Deep Dive
What are the key differences between the porridge products reviewed in the episode?
The porridge products reviewed include Lidl's high protein chocolate porridge (75 cents), Flahavan's strawberry quick oats (€1.90), and Weetabix Ready Brek (€3.29). Lidl's product contains only 60% oats, with added high protein components and chocolate, doubling the sugar content of the others. Flahavan's has 80% oats, with freeze-dried strawberries and added sugar. Ready Brek is 98% rolled oats, milled finely, and is more expensive but lasts longer.
Why does Lidl's high protein chocolate porridge have a high protein content?
Lidl's high protein chocolate porridge includes 11% milk protein powder, achieved by removing and reconstituting dairy components like whey. This targets consumers seeking high protein options, often fitness enthusiasts or those focused on protein-rich diets.
What is the significance of freeze-dried strawberries in Flahavan's porridge?
Flahavan's porridge includes freeze-dried strawberries, which are strawberries frozen and then dehydrated to remove water. This process preserves the fruit's flavor and texture, adding a unique taste and texture to the porridge without making it overly sweet.
How does Ready Brek compare to traditional porridge?
Ready Brek is milled porridge, finely ground for a smoother texture, often marketed as a children's product. It is 98% rolled oats but can be replicated at home by milling regular porridge, saving money compared to the €3.29 price for 450 grams.
What are the personal preferences of the hosts when it comes to porridge?
Simon Tierney prefers porridge made with full-fat dairy milk for creaminess and dislikes water or vegan milk substitutes. He adds blueberries for antioxidants and occasionally honey or maple syrup for sweetness. Kieran Cuddihy finds chocolate porridge acceptable but prefers it as a breakfast item and not overly sweet.
Which of the reviewed porridge products is Irish?
Flahavan's strawberry quick oats is the only Irish product reviewed, originating from Tipperary. Lidl's high protein chocolate porridge and Weetabix Ready Brek are not Irish.
- Porridge preparation preferences vary widely, particularly regarding milk choices.
- One person prefers dairy milk for creaminess, while others use water or plant-based milks.
Shownotes Transcript
The Hard Shoulder with Kieran Cudahy. With the MG Hybrid and Electric range. On Newstalk. The shopping trolley with Simon Tierney. On The Hard Shoulder.
Yeah, Simon Tierney is with me, his shopping trolley, Julie by his side. Simon, what's that in it? What are those aromas I sense wafting in my direction? It's quite strong, quite strong smell. So we're doing porridge today. It's New Year, New You. Oh yeah. People are digging out the old porridge at the back of the press, hoping that it hasn't expired. I threw out all our porridge to the day to the birds. Oh, they love that. The dog ate most of it.
Yeah. Did you offer... Did you offer some fresh fruit with it or just... No, the birds... Just plain. The birds, I actually... Huge respect for them. They threw it back at me and said, put milk on it. None of this water nonsense. And a fry up. Yeah. No oat milk. No almond milk. I put actual dairy on this place. Well, you hit upon an interesting point, Ciarán, because I retired from eating porridge about a year ago. And the reason why...
is because my wife started making it with water, which was awful. Sorry. And then she started putting vegan milk substitutes in it. Oh, no. Such as rice milk, soya milk, oat milk, and these sort of things. Now...
And you're still married. You're just a trooper. You know that. Thanks so much. But I really think that porridge only works with dairy because it makes it creamy and substantial and delicious. I love porridge when it's done properly. So what porridge have we in front of us? OK.
Okay, we've got Lidl's high protein chocolate porridge. There's a lot of high protein options out there, which I'll explain what that is in a second. That's 75 cents. This is a kind of a bring it to the office and make it on the go type pot. Like a pot noodle meets porridge. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And that's 75 cents.
Flavin's, the great Irish porridge company, they do their own version of this little pot. This is their strawberry quick oats. That's €1.90. The smell of strawberry off that. Really strong. Yeah, very strong. It's really strong smell. Just so the listeners understand, I've prepared, I've cooked these porridges in advance. No overnight oats though. And then at the higher end, we've got Weedabix Ready Brek. Now,
I was given this every morning for a long time when I was a kid. Yeah. Ready Breck will be well known to everyone. That's €3.29, which seems more expensive. But of course, that's a big box of porridge. So it's going to last you longer. What's the difference between it? Are they all the basic same thing? No, they're not. There's a big difference here. Uh,
Even in terms of how much porridge is actually in the product. Like the Reddy Breck is 98% oats. It's rolled oats, just blended. The Flavins is 80% oats and the rest is made up with, you know, sugar, milk powder, strawberry pieces that have been freeze dried. But the Lidl is only 60%.
oats. Oh. So nearly half of that product isn't porridge at all. And that, of course, is down to the addition of the high protein component, which I'll get to, but also the chocolate. This is a chocolate product. I've never seen chocolate mixed into porridge before, but there you go. So tell me more then about the
protein that's added to this? How do they do it? This is a really interesting marketing ploy because there's a whole section of consumers out there, not including me, who are looking for high protein products. These are the sort of lads who come into the office kitchen and make 13 eggs in the microwave. You know that crowd? That shower. And 10 chicken fillets. They're the sort of lads who'll be buying this product because it says high protein on it.
