Section A - Oatmeal and Flaked or Rolled Oats

Navigate the documents in the report

SECTION A
OATMEAL AND FLAKED OR ROLLED OATS

Question 1 - Use of oatmeal, flaked or rolled oats

1.1 Do you ever use oatmeal, flaked or rolled oats.

1.2 Could you state the amount used during a month?

1.3 Do you use any more oatmeal than you used to, now oats are on points?

Question 2 – The meals at which oatmeal and flaked oats are served

2.1 How often do you serve porridge or cereal for breakfsst?

2.2 Do you serve porridge at any meal other than breakfast?

2.3 Do you use oatmeal or flaked oats in any other way?

2.4 Do you buy oatcakes, white puddings or similar foods made from oatmeal?

Question 3 - Housewives' reasons for never using oatmeal or flaked oats

Question 4 - Housewives' reasons for preferring flaked or rolled oats to plain oatmeal

SUMMARY

Use of oatmeal, flaked or rolled oats

The great majority of housewives (90%) use either oatmeal or flaked oats. Nearly half of these (42%) use oatmeal only, 22% use flaked oats only, and 26% use both oatmeal and flaked oats.

Oatmeal is used by more housewives in the north and north-east, and flaked oats the west. Older housewives and those who do not go out to work use more oatmeal, younger women and those who go out to work more flaked oats.

2. The main reason for preferring flaked oats to oatmeal is that they save fuel and are more easily cooked. In every group where time and the amount of work are the foremost considerations, relatively more flaked oats are used. This motive of time and labour saving is so important that even putting flaked oats on “points” has only made 17% of the users buy them less frequently now.

3. Those who use oatmeal use, on an average about 3 lbs.per person in a month. The corresponding figure for flaked oats is about 2 lbs.

The use of oatmeal and flaked oats at different meals

The cereal most often served for breakfast is oatmeal. 25% served oatmeal only for breakfast, compared with 14% for flaked oats and 6% for cornflakes. Similar percentages to these served the different cereals regularly every day. A substantial proportion (39%) use more than one cereal for breakfast.

Housewives with children and those in the upper income group use relatively more cornflakes for breakfast than those without children and those who are poorer.

2. 35% serve porridge at meals other than breakfast (mainly for supper).Housewives with children and those in the lower income group serve porridge for

“other meals” more often than do the others.

3. 51% use oatmeal in other ways than porridge; mainly for baking, meat dishes, and for cooking herrings. Housewives in the north and north-east regions, as well as using more oatmeal for porridge, use more oatmeal in other ways. Oatmeal is least often used for porridge in the west; here, too, is the smallest number who use it in “other ways”. These results suggest that whenever a housewife uses oatmeal for one purpose, it is most probable that she will also put it to some other use. Housewives in the upper income group use more oatmeal for other purposes than porridge than do those in the lower income group. This is probably because the latter usually do far less elaborate cooking and baking,

3. Consumption of Oatmeal Products

69% of the sample buy oatcakes, white pudding and other similar ready-made oatmeal products.

4. Reasons for not using Oatmeal or Flakes Oats

Half of those who do not use either oatmeal or flaked oats (10%) say they do not like the taste. Another quarter do not use it because they think it is bad for their health.

Question 1 - Use of oatmeal, flaked or rolled oats .

Question 1.1 - Do you ever use oatmeal, flaked or rolled oats?

Table 1

	%
Use oatmeal and/or flaked oats	90
Do not use either	10
SAMPLE	1536

The next table shows the use of oatmeal and flaked oats separately:-

Table 2

	Oatmeal	Flaked or rolled oats
	%	%
Yes	68	48
No	32	51
No answer	-	1
SAMPLE	1536	1536

Two-thirds of the sample use oatmeal for one purpose or another, and about half use flaked or rolled oats. 26% use both kinds.

Regional difference

Table 3

Do You ever use oatmeal?

	West	East	S. East	N.& N. East
	%	%	%	%
Yes	61	76	73	89
No	39	24	27	11
SAMPLE	614	338	376	208

Table 4

Do you ever use flaked or rolled oats?

	West	East	S. East	N.& N. East
	%	%	%	%
Yes	53	44	51	23
No	47	56	48	74
No answer	-	-	1	3
SAMPLE	614	338	376	208

Oatmeal is the least used in the west and most often used in the north & north-east. Flaked oats are ,on the other hand, least used in the north & north-east and most often in the west. The other two regions take a middle position.

Analysis by age

Table 5

Do you ever use oatmeal ?

	Up to 30	31-50	Over 50
	%	%	%
Yes	58	71	76
No	42	29	24
SAMPLE	230	761	521

Table 6

Do You ever use flaked or rolled oats ?

