I am now having to go into an office twice a week for work, and this has really thrown my routine into a bit of a shamble. I am currently training for a marathon and as such, I am having to really focus on my nutrition to find out what fuelling method works best for me, especially on the days when I have some decent miles to get in. As such, working from home has been a huge help in allowing me that freedom to really perfect my overnight oats and hot porridge recipes, and this has been helping so much with my training and helping me stay motivated and energised even on the longest and hottest runs. Going into an office twice a week now though is really proving quite the challenge.
For a bit of context, I work in Central London and my commute takes me (door to door) an hour and half each way and includes 3 trains (1 overground trainline and two tube lines) and then a 10-15 minute walk from the underground station to the office itself. Which unfortunately is a pretty standard commute when you live outside of London and need to commute in. But it still means that I out of my house at 7.30am each day and I am not getting home until about 7pm (provided all of the trains run without delays or cancellations, which is never a given with the English rail system!) so it leaves very little room for me to prepare very much in the way of lunches. The office is also not somewhere you can cook proper meals, so I am having to rely on ready made selections.
I therefore picked up these instant porridge pots to try these. I have found in the past that porridge pots can be quite hit or miss, in that they were either overly sweet or artificial in flavour, or they just don’t taste of anything at all and can very bland and disappointing. I therefore kept my expectations low for these, in that I was just hoping for a quick and tasty option to keep me well fuelled during a busy office work day, and to keep me feeling full so that I don’t feel the need to buy an extra sweet treat from the office café.
I have to admit these are very good. The berry flavour is actually quite strong and so adds this wonderful tartness to the otherwise plain porridge. I think we can all accept that plain oats are bland and the making of great porridge is all in what you add to the oats, so this berry mixture was perfect. The tart sweetness of the berries did a great job of giving me a good energy boost and helped wake me up from a busy morning of document drafting. I also found that the berries helped to stop any sweet cravings I had during the day, as the berries satisfied that sweetness very well and gave me that little kick of sugary energy. Now the instructions say to add hot water to a certain level which is marked in the pot by a black line so is easy to follow, however I found that this made the oats very thick. I personally prefer my oats to a similar texture to thick yoghurt, so I added about an extra tablespoon of water to get that desired consistency. No doubt it will take a few tries to get it to the absolutely perfect consistency, but this was good enough for me to enjoy.
Now I have to admit that I am not someone who ever really has many gut issues. I can get some terrible stomach pains when I am feeling incredibly stressed or anxious, but I don’t have any issues with my gut in general. I therefore cannot really comment on how gentle this was on my stomach because I truly didn’t notice any difference in how these settled compared to how my normal every day oats settled. I do have to say though that I found these oats to be very good at keeping my energy levels consistent throughout the day. Prior to this I was mostly having a sandwich for lunch and I noticed that by 3pm I would hit a serious energy slump where I could barely keep my eyes open and would need to go for a little walk around the office to try and wake myself up a bit. I found when I had these though I didn’t hit any sort of hump in my energy levels, nor did I feel the need to snack or any have any cravings. I also found that when I got home at 7pm, I was only just starting to get a bit hungry for dinner, whereas on other days I will come home practically ravenous for any food I can get my hands on.
I bought this at my local Tesco and they had multiple flavours on offer, including a plain version with just maple syrup and a chocolate version. It seems that each flavour is for a different purpose, for example the chocolate is designed to boost immunity. On their own, each pot cost £1.30, however I did buy this one as part of a ‘buy 3 for £3’ deal so it did cut the price ever so slightly. I think £1.30 is a good price point though as this did a great job of keeping me feeling full for the rest of the day, which is not something that happens when I eat just a sandwich or even a salad. I am of course only buying these twice a week (at the moment anyway) so for me that price seems worthwhile for a meal I can easily transport, I don’t have to refrigerate and is super easy to prepare, and for me that makes such a difference when the day is already so much longer due to a commute. However if I was going into an office more often (I think the limit for me would be 3 days a week), I would only buy these as emergency supplies, for those days when I don’t want to have to pre-prepare my lunches. If however you would value your time more than your money, then these would be a great option to try.
Taylor Talks Vegan 
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