NEW! Mornflake High Protein Chocolate Porridge Sachets (Sainsbury's)

Porridge is my go-to staple breakfast of choice, even in this heatwave. I'm loving the new Quaker Toasted Oats, and use a plethora of syrups and flavourings to mix up my bowls every day. Current favourites include banana & golden syrup, cherry bakewell (frozen cherries, almond extract and sugar), spiced plum and almond (mixed spice, almond extract and sugar) and raspberry & white chocolate (using an Options hot choc sachet). Still, not every morning am I feeling creative enough to whip up a batch of exciting oats, and some days I need a little more protein if I'm about to hit the gym. Perhaps that's why the new high protein porridge from Mornflake found it's way into my basket -although I think it had more to do with the fact that it was on offer (£1.50) and that there's a chocolate flavour.

Protein porridge is by no means new, and there's a couple of brands who have been sitting comfortably on supermarket shelves for a while now; namely Fuel 10k and Oomf. I tried Fuel 10k's golden syrup sachets at the beginning of the year (when they were reduced to clear in ASDA) and their chocolate protein pot when I was recently staying in a room only hotel. Both I found to be rather so-so and weren't a patch on normal milk porridge. Fuel 10k's sachets now seem to have fallen off the face of the earth, and Oomf only makes pots, so it does appear that Mornflake have bridged an apparent gap in the market! Their sachets contain an impressive 7.9g of protein (before milk) and only soya protein at that, so I believe they're suitable for vegans -please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!

"Simply made with Mornflake’s finest rolled oats, skimmed milk and natural soya protein, Mornflake GO! Porridge is the perfect breakfast boost for anyone who wants to stay on top of their game – from busy mums to gym buffs! Great on it's own as porridge or blend it into a smoothie for an extra protein fix.
Hailed by nutritionists as one of the healthiest sources of protein, our High Protein Porridge is made with non GM soya which contains nine essential amino acids in the perfect ratio for maintaining everyday health and is naturally low in saturated fat."

On a completely superficial note, I have to admit that I'm not a fan of their packaging; something about it screams 'Tesco Value'.

Perhaps Mornflake pumped the money into the quality of the sachets instead, which were impossible to open without a pair of scissors -a pain if you're in a rush in the morning. I could immediately smell a malty aroma once my scissors had worked their magic and I'd poured the oats into my bowl. I then discovered how much easier the sturdy sachets were to measure milk in than the flimsy Quaker ones... maybe I'll let you off the hook with that one Mornflake. 

In 2 minutes the oats were cooked, and the malty smell became more pungent. With my first spoonful, I enjoyed the almost horlicky taste to the porridge. However the more I ate, the stranger it became. The 'fat reduced cocoa' that Mornflake have used has resulted in an insipid chocolatey taste that doesn't really taste here nor there. If you've ever made Options without milk -and too much water- you'll get the jist. Even worse was the soya undertone throughout, which left a rather odd aftertaste (although I do detest soya milk).

I tried the porridge sachet with raspberries the next day, and it was the worst bowl of porridge I've had in a long time. The oats worked much better paired with banana, although I still yearned for my golden syrup combination. 

The biggest benefit was that they did keep me fuller for longer, and fuelled my morning gym session nicely when cooked with a banana. But taste-wise? Pfft, I'll go back to the bakewell TVM.

5/10

New Maple Syrup flavour Quaker Oat So Simple

It's getting rather nippy overnight now- there's the familiar tussle in our house over the central heating thermostat, and the shops are filled with festive goodies. That means it's porridge season (I eat it year round though, shh) and time for Quaker to release a new addition to their extensive range of porridge sachets. 

This year it's Maple syrup, a flavour I adore. Müller rice's new limited edition flavour is also maple syrup (although it's not really new because it used to be part of their range in a six pack with apple strudel - which I'm praying they also bring back). I'm hoping this is a new trend and that other retailers will branch into maple syrup.

I opened my sachet and poured my milk using the handy guide on the packet which removes all the faff. I whacked it in the microwave for the stated two minutes and awaited my warm breakfast. The first thing I noticed was the lack of smell. I know that sounds a bit odd, but there's a lovely aroma of sweet syrup that fills the house enticingly when cooking their golden syrup porridge.

The porridge had thickened up nicely when the two minutes were up, and I was pleased to see it hadn't bubbled up and over the bowl either. Again, I couldn't smell any maple syrup.

I tucked in, and felt the familiar warmth and comfort that porridge provides, with a lovely sweetness.. But no caramel undertones- none of the lovely richness that comes from a good old glug of Canadian syrup. I continued through, hoping that maybe the flavouring just wasn't mixed in enough, and that at some point I'd hit a pocket of Maple, but I didn't. The occasional spoonful tasted slightly more sweet than others, but nothing to get excited about.

The porridge did the trick and warmed me up nicely ready for a long day of studying, but I  couldn't help feeling more than a little let down by Quaker. I'm hoping that it was just a bad packet, and that my next attempt will be more successful. I'd be really interested to hear if anyone else has had the same experience as me?

3/10