OMG – I’ve just made a terrible discovery. I’ve been making overnight oats by soaking oats in milk in a bowl, and then eating breakfast from said bowl. Now I’ve discovered that there is a special jar for making this stuff. Worse than that – I am also apparently a part of some sort of social movement for preparing lunches ahead of time!! How can i survive?

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jun/19/from-overnight-oats-to-boiled-eggs-is-meal-prep-taking-the-joy-out-of-eating

You will die, for sure.

We have porridge each morning made from full fat normal milk in the microwave.

Unfortunately as this produces excellent results, is cheap, and takes under two minutes, and is served in the bowl it’s made in, it is of course the wrong way to do it!

Overnight oats? More likely to result in new life than death I would have thought

Oats here also :)… But 1min 40 secs in the microwave.

Then…

Tins of sardines and fruit for lunch.

Baked veg (squash, swede, onion, sweet potatoes) and aubourgine steaks for dinner.

Ps any cracking recipes for sweet potatoes and squash you guys might have ?

Fruit n oat muffins for the win.

3 bananas mashed with 2 eggs.

2 or 3 handfuls of frozen berries, whatever you fancy, I like the summer fruits mixed with frozen strawberries.

180g porridge oats.

tablespoon of maple syrup or honey.

Mix all together, spoon into a 6 silicon muffin tray, 30 mins in oven.

2 of these does me for brekkie, a minute in the microwave with another drizzle of maple syrup over at the end. OO seems like prison food by comparison. Nom.

Meal prep is good for a few weeks, to give a dieting boost, but I find it unsustainable long term.

I quite like the idea of making five jars of morning oats on a Sunday evening to see me though the week, I might buy some of those special jars.

Fruit n oat muffins for the win.

Sounds great, no chance of them all not being eaten by tues morning at the latest.

Oats here also :)… But 1min 40 secs in the microwave.

If you’re going to have a 2 minute microwave breakfast the correct answer is, obviously, poached eggs.

I’ll have no truck with your oats.

Porridge made in a pan on the hob (with soy milk and extra dried fruit).

Lunch each week is a big pan of stuff made on Sunday evening and then stored in the fridge in packed lunch tubs for the week. This week is a kind of maghmour (a Lebanese version of moussaka).

packed lunch tubs

Further research reveals that these should be substituted by a “meal management system”.

Ps any cracking recipes for sweet potatoes and squash you guys might have ?

Put butter and cinnamon on your sweet potato.

Sweet potatoes? I love these –

https://www.thebodycoach.com/blog/loaded-sweet-potato-skins-164.html

He also does a pretty awesome B squash mac n cheese, which is very good for making a batch of the sauce and freezing, I love loads of spinach in there…

Further research reveals that these should be substituted by a “meal management system”.

I think you will find that artisan ball mason jars are the correct vessel, the best ones can be bought in Chelsea costing at least 5 times as much as they would at Lakeland, it’s the price that makes them special you know.

For sweet potatoes, bake or steam them in the skin, then deskin them, mash up the flesh with a little olive oil and chili flakes. I sometimes make a big batch and keep it in the fridge for a few days supply, in which case I also add a small amount chia flour to absorb the excess moisture.

When my best mate (the first of our gang) got married and settled down ,I used to laugh at how he set out their breakfast things the night before. Oats soaking in water and salt, saucers of dried fruit sitting on top of the bowls. Tea pot, cups and milk jug on a tray, all ready to go. I was young and care free, I didn’t understand. I do now 😉

then deskin them

Not this. Roast chopped sweet potato in olive oil, garlic and whatever other seasonings you enjoy, then mash. The lumps of caramelised skin are probably the best part of a sweet potato.

Ps any cracking recipes for sweet potatoes and squash you guys might have ?

Deep fried. In batter.

Better if you substitute the sweet potato with a sausage.

Further research reveals that these should be substituted by a “meal management system”.

I don’t think they’re available for a couple of quid in Morrisons.

1min 40 

I’m glad it’s not just me that understands that this is the precise time that a bowl of porridge takes and that just bunging it in for 2 minutes is criminal.

Protein powder stirred in AFTER for the win.

aubourgine steaks for dinner

What cut of the aubourigne gives the best steak?

