Kellogg’s Ancient Legends Porridge Review

Here’s a new instant porridge mix from Kellogg’s which I discovered quite by accident in a local branch of Poundland. It's called Ancient Legends and contains a mix of spelt, barley, oats, chia seeds and dates. Of these, it’s spelt that’s the ancient grain.

Alternative grains are becoming an increasingly popular alternative to regular wheat these days, but some can be an acquired taste. So mixing them up into regular porridge oats is a great way of gradually introducing other grains to our taste buds.

The box contains 8 individual sachets (30g) with each portion containing 118 calories (if made up with water).
Before grabbing the box to pop into my basket, I had a quick scan of the nutritional label to see what other ingredients were in there and whether or not it was high in sugar.

Kellogg's Ancient Legends Porridge

Here’s what it says on the box:

‘Ancient civilisations believed that grain was more valuable than gold and prized their finest grains for their heroic legends. We’ve carefully chosen ancient grains & seeds like Spelt, Barley & Chia, and blended them with traditional wholegrain oats to create a naturally delicious porridge.’

Like other instant mix oats, you only need to add water or milk and cook in the microwave or on a stove top.

Kellogg's Ancient Legends Porridge Sachets

I don’t know whether it’s just my microwave oven that’s the problem, but I often find with these instant porridge sachets that the recommended amount of liquid is never enough and the porridge turns into a sold lump. Not nice at all. And it was the same with Ancient Legends.

The dry porridge mix before cooking

I needed at least 200ml of liquid rather than the 150ml advised. But it cooked quickly and I left it for a few minutes while I did other things.

Once it’s cooked, the dates ‘come to life’. You can’t really see them when the powder is still dry but once you add liquid all the chia seeds clearly float around and cooking expands both the chia and the dates.

I have to say I really love the taste of this porridge. It is quite sweet tasting without adding anything extra. That’s because it’s sweetened with the dates. But it also has milk powder included which will add to the sweetness. It has a bit of crunchiness to it which comes from the chia seeds.

Kellogg's Ancient Legends Porridge Cooked

Overall, I think this is a great addition to the range of instant porridges out there. And at £1 for a box of 8 sachets, a bargain! Of course, that was in Poundland.

Another Porridge in the Ancient Legends range is a coconut variety which is sold in Waitrose for £1 (at the time of writing) but it is sweetened with sugar. This flavour contains 123 calories per sachet. This is currently found in ASDA and Waitrose. ASDA are charging £1.99 for a box while Waitrose were charging just £1, like Poundland.

Also available in the Kellogg’s Ancient Legends range are the new Granolas – Granola Spelt, Granola Rye and Muesli Spelt. However, they all have added sugar and glucose syrup so I personally wouldn’t go for these. These are quite widely available in supermarkets.

The addition of milk means it’s not suitable for vegans or those who are lactose intolerant. Also, because spelt still contains gluten, it's not suitable for those with an intolerance to gluten.

Ingredients:
Cereals (Whole Oats {84%}, Barley {5%}, Whole Spelt {5%}), Chia Seeds (5%), Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin), Milk Powder (Skimmed Milk, Cream).

Nutritional Information per 30g sachet:
118 calories, 2.4g fat, 0.4g saturated fat, 19g carbs, 3.3g sugars, 3.0g fibre, 3.3g protein, 0.002 salt.

© Diets and Calories