Starbucks' Perfect Oatmeal?

The other day, I hit up my local Starbucks for a frap-frap (yeah, I've got a nickname for Frappucinos) and saw that they are now selling oatmeal. Or, I should say, Perfect Oatmeal. I'm a sucker for new things - especially if they are supposed to be better for you. So, I decided to grab a bowl to go.


I had three choices of accompaniments for my oatmeal: dried fruit, brown sugar, or a nut medley. I chose the dried fruit, you know, to give the oatmeal some color.

oatmeal, unfettered

oatmeal, post dried fruit topping

Now, I'm not sure I would go so far as to say perfect. But, for a place that is essentially serving food fast (read: fast food), it is pretty damn good. I've had clumpy, congealy oatmeal from fast food places before and this is not that. Yeah, I'd eat it again.

Plus, it's nice to see a snack on the Starbucks menu that isn't crazy high in calories. The plain outmeal has 140 calories and 2.5 grams of fat. Compare that to a Starbucks blueberry muffin that has 360 calories and 10 grams of fat or a cinnamon scone, which has 500 calories and 19 grams of fat.

Okay, that isn't totally fair to compare oatmeal to a delicious, delicious scone. I mean, if I had my druthers, I would totally scarf up a cinnamon scone and then burp heartily. But, you got to eat responsibly most days, right?