If you want to choose your own ingredients and toppings, start with plain oats and compare the ingredients list and sugar content per 100 g. A single-portion pack can make measuring easier, but check how to prepare the oats without a kitchen. If you make overnight oats at home with milk or yoghurt, keep them chilled while you take them with you.
You want to decide what goes into your porridge yourself. So, compare not only the plain oats but also sweet toppings, biscuits and bars as separate products. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre recommends checking nutrition information per 100 g.
You want to eat without needing a pan or microwave. Check whether you can prepare a portion on the spot, or make it at home. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre advises keeping foods that would normally be refrigerated chilled during a picnic.
Regular oats are not automatically gluten-free. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre says oat products are suitable for people with coeliac disease only if they carry the official Crossed Grain trademark; check the pack you buy.
First decide whether you can prepare dry oats on the spot or need to make a portion at home. Then compare the labels of products in the same form and choose a pack that suits your group.
| What to consider | What to check when buying | Who is this important for? |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients and sugars | Read the ingredients list and compare ‘of which sugars’ per 100 g across similar dry products. ‘No added sugars’ does not mean the total sugar content is zero. | If I’m adding my own toppings, I want to know what’s already in the oat base. For around 36% of consumers, checking ingredients and sugars is the most important factor. |
| Preparing it in the park | Check the number of portions and whether preparation requires heat, liquid or a bowl. Oats prepared at home with chilled ingredients need to be carried in a cool bag. | If there’s no kitchen in the park, I want to take a portion I can actually eat there. Ease of preparation is the top priority for around 29% of consumers. |
| Packaging and portioning | Check the pack size and decide whether you want to measure out portions yourself or need individual packs. | For a group, I want to take enough without having to scoop it out of a large bag on the spot. The right packaging is the first consideration for around 21% of consumers. |
| Gluten and chilled storage | If you have coeliac disease, check for the Crossed Grain trademark. Keep products that would normally be refrigerated chilled while you’re out. | If someone can only eat gluten-free oats, or I’m taking dairy in a prepared portion, I need to make sure I can meet that requirement before the picnic. This is the deciding factor for around 14% of consumers. |
A biscuit or bar is a different product from loose porridge oats. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre points out that oat biscuits and individually wrapped bars can also contain a lot of sugar and saturated fat.
For these snacks, compare the ingredients and nutrition information separately; don’t use the composition of plain oats as your benchmark.
A picture of fruit may be a serving suggestion. A claim on the front of the pack also doesn’t tell you by itself how much sugar the product contains per 100 g.
Read the ingredients list and nutrition table. If a product features a fruit name or image, also check what proportion of that ingredient it contains.
The Netherlands Nutrition Centre says oats can come into contact with gluten. This means regular oat products are not necessarily suitable for someone with coeliac disease.
In this situation, check the pack for the official Crossed Grain trademark and read the allergen information.
At a picnic, ingredients that would normally be kept in the fridge need special attention. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre advises throwing away these products if they have been left unrefrigerated for more than two hours.
Take your prepared portion in a sealed container inside a cool bag with ice packs, or choose a recipe that doesn’t require chilled ingredients.
Compare the specific oat products and their labels: a brand name alone doesn’t tell you what every variety contains.
Albert Heijn lists oats as the only ingredient in Brinta Porridge Oats 450 g and describes them as extra fine.
Quaker offers plain porridge oats and Oats Express Naturel in individual portions.
AH Wholegrain Fine Oats 500 g is a loose oat base that you can portion yourself.
Jumbo Fine Wholegrain Oats are available in a 500 g pack; the range also includes a 1 kg pack.
Lidl lists coarse porridge oats in a 500 g pack as an in-store product.
ALDI sells Golden Bridge wholegrain porridge oats in fine and coarse varieties; the fine variety comes in a 500 g pack.
These two packs offer a choice between an Express variety and a larger pack that you can portion yourself. For a picnic, check the ingredients, nutrition information and preparation instructions on the product you buy.
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An Express variety to consider if you want to take individual portions on your picnic. The pack is 324 g; check how many portions it contains and whether you can prepare them without a kitchen.
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A 500 g pack to consider if you want to measure out the amount you need for your picnic. Check the ingredients and sugars per 100 g on the label, and decide how you’d like to prepare the oats.
No. Quaker lists both no added sugars and 1 g of sugars per 100 g for Oats Express Naturel. So, alongside the ingredients list, check the ‘of which sugars’ row in the nutrition table.
Start by comparing similar dry oat products for their ingredients and sugars per 100 g. Albert Heijn and Jumbo each list 0.7 g of sugars per 100 g for the fine wholegrain oats mentioned above. Check flavoured varieties, biscuits and bars separately, as they are different products.
Not without checking the pack. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre says oat products are suitable for people with coeliac disease only if they carry the official Crossed Grain trademark.
Take your prepared portion with yoghurt in a sealed container inside a cool bag with ice packs. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre advises throwing away products that would normally be refrigerated if they have been left unrefrigerated for more than two hours.
No. Decide whether you want to keep an eye on added sugars, total sugars or both, then check the ingredients list and nutrition table. Compare products in the same form per 100 g, so you’re not comparing dry oats directly with a prepared portion.
