Frozen bananas work a dream in this.

To freeze bananas that might otherwise find their way to the compost heap, peel, halve or break into smaller portions if desired and freeze in a bag ensuring they are separated from each other while freezing. Once frozen you can move them about to your heart’s content & they won’t stick to each other. The benefit of breaking into smaller pieces before freezing is that they will defrost fast and can also be used more easily in a blender.

That and that you can use less than a whole banana in a recipe – freezing somehow works magic on the bananas to make the most delicious sweet syrup so that I tend to only use a half in recipes that might otherwise have had a whole fruit.

Serves 1

Ingredients

1. 40g-50g porridge oats
2. 100-150ml your preferred milk
3. 1-2 pieces of banana
4. Water as required

Main Equipment

1. Wooden Spoon

Method

1. To make the creamiest porridge, place the milk, oats & frozen bananas in a dish in the fridge overnight. Put it straight in the saucepan you plan to use to save time & washing up. You can skip the overnight soak but I’m convinced this does add to the creaminess.
2. When you are ready to cook, add more liquid to the mixture so that it is a little watery – you can always add more as it’s cooking if it gets too thick so add less rather than more than you think at this stage. Your choice of more milk or just water – water will be no less creamy in my view.
3. Heat gently over a low heat. You can put it on and leave it while you get on with other morning jobs, no need to stir.
4. When it starts to gently bubble, begin to stir and then beat hard. It is the beating with a wooden spoon that changes it from the gruel that seems to have put my mother off porridge for life into a delicious warming breakfast.
5. Allow to cool slightly before serving. Goldilocks would be chuffed to bits.