Hi there,

I’m Daphne, and I am excited to share the Oats in Coats story with you. It’s a silly one, so bear with me…

“But Do you Know About the Benefits of Oatmeal?"

As a longtime oatmeal fan who would rave unsolicited about the nutritional punch that oats pack, I was frustrated when my two little kids refused to see the magic in oats. Why were they asking for an unhealthy snack two minutes after turning down my super nutritious oat mush?? Tiny tyrants! But like so many other things I’m learning about parenthood, I had to bring oats to their level and bring oats into their whimsical, silly world. So that’s what we set out to do at Oats in Coats.

Introducing Oats in Coats

I wondered out loud with the kids, “What do you think the oats and all their friends do in the grocery store when the lights go out? Surely, they don’t sit there, idle. They must need to move, relax or stretch – at the very least! – after playing freeze all day as customers breeze by.” My kids looked curious, but intrigued... 

We wondered, “Maybe the whole supermarket erupts into a party, a silly celebration every night as the oats put on some pretty fancy and brightly decorated coats. The fruits would don their very best suits and the meats would step into freshly-ironed khakis with pleats. Meanwhile, the baguettes probably wouldn’t change out of their sweats and the veggies would struggle with their wedgies.”

And as we imagined and giggled, we dressed up our own instant oatmeal in the kitchen, with strawberries, apples, blueberries, a smidgen of cinnamon here and a sliver of sea salt there. And as the mornings rolled by, the recipes and the coats took shape. The flavors burst, the spoons moved quickly and the bowls were empty. We took a risk and threw in some vegetables (gasp!), and yet the kids kept asking for seconds.

Ta-Da! An Easy and Healthy Breakfast for Kids

We shared Oats in Coats with friends who were also looking for time and sanity-saving easy breakfast ideas like we were. They appreciated that Oats in Coats is an instant oatmeal, because when the kids start getting hungry, instant feels very important. Friends were initially skeptical that our oatmeal could be a healthy breakfast, given surprisingly high levels of tastiness (shucks, guys). But as we explained, we exclusively use a short list of REAL ingredients – 100% whole grain oats, real fruits and vegetables, sea salt and cinnamon. The result is a breakfast that has no added sugars, is a good source of iron and protein and contains five grams of fiber per serving. Being low in sugar is particularly important to us. Each cereal cup has less sugar than the puree pouches my kids used to guzzle.

Sharable Silliness: An Allergen-Friendly Breakfast

Since we know that breakfast and laughing are more fun when everybody is included, we made sure that our products are allergen-friendly. In fact, providing an allergen-friendly food that is safe and nutritious for your family is the only thing we are serious about. We are committed to products that are free from the top allergens: no gluten, no crustaceans, no eggs, no fish, no peanuts, no soy, no milk, no tree nuts and no sesame. This is about fun for everyone. All are welcome. 

Beyond wanting to share the relief we felt when we knew we had found a healthy and easy breakfast idea for kids, what really pushed us to bring Oats in Coats to other families, like yours(!), was something else. We hope we can share the joy and whimsy that these preposterously dressed oats bring into our kitchen.

-  Daphne, co(at)-founder