Refrigerator Oatmeal in Large Quantities

You may have already seen the awesome, beautiful varieties of refrigerator oatmeal that are featured on The Yummy Life.  Fridge oatmeal has been a huge hit with my boys.  It has been a wonderful item to have on hand for breakfast and snacks all the time.

One thing that I did not find very convenient for me was to make the oatmeal right inside the jars.  It was hard to mix up, and seemed to not be as convenient as it sounded like it would be.  For my family I make a bunch most days, so I figured out the portions to get it done the quick-and-easy way.  This is my base recipe, and then you can tweak it for various flavors as you like.

In a mixing bowl combine:

2 cups yogurt  (I buy organic milk and then make my own yogurt in the crock pot)
2 and 2/3 cup milk (you can use rice, almond, hemp, oat, coconut, or dairy milk)
12 teaspoons chia seeds
8 teaspoons honey or coconut sugar (or to taste)

And then you build from there.

The most common one that I make includes two bananas, cubed up smallish, plus a variety of freeze-dried fruits that we have on hand.  Most commonly we use mango, pineapple, and pear.  The freeze-dried items soak up some of the moisture, as do the chia seeds, so the end product isn't runny or soupy. This also allows me to get away with using my homemade yogurt instead of thicker Greek yogurt that would cost a lot more.  Even without freeze-dried foods, you can go ahead with the regular yogurt, possibly cutting back the milk to just 2 cups.

Once the base of yogurt, milk, chia, and sweetener is done, I find that I can just wing it with how much stuff I add to it.  Also, I've found that the full half-pint jar can be a little too much for some in my family, so I tend to fill the jars about 3/4 of the way.  I get 9-10 jars out of this recipe.

Have you ever tried refrigerator oatmeal?  What variety do you love the most?