowl	638	$1.44

Food Item	Cost	Quantity	Calories	Price per 'Meal'
Granola	$0.63	1 cup	533	$0.79
Skim Milk	$0.11	1 cup	90	$0.83
Cheap Breakfast	$0.74	1 bowl	623	$0.80

Food Item	Cost	Quantity	Calories	Price per 'Meal'
Granola	$0.63	1 cup	533	$0.79
M&Ms	$0.16	1 oz	140	$0.77
Dessert	$0.79	1 bowl	673	$0.78

Granola is pretty darn cheap! Almost every ingredient is less than $1.25 per meal. It takes less than an hour to make a week's supply, and doesn't require any tools beyond a mixing bowl, a baking dish, and an oven. Roasting some meat or veggies? Baking cookies? Cooking a frozen pizza for dinner? Just mix up some granola while you wait for your food, reset the oven temperature, and let it bake while you eat!

This recipe is one where I rely a lot on Costco prices to make it cost effective. While oats are inexpensive anywhere you go, I have found that walnuts, almonds, and other nuts are significantly cheaper at Costco than at other grocery stores. Buying a 3 lb bag of walnuts is a bit intimidating, but most nuts store very well in the freezer.