Hello there!
Today I’m back with more bento goodness…or not-so-goodness as the case may be with today’s “Tales of interesting bentos”!
For quite a while now I have seen Sistema’s “Oatmeal/Porridge to go” on sale and I thought it was about time I bit the bullet and had a look at one myself.
One of the reasons I didn’t have a look sooner was frankly, because it didn’t look that interesting, really, another bowl with a lid.
Behold.
Tis indeed a bowl!
It’s quite big at 850ml and is of course microwave, dishwasher and good-as-a-helmet safe.
The shape is quite strange, not like a usual bowl at all.
More shallow and wider I’d say.
I guess this is the scientifically proven best shape for porridge making?
Just like many of these products made for microwaving, this one has a vent that can open and close.
It’s air tight when closed so nothing is getting out without a confident click in the opposite direction.
The lid attaches with strong clips to pieces of plastic sticking out of the bowl.
They have to be aligned before they can be snapped into place so it can be a little fiddly but once they are in place the lid doesn’t have much of a chance to budge.
Inside there is a generic microwave booklet which is a bit worrying.
I don’t know about you but if I buy something that has a specific purpose in mind I would like to know how to do it exactly as intended via instructions.
This booklet seems to be something they put with any product that goes in the microwave which shows that not much thought has gone into this.
I guess we’ll have to follow some back of the pack instructions on microwave porridge then…
So, before I test this with porridge, here’s a thought.
How on earth is this supposed to be used?
If we were to get to our place of work, pour in some porridge, some milk then microwave in this, isn’t it pointless and a bowl would have done since you have all the resources to make it already and don’t need the portability?
Maybe you could make it beforehand then bring it with you but that wouldn’t stay warm long and wouldn’t be pleasant in a couple of hours time, plus there’s no space for a spoon.
Also, that way you could have just made it in a pan or bowl and transferred it to any air tight box.
Maybe you pour in the porridge and milk then take that around with you until you find a microwave but then you only have so long until the milk goes bad and……you end up with something a little like this….
Messssssssssy.
So, while you ponder how exactly this would work on the go, I shall see how exactly it works for cooking porridge.
To the test subjects!
To both of these bowls I added 4 heaped tablespoons of oats and 270ml of cold milk, just like the back of the pack porridge instructions.
Seems a fair portion for one person and with a bowl at 850ml, it should be no problem.
The microwave booklet says to put on the lid securely, open the vent and microwave.
Tadahhhhhhhh!
Please excuse my embarrassingly dirty microwave made…just the slightest bit worse… by this MASSIVE PORRIDGE EXPLOSION!!!!!!!
There was hardly any actual porridge left inside this bowl, just a few dregs of oats.
How it managed to fail quite so efficiently is probably an achievement in itself.
Though I was still scraping porridge from between my toes I thought I’d give this a fair try and see if it works without the lid on, CLEAN UP!
Ridiculous as this may seem, it lost way less porridge than how the instructions stated to use this, though still failed absolutely miserably.
To make porridge in the microwave it seems you need a deep and large bowl.
The Sistema Porridge To Go is neither deep or large so fails terribly in the porridge making department, the only department it went in for.
With the generic microwave instructions included, at least with mine, I do wonder if this idea was even tested or if they just made a microwave safe bowl and thought, “I guess it would be good for porridge”.
Sure it would work to put porridge in but pretty much any bowl that doesn’t have a hole in the bottom can do that.
The idea behind it is pretty flawed and the execution is even worse.
That’s not to say the quality is bad, it’s great and it would last quite a while even with someone rough but when the design is this bad, it really doesn’t matter.
Maybe it would be okay microwaving sweetcorn or other solid foods for every day cooking but not for porridge or anything else with liquid I would say.
All in all the Sistema Oatmeal/Porridge To Go is complete pants and though the quality is good, it’s air tight and can be microwaved & dishwashed, it fails at the only job it appointed itself which is pretty unforgivable.
Now, if you excuse me I fancy some porridge now so I’m off to make the same recipe in a pan.
Add a little sugar and spice and blam!
The trusty saucepan wins again.
Not so acceptable to take on a train with you though.
Some people are so sensitive.
It’s almost Pancake Day!
Try out my pancake recipes!
