The Overnight Oats Hack To Use Up The Last Of That Peanut Butter

If you've ever felt like "adulting" is a little relentless, you're not wrong. Often, it feels like there's not enough time for getting all your work done, getting kid lunches packed, working out, making dinner, and everything else that comes along on any given day. So when it comes to breakfast, even though it's the most important meal of the day, it can be pretty hard to plan. An overworked adult is probably the genius behind the recipe for overnight oats. All you have to do to make them is dump oats, milk, and flavorings into a jar at night, pop it in the fridge, and when you wake up in the morning, your nutritious breakfast is ready to go. There are no cooking or special skills required to get hearty, tasty oats into your morning routine, and there are tons of flavor combinations to try. If you want to feel even more accomplished by making overnight oats, however, try mixing them in an almost empty jar of peanut butter.

If you've ever tried to scrape out the last of the peanut butter from a jar, you know how much of a pain it is to salvage the final few spoonfuls. It's wasteful to throw perfectly good peanut butter away, however. Plus, if you're recycling the jar, it has to be clean, which is also a challenge. Overnight oats can solve all of these problems effortlessly.

To make a batch of peanut butter overnight oats in the jar, all you have to do is keep an eye on the peanut butter supply. When the jar gets down to just a few scrapings, or not enough for a kid's sandwich, it's ready for oats. Using a spoon or a narrow spatula, scrape the peanut butter off the sides as much as you can so that it's collected on the bottom. The idea is just to loosen the peanut butter so it can mix with the oats, so don't spend too much time scraping.

Once you have the peanut butter loosened from the sides of the jar, add oats and any kind of milk to the jar using a 1-to-1 ratio; so if you use a cup and a half of oats, add a cup and a half of milk. If you want your oats a little sweet, you can add a tablespoon of maple syrup or honey with the milk. Be sure to also add a pinch of salt so the oats don't taste bland. Put the lid on the jar and give everything a good shake, then leave it overnight to work its magic. In the morning, pop the lid off and give the contents a good stir, and your oats are ready to eat (and your pb is all put to good use). 

After breakfast, simply rinse out the peanut butter jar and lid and toss the whole thing in the recycling bin. Then give yourself a little pat on the back for having a hearty breakfast, reducing food waste, and recycling plastic or glass all in one fell swoop. Perhaps adulting isn't so hard after all!

When it comes to food trends with staying power, overnight oats check all the boxes. They've been on the scene via social media since at least 2012, and they're extremely easy to make. As you can see, a batch of overnight oats can be made with just a cup of dry oats, some milk or milk alternatives, fresh fruit, and spices. They're perfect for meal prepping because you can set up a whole workweek's worth of jars at a time (they're good for about five days), and they're super inexpensive. Oats in general are packed with nutrients, protein, and fiber, and when you wake up in the morning you can simply pop the jar in your bag and have oats anytime. It's a whole meal on the go for less than a dollar. There's never been a better way to use up that leftover peanut butter.