McOatmeal Is Here: Bring Out The Trough!

Lee Klein

Oatmeal: Any time of day.

​It's been almost three years since McDonald's has introduced a new breakfast offering, but it isn't as though the company was sitting still. Since 2008, Mickey D's Research & Development teams have spared no time or expense to come up with the next big breakfast item. And once the great idea was finally hatched, it had to pass through all sorts of executive levels, meetings, approvals, and so forth. But the best brains in the fast food world have finally unveiled their brilliant new menu item.

Oatmeal.

Fruit & Maple Oatmeal is what they're calling it. "Prepared with 100 percent natural whole grain oats, light cream and brown sugar, and topped with diced, fresh red and green apples, tangy dried cranberries and two types of raisins" is the official description. I'm not certain where the notion of maple comes in, as it is clearly not one of the ingredients.

"With McDonald's Fruit & Maple Oatmeal, we're offering a portable, affordable and balanced breakfast solution to help customers start their day right," says Senior Director of Nutrition Cindy Goody, PhD, MBA, R.D., FLAK.

Every bowl of the oatmeal will be freshly prepared upon request (first workers will have to undergo intense training on use of the hot water button). So no problem if you want to skip the brown sugar (each serving is 290 calories; 260 w/o the sugar). Best news of all for oatmealphiles: It will be served "any time of day" at the 14,000 participating McDonald's restaurants.

Recommended slogan: "Oatmeal...It's What's For Dinner!"

Follow Short Order on Facebook and Twitter @Short_Order.