The Porridge Tub Trend

So the British weather has taken a turn for the worst; it is freezing. For weeks i've been looking for an excuse to wear my new winter coat and now that I finally have one, I don't even want to wear it -It's been one of those days.

Anyway, at some point today I came across the fact that it is 'National Porridge Day,' (Who the hell makes this sh*t up). So I thought, why wouldn't I do a blog post on my childhood nightmare. 

Porridge... I'm not sure how people feel about it. Some people have fond porridge memories, sat in a cosy house, eating porridge which has been cooked on the AGA and drizzled with honey. For the Oliver Twist's amongst us it's a stomach turner, porridge is associated with slop and thick gloop...Then there's the modernista's; somewhere, somehow, porridge has become cool. We've fallen into this huge commercial trap of eating it because it comes in cute little tubs that edit well on Instragram:

Hats off to Quaker Oats for charging £1.50 (at least) for a single tub of porridge, a tub which contains sugar, skimmed milk powder and porridge oats - Around 35 measly grams of porridge oats.

Lets just talk about SKIMMED MILK POWDER, as appealing as skimmed milk powder sounds, I don't think i'm in any rush to buy it. In fact, i'm not going to buy it at all, these tubs of porridge can be easily replicated without the skimmed milk powder and without the ridiculous price. A 1kg bag of porridge oats from Tesco costs 75p; that singular bag would make 28 porridge tubs at 2.7p a tub. 

If you're a busy lady whose life has been changed by the miracle that is porridge in a tub, then let me take this opportunity to introduce you to tupperware, it's a modern day miracle, you can fill your tupperware tub with porridge oats the night before and even fill another tub with milk; then when you're ready to eat you can pop them all together in a microwave and Bob's your uncle. If you're particularly picky and only have a kettle to hand during the day then that is also fine, porridge works just as well with water, you might need to add a little extra flavour. 

Porridge should be the go-to breakfast for anyone living an active lifestyle. The slow releasing complex carbs found in the oats leave you feeling fuller for longer. Not like the breakfast 'biscuit' advert, the one  saying how you'll feel full after 1 'biscuit' (it's a lie, they aren't biscuits and they don't even hit the sides). Porridge genuinely fills you up and heats you up. It's also full of fibre and protein, as well as vitamins and minerals, plus it goes with pretty much anything so you can make it as healthy as you want. 

For those of you still wincing at the thought of porridge, why not spice things up, literally... Add some cinnamon, maybe brown sugar, fruit, peanut butter, swap your milk for almond milk or coconut milk, i've even heard of people having marmite on their porridge (vom), whatever your taste, give it a shot.

Here was my porridge this morning:

Coconut, fig and dark chocolate - Delicious.