BREAKFAST is the most important meal of the day - yet as many as one in four adults skip breakfast at some stage during the week.
So with Farmhouse Breakfast Week taking place between January 22 and 28, organisers HGCA are urging breakfast skippers to make time for their morning snack.
HGCA, the cereals and oilseeds division of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, is also urging people around the country to host breakfast promoting events, as they say eating a healthy balanced breakfast every day can help make you feel healthier and happier.
In a bid to get people involved, its website at www.shakeupyourwakeup.com features breakfast ideas and recipes aplenty.
To mark the week, the HNG Tried and Tested team has sampled a few products on the market to find out which ones are worth waking up to.
Jordan's Super Nutty Granola - RRP £3.99, available from Tesco
PACKED full of almonds, brazil nuts and roasted hazelnuts, this cereal is strictly for those who go nuts for nuts!
To my shame, I am not a breakfast lover. I rarely touch cereals, mostly finding them tasting far too full of sugar and a bad start to the day.
However, I was quite taken with Jordan's Super Nutty Granola. It was full of flavour, not sugar, which appeals to me.
And it was very filling. Just a small bowl kept me going all morning, with no need for any snacks.
I am impressed, and would recommend nut lovers out there to give it a whirl.
4/5
JM
One Brand One Oaty Goodness Porridge - £1.59 for 10 oat sachets and £1.49 for a bag, available from Tesco and Sainsburys.
WHEN you're pushed for time in the morning, these handy sachets are great to pop in the microwave, along with milk, for just a couple of minutes.
Available in two flavours, original and golden syrup, the result is a really tasty, warming and healthy breakfast, which sets you or your children up for the day just a treat. The golden syrup version is great for kids as it's slightly sweet, but not too much.
The bonus of buying this brand of porridge oats is that through its sales, school feeding programmes in sub-Saharan Africa are funded, providing an essential daily meal of maize porridge for children who would otherwise go hungry.
It's also worth pointing out this porridge contains no GM ingredients, artificial additives, colours or flavours.
For cold winter mornings, this is a fabulous breakfast.
5/5
HB
New York Bakery Co Onion Bagels - £1.35, available at all good supermarkets.
A BAGEL stuffed with cream cheese is a filling and delicious way to start the day.
However, an onion bagel will make for a paranoid morning and afternoon.
Eating anything with onion or garlic in it early in the morning just isn't acceptable, even if you do brush your teeth twice and get through a whole pack of chewing gum before getting to work.
You will walk around for the rest of the day wondering if everyone is ignoring your breath and the taste would have to be phenomenal for it to be worthwhile.
The taste isn't that great, which leads you to notice how anti-social the side effects are, but the price is good, and bagels - unlike many other breakfast foods such as cereal, toast and eggs - do actually keep you full for a good part of the morning.
The onion bagels are the poor relative of the range and get one star, but with plain, wholemeal, sesame and cinnamon and raisin varieties, finding a better bagel is easy and more deserving of a place on the breakfast table.
3/5
AJ
Weetabix Chocolate Spoonsize - £2.59, available in supermarkets
A TWIST on the traditional Weetabix, this new product is ideal for children who are not fans of the original type. Containing half the sugar of the average chocolate flavoured cereal, you don't need to worry you're filling up your little one with too much sugar.
It also boasts that it contains the goodness of Weetabix, is also low in salt, high in fibre and fortified with vitamins and iron.
Tasting it myself, I liked that it wasn't so sweet as its competitors and found that the real chocolate chips did make for a more tastier breakfast than the bland Weetabix original. More of a porridge fan, I can't say I liked it enough to replace my usual choice.
However, it went down a storm with my five-year-old son, who gobbled it up in no time.
3/5
HB
Jordans Country Crisp - RRP £2.69 for a 500g pack, available from Tesco and Sainsbury's.
IF you want to eat healthy but don't fancy seaweed, you might want to try out this cereal option.
It's not one of those mega bran concoctions which in my opinion tend to taste like cardboard. It's simply a mix of crunchy oats and honey with some nuts thrown in for good measure. It's very tasty and appealing to eat in the mornings, without feeling like you are eating 10 spoons of sugar. It can sometimes feel a little dry, though, so a generous splashing of milk is required with this cereal.
However, I love cereal in the morning and tend to opt for a large bowl and I found this particular box didn't go very far. I would need to stock up if I was eating it every day. As for the slow burn, yes this will sort you until elevenses kick in.
3/5
GC
Eggs For Soldiers - RRP £1.69, available in Tesco, Asda and Morrison's
HOW do you like your eggs in the morning? Well, I like my eggs boiled, scrambled or fried and I was egg-static by how well these fared when making all of these. The great thing about eggs is you can be even more adventurous than me, by whipping up a tasty frittata.
The extra bonus with Eggs For Soldiers is that for every khaki green box of six sold, a donation of 15p goes directly to Help For Heroes, the charity which provides help to those wounded soldiers and their families.
Definitely worth picking these for that reason alone.
5/5
HB
Weetabix (24 pack) - £1.98, available in supermarkets
WEETABIX is one of the more traditional cereals and, like corn flakes and muesli, it falls short for me.
I like a sugary bowl in the morning and Weetabix, for all its filling qualities, isn't a box I would pick up.
Maybe I am being childish, but I want a bit of pizzazz in my breakfast and these floating, flaky things made for a dull start to the day.
I wanted a taste explosion, but instead got lumpy, wheaty milk. Many won't be able to see past this morning favourite, but I will be forever staying clear.
2/5
AJ
Warbutons Fruit Loaf with Orange - 400g, £1.47
YOU can't beat a slice or three of hot buttered fruit loaf and this even fruitier version has a delicious tanginess.
It has extra orange flavoured pieces (whatever that might mean!) and they do add that little something extra.
The bread was soft and fresh and the sultanas large and juicy, the perfect accompaniment to a hot cup of tea.
It claims that two slices of this loaf adds up to one fruit and veg portion - so I reckon I had my daily allowance of five in one sitting!
5/5
JD
