Homemade Cereal Bars

What do you eat when you don't have time for a proper breakfast? Or if you're on the move and need something to keep you going? The answer for most people would be a cereal bar. There's a couple of issues I have with shop- bought ones, the main one being that they are so expensive. Especially if you want ones with fruit and nuts in them, or with any kind of goodness. My other gripe is that they generally feel healthy, but they really aren't, which is a major disappointment. Even the ones loaded with healthy things like dried fruit, nuts and seeds are also packed with sugar (naturally occurring or otherwise).

I know there are some healthy cereal bar recipes out there but I am yet to try them; the recipe my family uses however I think is cheaper than buying several boxes of the things. So I guess solving one problem is better than none? They are also tasty and really adaptable to whatever you have lying around in the cupboard (or in my case, the pantry).

Cereal Bars (makes one tray's worth, I usually use a square silicone dish)

Ingredients
250g rolled oats (just the cheapest are fine)
40g butter, melted
405g can of condensed milk (this is the unhealthy bit...I use the Nestle light version)
350g of whatever you like; nuts, seeds, dried fruit, chocolate chips etc. For the bars above I used a mixed bag of sultanas, peanuts and chocolate buttons my mum was given for Christmas.

Method

• Preheat the oven to 175C (for a fan assisted oven)
• Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl- don't worry if it looks dry, just keep mixing
• Press the mixture into the base of a tray or dish, press down gently with the back of a spoon
• Bake for 30 minutes, or until it looks golden brown and set. This is personal choice really, depending on how hard you want them to be. I've almost burnt them before but they still taste fine!
• Let it cool in the tin, then turn it out and cut into squares or bars. Store in a cake tin or airtight container; I don't know how long these last but I've kept them for over a week before and they were absolutely fine. To be honest these are really more-ish so they never last that long!