Made some granola this evening. The whole place now smells of vanilla, a delicious smell. The granola is for the 4th meal plan (will be loading it tomorrow) and the entire huge box of it is available for use during the week if required. I shall be having some tomorrow morning for breakfast.

This huge box would make 12 servings. Total cost of £2.03, so 8p a serving, 14p including 100ml of UHT value milk

350g raisins, 500g/84p, 59p
200g sugar, 1kg/88p, 18p
400ml vegetable oil, £1.25/1 litre, 50p
875g oats – this odd amount is because that is what is available on meal plan 4, 900g, or even the whole of a 1kg pack, is fine, 1kg/75p, 66p
2tsps vanilla, 80ml/80p, 11p

Put everything except the raisins in a large baking tin and add enough hot water so that everything is well moistened – 200-400ml will do it.

Mix everything very well and divide into two baking tins. Bake at 180 degrees for half an hour and stir. Lower the heat to 140 degrees and bake until golden brown and crispy, stirring every half hour. It will take about another hour.

Stir in the raisins, and you are done

This is the basic recipe using what is available in meal plan 4. If you have the funds, you could also add things like 100g each of sesame and sunflower seeds and 100g toasted hazlenuts. Add them after the granola is cooked or they will dry out too much in the oven. You could toast them first tho, either in the oven in a separate dish at the same time as the granola, or in a dry frying pan. In either case, watch them carefully, they burn easily.

You could replace the sugar with honey if you are feeling flush, I would dissolve it into the water first if you do that, otherwise it would be a struggle to mix it in.

You could use demerara, or lovely, dark, muscovado, or nutty palm sugar.
You could use any dried fruit:- home dried apple or plum, freeze dried raspberries, dates, mixed fruit, amything really.

Enjoying the smell of the warm vanilla, I wondered what else could be used, and I thought mixed spice would probably be good, so I shall def be trying that. Some people like apple or orange juice over their cereal too.

I read somewhere recently, can’t quite remember where, that it is protein that makes granola clump together well, and that a whipped egg white would do it. So I shall try that next time I make some and let you know how it works.