I picked up a bag of Quaker Oats large flake oatmeal yesterday. I was
surprised to see "Cooks in 4-5 minutes" printed in the front of the bag.
Large flake oats usually take more like 15 minutes to cook. When I
prepared to make some for breakfast this morning I looked for the
instructions and had some confusion. Among all the small print on the
side of the crinkled bag was a list of numbered steps. I scanned down to
the bottom and step 3 was "COOK uncovered for the specified amount of
time."

I had to go searching again. Stove Top Instructions it said for single
servings cook 10-15 minutes, for 4 servings cook 20-25 minutes.

Then... I spotted the microwave instructions, and it says 4-5 minutes
for one serving.

I have been cooking oatmeal porridge for decades. It was early morning.
I got thrown off by that 4-5 minute thing. I hate to imagine what it
would be like for someone who has never cooked oats before to try to
figure out how to cook this item, which I always thought easy so simple.


They did have a very handy hint..... for thicker oatmeal use less
water... for thinner oatmeal use more water.