Instant Oatmeal?

Something I don’t understand is why people buy boxes containing eight or ten packages of flavored oatmeal.  Oatmeal is a great breakfast and even better when fruit, brown sugar, and/or maple syrup is added but it can be made just as quickly and for a lot less money if you do it yourself.

A ten pack box of instant oatmeal contains about 11 oz. of oatmeal, flavoring, sugar, and dried fruit while a box, usually a cylinder, of oatmeal contains 18 oz of pure oatmeal and costs less.  You have to add water or milk to both, both can be zapped in about the same amount of time, and you can flavor the oatmeal with whatever you want and have on hand including coffee creamer, mixed fruit, brown sugar, maple syrup, fresh fruit, etc.

Besides, you can make cookies from the oatmeal and that is a major plus.