Want advanced access to my weekly Chewsday Reviews?

Every Tuesday morning receive the latest Chewsday Review delivered directly to your inbox.

NEW CR Carman's Gourmet Porridge Apple Sultana & Cinnamon Sachets

Carman’s Gourmet Porridge Apple Sultana & Cinnamon Sachets | Chewsday Review

The mornings have been pretty cold in Perth lately, so this week I’m reviewing Carman's Apple Sultana & Cinnamon Porridge Sachets. Let’s see if this product is hot or cold!

Ingredients

Whole Grain Oats 80%, Fruit (Sultanas 7% [Sultanas, Vegetable Oil], Currants [Currants, Sunflower Oil], Apple 3.5%), Seeds (Pepitas, Chia), Cinnamon, Natural Flavour.
This product is mainly oats, as expected.
It’s quite a short ingredient list, and apart from “natural flavour” they are all things that could easily be in your pantry.
Allergens: Gluten.
May contain: Peanuts, Tree nuts, Milk, Sesame, Lupin and Soy.

Positives

This has a decent amount of fibre with 3.9 g for a 40 g sachet. This offers about 28% of a young child’s daily requirements and 22% of an older child’s requirement.
Sugar is within guidelines at 11.6 g/100 g. There is no added sugar in this particular product, so this mostly comes from the fruit (which is not a concern). Some other flavoured sachets, like Uncle Tobys Oats – Quick Sachets in Creamy Honey have almost double the amount of sugar, with no fruit pieces.
Sodium, total fat and saturated fat are all within recommendations.

Negatives

These cost $6.90 for a pack of 8, which works out to be $21.60 per kg or 86 c per sachet, and makes these way more expensive than home brand oats ($1.90 per kg). The convenience of having a pre-portioned amount costs!
These don’t actually have much fruit in them. There are only 2.8 g of sultanas and 1.4 g of apple per serve! Obviously this doesn’t count as a serving of fruit, and so adding more fruit to serve seems to defeat the purpose of buying a sachet with fruit in it.
Like other porridge sachets and regular oats, these aren’t fortified with iron. Oats contain a small amount of iron naturally, but aren’t considered a super high iron food.

Marketing

“No added sugar.” True, and I like this in a market of typically high sugar options.
“4.5 health star rating.” This means these porridge sachets compare well to other brands.
“Proudly Australian made and owned.” This is true BUT the box also says “Made in Australia from at least 83% Australian ingredients.” Some people might assume Australian made and owned, also means 100% Aussie ingredients, which is not the case for these.

Alternatives

Overall these sachets have a good amount of fibre for a brekkie option, and I like that there’s no added sugar. It would be cheaper but slightly less convenient to use regular rolled oats or quick oats and sprinkle in your own cinnamon. We regularly make single-serve porridge in the microwave at home using quick oats and milk/water.
Offering a variety of toppings (also known as breakfast sprinkles) for your child to decide between will also help to create variety and interest. To add some iron, include crushed iron-fortified cereals (like Weet-bix) or chia seeds as a breakfast sprinkle. Toddler Mealtimes members have access to a whole guide of breakfast sprinkles too!