Overnight oats sounds a wrong’un anyway. Imo porridge is made in a pan and very quickly with water to get a very firm consistency. Maybe 1-2mins or so on a high heat. Then shape into a famous mountain. Eiger or Buachaille are ideal for this. Then add some dried fruit or nuts. Get them positioned on the crux pitch somewhere for drama. Then add some yogurt as  a bit of snow. Then pour some milk on to make a bit of a lake, I know not quite accurate but you need some milk. Done.

Putting in a pot overnight?? What kind of weirdness is that?? Pah!

Porridge needs to be stirred over the heat continuously using the correct implement – preferably in a reciprocating motion until ready.

aubourgine steaks for dinner

That might be the saddest thing I’ve ever read.

That Guardian article suggests that meal prep (really “meal pre-prep.”) is to save time, but really it’s to stop you saying “**** it, I’ll have a pizza/burger/Magnum for lunch instead of my smashed avocado and quinoa thing”. I know because I didn’t have time to sort out my lunch before leaving for work this morning and now I’ve gone and eaten a 1000 calorie syrup and yoghurt-a-like flapjack. Yesterday I hadn’t prepared enough healthy food and was forced* to eat a Magnum.

* by “forced” I mean chose.

Putting in a pot overnight?? What kind of weirdness is that?? Pah!

Yeah but no but it’s not porridge is it, it’s oats. Like in muesli. Not cooked. The idea of soaking it overnight is so it swells up and you don’t eat so much you fat greedy chuffer.

Hmmm. Sounds like a soggy mess. Anyway off now for non-meal prepped fat greedy chuffer lunch. . Can’t have a burger though – having burgers and hot-dogs later. Fancy something fried though. Eggs, bacon……mmmmmm

A guy from work would tell us his gran would make porridge then pour it into a lined drawer. You’d then get a slice for breakfast, would last the whole week.

All the stuff I read about this seems to be about mixing it with yoghurt and fruit/juices and weird stuff and result looks like some kind of smoothie jar. I only do plain porridge (I do fruit, but never like mixing it in. Also, not a yoghurt fan), Just via the pan method in the morning at the moment, but it’s often too thick and stodgy or too liquid and the oats chewy despite the 3-4 mins in the pan. So, interested, but not in the poncey crap that goes with it 😛

Personally I just hit the canteen when I get to work, much simpler!

What’s the difference between overnight oats and bircher muesli?

Will I die

Will.I.Am’s welsh cousin

The main advantage of over nights oats is that it gives you time to post a photo of it to your social media of choice

What’s the difference between overnight oats and Bircher muesli?

Apple juice, yoghurt, grated apple and honey.

I switched to overnight oats for breakfast in the summer so I don’t get a sweat on. I soak mine in a an old gherkin jar.

Porridge takes 3 minutes in the microwave anything less is just hot overnight oats. Real porridge should be simmered and stirred with spurtle for 5 minutes, you know you’ve got it right when it can be cut into slices once cold for snacking on.

When my best mate (the first of our gang) got married and settled down ,I used to laugh at how he set out their breakfast things the night before. Oats soaking in water and salt, saucers of dried fruit sitting on top of the bowls. Tea pot, cups and milk jug on a tray, all ready to go. I was young and care free, I didn’t understand. I do now

That just comes across as a bit creepy. I simply stand, blurry eyed, in front of the hob stirring porridge and milk in a pan. I do this by getting out of bed a whole five minutes earlier than I need to. Living life on the edge here!

Eventually you will die.

I quite enjoy some of the more intelligent bits of writing in the Grauniad.

That article is not one of them.

Real porridge should be simmered and stirred with spurtle

Pervert.

real porridge oats should be toasted first prior to cooking. heathens.

Porridge must be stirred in a clockwise manner. Stirring anti-clockwise can summon beelzebub.

^^shit. It all makes sense now. That’s where that fella with the goat legs who lives in the garden came from.

As above… Toasted in a hot dry pan for a bit till ‘fragrant’.

Add twice the volume of milk than you had oats.

Stir till thick ish over medium heat.

Teaspoon of nut butter (I like cashew), and a whole sliced banana stirred in.

Add honey if you like it sweeter.

Porridge snobs, who knew?.