Why does it need to go in your garden? You really don't think you'll ever use it? Do you have a time limit on using it?

If you really need to get it out of your kitchen, I guess you could throw it in an unfinished compost pile, and it will break down into it.

Thanks for your response. You've told me what I need to know, albeit with a touch of unnecessary sarcasm.

I didn't mean to be sarcastic, I'm merely curious why the oatmeal needs to go to the garden ... It's just not something that my mind would have jumped to, but I tend to think of garden additives for what they'll add to the garden rather than what they'll use up.

Well the whole story is to long to tell here, but I did think it might actually never get used. If it won't go bad, I'll just save it for the winter months.

Oats can go bad. I keep them in the frige. If you know you aren't going to use them for a few months, you could put them in your freezer.

But to answer the question, any organic matter that will decompose in a reasonable amount of time can be composted. But as a practical matter, you probably want to avoid putting bones, thorns, big pieces of wood, anything too salty, meat, diseased material. I can't think of anything else I don't compost from kitchen waste or from the yard.

If you put enough chocolate chips in there, some raisins, nuts, oatmeal cookies are worth eating. I think the best thing to do would be to make some ASAP.