And the way they do that is that they remove a certain aspect of the dairy, which is things like the whey, for example, which is full of protein.
And they reconstitute that into the product to add a little bit of extra protein. And that's what... It's the Miss Moffat, wasn't that who had the curds and whey? I think it was. Yeah. So this product has 11% milk protein powder added to it. So people like to do that. Of course, it has the chocolate in it as well. That's probably pushing up the sugar content. The Lidl has doubled the amount of sugar of the other two products.
And of course, the Flavins is doing something interesting as well. This isn't just plain old porridge. This is porridge with freeze-dried strawberries in it. What's a freeze-dried strawberry? They freeze the strawberry, then they get a hoover, they take all the water out of it. Hey, presto, that's a freeze-dried strawberry. Okay. Delish. So, what are you taste testing, Ciarán? I'm taste testing the Lidl product, high-protein chocolate porridge. And
Chocolatey? It's chocolatey. Not overly chocolatey. It's not too sweet. Because it's dark chocolate. Yeah, it's not too sweet. I would say that if you're worried about it being kind of sickly sweet, having chocolate for your breakfast. It's not that sweet. Yeah.
It's okay. Bit clumpy, bit wallpaper pasty. Yeah. You know? See, the thing for me is that I wouldn't contemplate eating porridge after sort of 11am. For me, it is a breakfast thing and I wouldn't touch chocolate before lunch. Yeah. I'm not one of those people. Now you're moving on to the Flathavans. Mm.
It's a bit creamier. This is... This is definitely a bit creamier. Originally a Say Tipperary company. This is Irish. The one Irish product there. I can taste the oats more in this product than I can the other product. Yeah, definitely. I...
I have to say, I used to get this a lot. Not bad. I went through a phase of getting these porridge pots on my way into work because they're quite reasonably priced. And to be fair, Flahaven's do a great porridge. That is a good porridge. Good one. You didn't find it too sweet? No, I didn't. No. Quite enjoyed it. Now I'm onto the ready break. Now this I haven't had
Since I was in primary school, I'd say, I haven't had a spoon of ready brek. My kids don't eat ready brek. They eat actual porridge if they want porridge. Yeah, well, ready brek is a funny one. Like you might, when a child is, when a very young to look on your face, it's like going back to an Eden and Blighton book that you loved and realising that it's not very good. Not enjoying that. Now, to be fair, I didn't add any sugar or maple syrup or honey or anything like that.
Yeah, it's a bit dry. I mean, you could have used a bit more milk, I felt. Yeah, I could have, yeah, yeah. Did you use what they recommend it? To be honest, I just lashed it in and judged it myself. I probably should have put a bit more milk. It has been lying around for the last few minutes. Yeah, so it's dried out. I mean, that's not great. I don't think I'd be a fan anyway. It's a kid's
meal, really. So that's why it's milled. I do try to prepare my dishes very, very fresh for you, Ciarán. Very, very fresh. No, you do. And I do usually microwave them just before I come into studio. But that was lying around for a few minutes in it. Do you think that affected the performance of the dish? I think so. I think so. Listen, it's a kid's product. Kids might...
Enjoy it. Can I just say one thing about Ready Brek, right? Because we used this with our kids when they were weaning onto solids, right? And we were buying Ready Brek, which is made by Weetabix, by the way, you know, a big breakfast cereal company. Yeah. At €3.29 for 450 grams. If you buy a kilo of porridge, own brand, it's around a euro or even less.
And we put it in the blender at home and you can make your own Ready Break and save about €3.
Really? Just mill it yourself. That's what Reggie Breck is. It's just milled porridge. Yes. So do you have porridge at home now in the mornings? We do. All year round? No, at the moment we're going through a granola phase and over Christmas we went through a Cocoa Pops phase. Oh, nice. Just for the Christmas. Ah, look, you've got to relax these things. Yeah, exactly. When you're having porridge, what do you put in it? Well,
Well, like I say, I will only take it now with full fat milk. But we went through a phase of putting water in it. It's an absolute disaster. It's so thin. It's dreadful. But do you add any other accoutrements? Oh yeah, I put blueberries into it. Oh do you? Antioxidants as they say. Don't know what they are. Don't know what they do. No idea, but it sounds great. But the blueberries, they kind of burst with the heat and they bleed
into the dish. It's lovely. Would you put honey in it now? Put a slap of honey or maybe a few dollops of maple syrup is very nice. Oh, really? Okay, yeah. Maple syrup is a little too stickly. It's a kind of, it's a touch of, it's kind of caramelly. It's got a slightly burnt caramel. Yeah, it's kind of a woody taste after something. Yeah, I don't know. A taste of Canada. Yeah.
Donald Trump will be going for their maple syrup next. Invade Canada, seize their maple syrup and put it on your porridge. This is all about maple syrup, nothing else. Anyway, Simon Tierney, thank you very, very much for that. Irish products? Yeah, the Flavins. The Flavins is an Irish porridge and the other two aren't. All right, Simon, thank you very much for talking to you at the same time. Next week...
The Hard Shoulder with Kieran Cudahy. With the MG Hybrid and Electric range. Weekdays from 4 on Newstalk.