Ready, Steady, Glow! (Weetabix Ready Brek Original Flavour)

Member Name: cyberem78

Product:	Weetabix Ready Brek Original Flavour
Date:	03/11/09 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tasty, healthy, warms you up.

Disadvantages: Can be bland and flour-tasting if not sweetened. Can be messy.

Ready Brek is something I used to eat on winter days when I was a child. There was something very warm and comforting in the glowing porridge mix and it gave me energy and insulation. As I got older I turned to grittier porridge cereals like Oats so Simple, Lyles and Scots. The memory of that smooth, distinctive Ready Brek mix never left me though, and I recently purchased a box to see if it is still as good as I remember.

The product comes boxed and the fine porridge oats are contained within a plastic bag inside this box. The bag must be cut open and can't be re-closed. Due to the fact that the Ready Brek oats are so fine in consistency the pieces of flour and cut oats tend to fly up out of the packet whenever it's touched. It is difficult to roll up the bag (to retain freshness of the product) without creating a lot of mess. All information about the product is printed on the box. Nutritional values are clearly set out with a 30 gram serving listed as having 108 calories and 2.6 grams of fat.

Ingredients are free of sugar and salt. They include 60% of wholegrain oats, 39% of wholegrain wheat flour and vitamins and minerals including iron, calcium, vitamin B12 and folic acid. The product is suitable for vegetarians.

Ready Brek is unlike other porridges on the market. The oats are rolled to a very fine, powdery mix. The product has an appearance of sawdust or gypsum. There is very little pieces of oat left in the blend and very little colour to the mix.

Guidlines about how to cook the porridge are given on the box. The company recommend adding 150ml of milk or water to 30g of Ready Brek. This should then be microwaved according to your microwave's watt category. I find that the mix is much better if you add less milk or water than you think you need. If you tend to guess the measurements like me I can say that a thick Ready Brek mix is far more pleasant a texture than a watery, sloppy one. When thick it tends to have a whey-like quality about it, bubbling into an airy blob but when too watery it is quite horrible and reminds me of something you'd feed to farm animals!

Micowaving can be tricky and I recommend using a high rimmed bowl and pausing to stir half way through the cooking time. My microwave regularly ends up looking like the story of the magic porridge pot as much of the hot bubbling mixture rises up and spills out.

I have always added milk to my Ready Brek rather than water as I feel that creaminess helps improve the taste and texture. As far as adding other ingredients to your Ready Brek anything goes. I recommend adding a sweetner such as golden syrup or honey as the porridge can be a little bland otherwise. You can even add raisins or chocolate. It is also very nice with a dash of cream.

The taste is very nice - having that familiar earthy oat flavour although if not sweetened you can taste an undertone of flour. The texture is ultra smooth and velvety but can be a little boring. Those that like a bit to chew might like to add pieces of fruit. What's most impressive about Ready Brek is that it really does, as it's advertising claims, give you an inner glow. It very quickly warms you up and when I eat this I feel like my belly is full and is sun-like.

Ready Brek is very nice tasting and is healthy and it satisfied my expectations from my childhood memories. However, I currently feel I do not always want to have Ready Brek and prefer a rougher, grainier porridge and/or a porridge that is pre-sweetened. I wouldn't be able to rate this against any of the porridges I currently eat though as I feel it's an entirely different kind of porridge. I would say that Ready Brek is a perfect introduction to picky eater kids who don't like 'bits' as you won't find any in this!

Check out the brand website:

www.weetabix.co.uk

for full product information.

Summary: A good winter warmer breakfast.