HOORAY for the microwave and the non-stick pan. How else would we cook porridge? Anyone who remembers the old days and who has ever had to wash a porridge pot that has sat on the side of the Aga, congealing sullenly, for an hour or two would immediately understand the appeal of cornflakes for breakfast. So let us be thankful for progress that has enabled us to breakfast on porridge without having to spend half an hour at the sink afterwards.

Sometimes, whatever the question, porridge is the only answer. And if there has ever been a week for porridge, this has been it.

Porridge is good for you. All that fibre, those oats - they help lower cholesterol, give you vitamins and minerals, are low in fat and all in all, are a good way to start the day. As long, that is, as you don't smother your porridge with butter and sugar and make Golden Syrup faces on it.

What's more, it fills you up nicely - so you're far less likely to want to nibble biscuits or chocolate bars mid- morning.

But even porridge is not as simple as it was. Once upon a time, it was just a case of a bag of oats ("A grain which in England, is generally given to horses but in Scotland, supports the people," as Dr Johnsons said) but now comes in a variety of versions and flavours.

Purists make their porridge with water. Gluttons make theirs with cream. We compromised with semi-skimmed milk.

PROPER PORRIDGE FOR

GROWN UPS

All these contain just 100 per cent rolled oats. The only differences are price and texture. Can be made in the pan or microwaved.

JORDANS PORRIDGE OATS £1.25 for 750g

This had the nicest texture as the oats - conservation grade - were still recognisably oats and not crushed to powder. But the most expensive.

FLAHAVAN'S IRISH PORRIDGE OATS 75p for 500g

So it's not just the Scots who grow porridge oats. Flahavan's is a family business from a village between Waterford and Cork, where they have been milling oats for six generations so they know what they're doing.

BEST BUY

TESCO SCOTTISH PORRIDGE OATS 44p for 500g * * * * *

Cheapest and perfectly acceptable. Got to be worth trying.

PORRIDGE FOR SOFTIES

Generally aimed at children, these are porridges made from oats plus usually something else - oat flour, wheat flour, malt or added vitamins. They are smoother and less lumpy and, of course, cost more.

MARKS & SPENCER QUICK PORRIDGE £1.39 for 500g

Made with 77 per cent rolled oats plus skimmed milk powder and cream powder.

SCOTTS SO EASY PORAGE OATS 99p for 300g

Individual sachets, just oats and stabiliser. Good flavour.

READYBREK £1.24 for 500g and TESCO KIDS INSTANT HOT OAT CEREAL 99p for 500g

All sorts of things in these that made them less oaty but pleasant enough. A decent breakfast for kids.

PORRIDGE, BUT NOT AS WE

KNOW IT

Aimed at children and trying to be "fun" - which basically means with a lot of added sugar. Is this really what you want? Read the small print.

SAINSBURYS EASYOAT SELECTION £1.29 for 279g

Three apple flavour, three golden syrup, two original.

The original was fine but the sweet smell of the others was very sickly and put us off even before we had a taste. The golden syrup flavour was nearly 30 per cent sugar - so not quite as healthy as you might think. They also suggest you drizzle more golden syrup onto it. What are they trying to do to us?

QUAKER OATSO SIMPLE 97p for 204g

Seven sachets: Terrific Toffee, Very Vanilla and Super Strawberry.

Fortified with vitamins and minerals but they are only about 56 per cent oats and about 32 per cent sugar. There are probably better ways to start the day.

FOR THOSE WITH MORE MONEY THAN TIME

MARKS & SPENCER FRESH PORRIDGE 85p for 200g ready made

A little pot, ready to pop into the microwave. This is made with double cream (eight per cent) and Demerera sugar, and is quite heavy on calories so should have been a really luxurious start to the day. Sadly, it was disappointing. Very bland and rather boring.

GETTING YOUR OATS

Plain old porridge oats - especially own label varieties - are cheap, cheerful and nutritious. Making porridge - as long as you have a proper non-stick pan or microwave - is quick and easy.

(TIP: If making porridge in the microwave, use a bigger bowl than you think you need. It has the habit of bubbling up like a primeval swamp and spattering off in all directions.)

Buying some of the dinky little sachets is just a way of spending a lot of money on sugar. Better to make your own porridge and then add your own sugar/banana/dried fruit/jam/

syrup or whatever.

Or, as we did on a biting cold morning this week, try it traditional Scottish style with a good glug of whisky.

Not for the children perhaps, but that's what I call a proper breakfast.

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