The porridge comes in 3 flavours - Original, Almond & Honey and Red Berries, with strawberry and raspberry pieces. Each box contains 6 (in the flavoured ones) or 7 (in the original) individual packs of porridge, and the bags have a line on them so you can use them to measure out the right amount of milk to add to the porridge. Simple idea, huh? I can never find a measuring jug in the morning, and as Squeaky's getting older, we have less & less cups around with measures on the side, so this comes in handy. The bags are a bit delicate though, I have to wait until I can see straight, or there would be milk all over the kitchen floor. 2 1/2 minutes in the microwave, and another couple of minutes to cool & thicken, and breakfast is served.
The big question, the taste. Great. The original does taste a bit more like Special K than standard porridge, which makes it a more interesting proposition, and I really liked this one. It's my favourite, and I'm going to have to go & buy some more at this rate! The Almond & Honey is a bit richer & sweeter, with small almond pieces, which I was quite relieved about, not being a big nut-eater. And the Red Berries is just yum, quite indulgent.
The box makes a big thing about there being 30% less fat in the Special K porridge than "other porridges". As I had one of the other brands of microwave porridge in the cupboard I decided to check out those claims. And comparing the nutritional info of the un-made packets, yes, there is 30% less fat. However, there's more sugar, more salt, and more calories. I feel slightly swizzed at this point. There's less fat again when the porridge is made up, because it uses less milk (and therefore makes up slightly less porridge) than the other brands. I know this is actually quite common in reduced fat foods, but it's the first time I've really seen it for myself.
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| Red Berries porridge & apple juice. |
Would I buy them again? Probably, I like the flavours, especially the original, and we do eat a fair bit of microwave porridge over the winter months.
Special K Porridge is available in the major supermarkets for around£1.99 a box of 6/7 packs.
Disclosure: I was provided with three boxes of porridge, as pictured, free of charge for the purposes of this reveiw. I was not told what to write and all opinions are my own.
Special K Porridge is available in the major supermarkets for around£1.99 a box of 6/7 packs.
Disclosure: I was provided with three boxes of porridge, as pictured, free of charge for the purposes of this reveiw. I was not told what to write and all opinions are my own.
These sound yummy!
ReplyDeleteooo check you out!! top of google for hits for kellogs special k porridge! :-)
ReplyDeletedoes the 104 c include the milk
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good question, and off the top of my head I can't remember - as the weather's picked up I'm onto cold cereals again now, so I haven't got any to hand. Looking around online, I can find two different sets of calorie values, one around 104, and one around 180 per serving, so I think the 104 is without milk, which gives you the flexibility to make it with more or less calories depending on the milk you use.
DeleteThe 30% less fat is a claim made for gullible consumers. Saturated fat is 1.2g per 100g in ordinary porridge. Its 0.9g in Special K porridge. A tiny tiny difference, yet they obviously believe stupid consumers will fall for the "30% less fat" line. They achieve this tiny reduction by removing oats and adding sugar. So with ordinary porridge sugar content is about 1.5g per 100g. With this Special K stuff, its 14g per 100g. That's 9 times more sugar than regular porridge! A complete con job
ReplyDeleteThat's a fair point. I took the "other porridges" as meaning similar ready to microwave packets, which are already on the market. They do contain sugar, and more than traditional porridge, but the other instant pack I compared against contained less sugar and salt than the Special K version. It depends whether you've got time to make traditional porridge in the morning or not, and I guess whether you then add sugar, honey, or other sweeteners to traditional porridge.
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