It’s no secret I eat oatmeal. I have already written why oatmeal is the perfect breakfast for a long day, and in my opinion, it’s the #1 high-energy food for endurance athletes. But what I never had was oatmeal made from freshly milled, hand-blended oats.
That changed when I tried Sammz Oats, a product from a very small company out in Morro Bay, California.
“SammzOats is a one-of-a-kind specialty blend of organic, freshly-milled gourmet oatmeal, like no other oatmeal you’ve tried.”
Looking at them, they’re neither quick oats, rolled oats, steel cut oats, nor Irish oats. I can see at least three different shapes of flakes and chunks in the mix! These can only be classified as “Sammz Oats.”
And the paper bag they come in is pretty nice; it gives you that small town farm market feel.
Table of Contents
Sammz Oats Ingredients and Nutrition Facts
The ingredients list:
Ingredients: 100% organic oat textures, including extra organic bran.
I notice two things here because of this sparse ingredients list:
- Sammz Oats contain only the good stuff.
- Sammz Oats aren’t full of junk like added salt and sugar.
OK, so that’s just the same thing put in different words, but I wanted to get the point across! These are probably the most natural, unprocessed oats you can get (if you don’t have your own farm.)
Nutrition Facts
Serving size 1/3 cup
Calories 120
Total Fat 2.5g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 0mg
Potassium 160mg
Total Carbs 23g
Dietary Fiber 6g
Soluble fiber 3g
Insoluble fiber 3g
Sugars 0g
Protein 8g
That’s 50% more fiber and 60% more protein than in a serving of Arrowhead Mills organic steel cut oats!!
Remember in my article where I compared rolled oats to steel cut oats and said they technically have the same nutritional value? Well right here is the case to best illustrate that!
At first glance, these Sammz Oats appear to be as processed as instant oats, but they are fresh and hand-processed, not sent through a factory. They aren’t steamed and rolled and left to sit and go stale like most rolled oats in the store. This means they retain their nutritional value, not to mention the true oat flavor most people have never tasted.
Sammz Oats Taste Test
Finally, time to cook this up and enjoy it!
What’s really awesome is that this cooks in 2-4 minutes. It still takes 5 minutes to get the water boiling beforehand, but overall, these are a lot easier to prepare than steel cut oats.
All I did to cook these was get 3 cups of liquid boiling (1 1/2 cups almond milk, 1 1/2 cups water) and added in 4 servings (1 1/3 cups) of oats. And sprinkled some cinnamon in, of course. Then I cooked the oats for 4 minutes. After that I removed them from the heat and added some raisins (the oats were still hot enough to “cook” the raisins.)
The oats were perfect fresh off the stove as well as reheated in the microwave the next morning. On my second batch I added a little Nature’s Way coconut oil for an ever more delicious taste!
Specifically about the oats, they have a very hearty taste and texture you wouldn’t expect. They taste fresh and real. They don’t taste exactly like steel cut oats, but I find they remind me more of steel cut than rolled oats.
They do soak up water and expand almost as much as the steel cut, yet they cook much faster!
Sammz Oatmeal Granola Supreme
Shifting gears now, I also got a bag of granola to try, so I’m going to talk about that for a moment! 🙂
Ingredients: Sammz organic oats, organic oat bran, organic honey, brown sugar, raw coconut chips, almonds, pecans, raw sunflower seeds, craisins, dried blueberries, spices, citrus.
Wow, dried blueberries!!!
I don’t think I’ve ever met a granola I didn’t like, but still, this bag from Sammz is superb. It blows me away that there are dried blueberries in it!
I like the ingredients overall. I wouldn’t call this a healthy meal, but it’s a good high-carb energy food that’s not full of too much extra sugar.
The first half of the bag, I just dug in and ate it with a spoon. The second half I mixed with plain yogurt.
This granola is very, very good for mixing with yogurt! Some granolas are too hard and need to sit in the yogurt for an hour to soften up, but the Sammz granola was a perfect complement to the yogurt right away.
This stuff is so good! Don’t tell any of my friends or family I had this fancy granola, because I ate it all myself and didn’t offer to share!
My final verdict is…
I give Sammz Oats an A+ on taste, texture, and nutritional value. I may even prefer them to steel cut oats! (I certainly like how fast they cook!)
The only problem is, being priced at about $5-9 per pound, coupled with the way I go through bags of oats, I’d go broke if I ate these everyday!
Official website: SammzOats.com
Company: Sammz Oats
Product: Sammz Oats
Reviewed by: Coach Levi
My Rating: out of 5
Date last updated: 2012-02-10
Obtained Product: Free sample from company.
CoachLevi.com Advertiser: No.
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Levi Bloom is an experienced endurance athlete who has been training and competing for over 17 years. A former Cat 1 road and mountain bike racer (professional class on the regional circuit), he is now a cycling coach (USA Cycling Level 3 Certified) and sports nutrition coach (Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certified).
How can I buy some of these oats?
@DeLaine
Unfortunately, the Sammz Oats online store at sammzoats.com seems to have closed last year. It looks like you’ll have to peruse the farmers markets along the California coast and hope to find some.
You could also try calling 805-215-3259