Cycling UK Forum

I quite often start my day with a bowl of porridge.

However it has never occurred to me that I should buy less than 50g of oats and some milk powder/flavouring (net value ~ 5p) in horrible plastic pot and pay over 50p a go for the privilege of having my porridge taste faintly of whatever crud leaches out of the plastic the pot is made of.

If I want to I can chuck boiling water into an insulated metal cup and 'cook' porridge that way just as easily.

A leading supermarket chain is presently running an ad on TV in which it suggests that a farmer thought he had a bargain when this nonsense was 10p off or something. It doesn't remind me of any farmers I know, they all have much more common sense than that....

I suppose that if it encourages a few people to eat a more healthy breakfast it can't be all bad, but I am struggling to think of another food product that is a better example of how the food industry 'works'; they take a simple and inexpensive product (oats for porridge) send it to a factory far away, wrap it in as much packaging as possible, and then make you the consumer pay as much as possible for it.

When I see people buying this kind of thing I can't help but think that civilisation as we know it is somehow doomed.

cheers

You cant expect hard working families to find the time to pour one cup of oats, one cup of milk and one cup of water into a bowl and microwave it for a couple of minutes, can you?

Let alone use (and wash ) a pan.

You cant make proper porridge without milk anyway, and the powdered stuff they put in those pots is disgusting. I have had a few of them, purely to have in my work drawer so if I got peckish first thing after cycling in, I could have one. Wouldn't buy them again though they don't taste like porridge to me and they all seem to have chemical flavouring added to them as well.

Brucey wrote:...they take a simple and inexpensive product (oats for porridge) send it to a factory far away, wrap it in as much packaging as possible, and then make you the consumer pay as much as possible for it.

That's what the food processing industry does - where have you been, Brucey? You should be grateful that in this instance at least the net result of their meddling is benign... the sh**e they try to pump us full of if they can get away with it will make your hair curl. Check out videos demonstrating cooking oil production - if you have the stomach for it, that is! Mind you, I'm partial to a cheese football, me!

When I see people buying this kind of thing I can't help but think that civilisation as we know it is somehow doomed.

Quite.

beardy wrote:You cant expect hard working families to find the time to pour one cup of oats, one cup of milk and one cup of water into a bowl and microwave it for a couple of minutes, can you?

Let alone use (and wash ) a pan.

We all lead such busy lives these days.

It's hard finding the time to cook when we watch TV for four hours per day.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28677674

I often eat brose.

Brose is a Scots word for an uncooked form of porridge: oatmeal (and/or other meals) is mixed with boiling water and allowed to stand for a short time. It is eaten with salt and butter, milk or buttermilk. A version of brose is called crowdie, made with ground oats and cold water, though that term is more often used for a type of cheese.

In the 16th century, a mixture of oatmeal and water was carried by shepherds; brose resulted from the agitation of the mixture as they climbed the hills.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brose

Brose
Not quite I found a recipe, for overnight porridge on the NHS website the other day and thought I would give it a try, it was basically mixing oats and apple juice leaving in the fridge overnight. made a rather tasty breakfast, although not quite Brose and not quite what I would call Porridge either> it was a little too sweet but I'll probably experiment with Apple juice and water for the next try.

Brucey wrote:I quite often start my day with a bowl of porridge.

I feel sorry for you.

Can't stand the stuff.
I'd rather skip breakfast than have it.

I saw a TV thing about porridge a few months ago. The instant stuff stayed in your stomach for a fraction of the time the porridge made from rolled oats did and made you feel less full. Its a bit of a faff to make but jolly good stuff IMO. Being lazy I usually have Muesli but the Mrs has it every morning with blueberries and a banana.

Al

I often hear of the benefits of porridge.
Unfortunately I was turned off it by being made to eat the salted variety at a cub/scout camp ( I was a cub and it was about 1950 - I believe an army bell tent is no longer considered suitable accommodation for primary age children ).
I also have an aversion to milk - this makes porridge a joy I have to forego.
I'm quite envious.

Mick F wrote:

Brucey wrote:I quite often start my day with a bowl of porridge.

I feel sorry for you. Can't stand the stuff. I'd rather skip breakfast than have it.

I don't have it every day, and no one is forcing me when I do.....

I must say I don't care for it so much when it is fully (to me 'over') cooked.

I guess what I prefer may be closer to 'brose' then. I quite often make it by tipping boiling water in on the oats; in a double-walled stainless steel container, the result stays hot enough to cook for about half the time it takes to prepare porridge in a pan, so if you like fully cooked porridge it isn't for you, but that is how I like it.

I occasionally have it with a little milk, but all-milk is always 'too much milk' for my taste. If the oats are nice oats, I'm happy without any sweeteners too.

cheers

ANTONISH wrote:I believe an army bell tent is no longer considered suitable accommodation for primary age children...

Me too - and this was waaay before sleeping mats, too... actually from an adult standpoint, porridge-with-salt doesn't seem as whacky as it did when a child - the very mention of scottish people putting salt on their porridge was enough to send us children into paroxysms of laughter.
My fave porridge oat consumption these days is with mashed banana, brown sugar and, err.. cream! I often put a tiny pinch of salt into the mix, too.

al_yrpal wrote:...Its a bit of a faff to make but jolly good stuff IMO....

I probably cheat (so sorry to traditionalists), but some porridge oats (not the supermarket instant/processed kind) in a bowl with water(75%) and milk(25%) and a few minutes in a microwave, stir and leave to stand for a few minutes, then stir and a few more minutes in a microwave and t's done.

Got a bag of jumbo rolled oats by mistake (virtually identical bag on the shelf right next to the porridge oats) and they were good with the same treatment.

Ian

Thats the way the Mrs makes hers, microwave. Pouring 30 g of muesli in the bowl and adding milk is dead easy. I hate the washing up. However things like putting a pair of kippers in a lidded frying pan and heating it up I can deal with. Its worth it even though it stinks the place out.

Al

A dozen replies and no mention of Golden Syrup, the best bit about porridge! As well as tasting great you get to engage in some early morning art work