Spice up your porridge

In Inside Time’s monthly recipe column, a prison nutritionist provides ideas for creating your own tasty and wholesome dishes

An article in The Guardian newspaper last month highlighted the rise in hospital admissions resulting from vitamin and mineral deficiencies – at least partly caused by deteriorating diets due to the cost-of-living crisis. Notable deficiencies included iron and B vitamins, including vitamin B12 and folate. 

It would be reasonable to suppose that a similar situation could occur in prison environments, since the cost-of-living squeeze has been universal.

However, some research published last year (Poulter et al 2024) suggests that the nutritional quality of prison food in England may be improving. The study compared the nutritional quality of menus in 2019 and 2022 for a male YOI. Improvements included an increase in dietary vitamin D, but 5 nutrients still remained below the Government Dietary Recommendations (GDR) – vitamin D, selenium, iodine, and poly and monounsaturated fats (regarded as healthier fats). Actually, selenium and iodine are two minerals that are often low in all diets, as they have limited food sources. Plus, we generally don’t rely solely on dietary vitamin D, because our skin makes vitamin D in the presence of direct sunlight (from March to October in the UK). Dietary vitamin D becomes more important for people in prison and other institutions where they can’t access outdoors and sunlight sufficiently. Adequate poly and monosaturated fats could be achieved simply by prison kitchens swapping a few products at no extra cost, for example ensuring cooking oil is a rapeseed rich oil.

The study also found that some other dietary factors improved in 2022 compared to 2019: a reduction in overall saturated fat and salt. Despite this, total energy, saturated fats, salt, carbohydrates and free sugar still remained higher than GDR.  These high levels will come as no surprise to anyone who is doing time – overly stodgy carb-rich meals form the most frequent complaint about prison food, but carbs are a cheap way of feeding people when budgets are tight.

I know that currently, HMPPS is working to standardize and nutritionally balance prison food, and I hope that one day everyone in prison can be reassured that the menus they are offered provide the best nutritional balance to support physical and mental health.

Savoury Porridge 

Ring the changes by making your morning porridge superfood a savoury affair.

1 Serving

1 portion porridge made with water.

1 handful grated cheese.

1 small onion or 3 spring onions, chopped.

1 teaspoon chilli sauce.

1 egg, boiled, poached or fried (optional, ideally soft cooked).

A handful of seeds – pumpkin, sunflower etc.

1. While the porridge is still hot, stir in the cheese, onion and sauces. 

2. Top with your egg and sprinkle with seeds.

Helen Sandwell is the Inside & Out project

lead at Food Matters, which produces the

Her Wellbeing and His Wellbeing newsletters.

Both are available digitally via Launchpads, Coracle devices and on Virtual Campus.