Which oats do I usually use... well, most often I'll be using the ones from my most local mill, the
Little Salkeld Watermill. I also like the ones from Marriage's. One of my other favourites are Flahavan's, which are from Ireland; Waitrose sell them and they are very, very good.
(So apparently I lied upthread - none of my usuals are from Scotland! I'd thought Marriage's were Scottish, but I now realise they are in Essex! It
is true to say that if I am choosing from a selection that doesn't include any of my favourites, I'll choose the Scottish ones.)
I've never tried any of the 'instant' type, although I did see an esteemed TASer having one of the microwave-in-a-pot ones at the first Scottish Smallholder Show, and she said it was an awful lot better than many of the alternative breakfasts-on-the-hoof !
Sometimes I have plain oats, cooked in half-water half-milk, with a few sunflower seeds and sultanas in, and sometimes I mix other grains in - some oatmeal, I love to use some rye flakes if I have some, sometimes I add buckwheat, barley, or other grains I may have to hand.
BH likes it with pumpkin seeds as well as the sunflower seeds and sultanas; we both like to add fresh blueberries and/or raspberries if we have some. Sometimes I cook it with an apple or a pear cut up into it.
Now and again I add nothing at all. And very rarely I make it with water and add just a tiny bit of salt