	Up to 30	31-50	Over 50
	%	%	%
Yes	51	47	43
No	48	52	56
No answer	1	1	1
SAMPLE	230	761	521

Oatmeal is used to a greater extent by older housewives, and flaked or rolled somewhat less, than by the younger ones.

Anaylsis by working and non-working housewives

Table 7

Do you ever use oatmeal or flaked oats?

OATMEAL			FLAKED OATS
	Working	Not Working	Working	Not Working
	%	%	%	%
Yes	61	72	45	46
No	39	28	55	54
SAMPLE	214	1318	214	1318

Housewives who go out to work use oatmeal somewhat less than those who do not go out to work. There is virtually no difference in the use of flaked oats.

Question 1.2 - Could you state the amount used during a month?

Investigators reported that very many housewives had difficulty in answering this question exactly, particularly those whose consumption is low though most women knew roughly how much they used. The following result should therefore only be taken as a rough indication of the amount consumed:-

Oatmeal	3 lbs. per person a month
Flaked or rolled oats	2 lbs. per person a month

The material is too crude to allow of any useful group analyses.

5 6 7 8 9

Question 2 - The meals at which oatmeal and flaked oats are served

Question 2.1 How often do you serve porridge or cereal for breakfast?

To give a more complete picture of the use of breakfast cereals, housewives were not only asked about their consumption of oatmeal and flaked oats, but also about other breakfast cereals, such as cornflakes, etc. The following table shows the percentage of housewives who use the different kinds of breakfast cereals (giving those who only use one kind, and those who use two or more).

Table 8

	%
Oatmeal only	25
Oatmeal and flaked oats	8
Oatmeal, flaked oats and cornflakes, etc.	9
Oatmeal and cornflakes etc.	13
Flaked oats only	14
Flaked oats and cornflakes	9
Cornflakes only	6
None of the three	10
No answer	6
SAMPLE	1536

A considerable percentage uses more than one cereal for breakfast. Of those who use one cereal only, the greatest number uses oatmeal.

The next table shows how often the different cereals are used at breakfast.

Table 9

	Flaked Oats	Oatmeal	Cornflakes or Cereals
	%	%	%
Every day	16	24	8
Once a week	23	27	18
Less than once a week	4	6	14
Does not use for breakfast	57	42	55
No answer	-	1	5
SAMPLE	1536	1536	1536

Group differences

Certain group differences exist in the use of the different cereals for

Analysis by region

Table 10

Do you serve oatmeal, flaked oats, cornflakes, etc. for breakfast?

	West	East	S. East	N.& N. East
	%	%	%	%
Flaked oats	48	38	45	20
Oatmeal	54	60	50	81
Cornflakes	47	34	28	31
SAMPLE	614	338	376	208

A markedly larger proportion use oatmeal for breakfast in the north and north-east region, the use of both flaked oats and cornflakes is somewhat greater in the west region.

Analysis by housewives with children and without children

Table 11

Do you serve oatmeal, flaked oats, cornflakes, etc. for breakfast?

	Children	No Children
	%	%
Flaked oats	46	38
Oatmeal	57	59
Cornflakes	49	26
SAMPLE	719	816

The principal difference is in the use of cornflakes, which are served for breakfast much more by housewives with children than by those without.

Analysis by age

Table 12

Do you serve oatmeal, flaked oats, cornflakes for breakfast?

	Up to 30	31-50	Over 50
	%	%	%
Flaked oats	47	42	38
Oatmeal	50	59	61
Cornflakes	45	44	24
SAMPLE	230	761	521

There is a greater tendency among the older housewives to use oatmeal, instead of flaked oats or cornflakes, etc.

Analysis by income

The only difference here is that those in the upper income groups use more cornflakes than those in the lower income group.

Table 13

Do you serve oatmeal flaked oats, cornflakes, etc. for breakfast?

	£5 & over	£3.12- & £5	£2.10.- & £3.12	Up to £2.10
	%	%	%	%
Cornflakes	43	41	33	27

Question 2.2 - Do you serve porridge at any other meal than breakfast?

Table 14

	% of all who use either or both
Yes	35
No	64
No answer	1
All who use oatmeal and/or flaked or rolled oats	1394

About one-third of the housewives serve porridge at meals other than breakfast, principally at supper, as the following table show:

Table 15

At which other meals do you serve porridge?

	%
Supper	66
Dinner	17
Tea	14
Evening meal	7
No answer	1
All who serve at other meals	483

Certain group differences exist. Families with children serve porridge rather more often at other meals than do families without children.

Table 16

Do you serve porridge at any meal other than breakfast?

	WITH CHILDREN	WITHOUT CHILDREN
	% of all who use either or both	% of all who use either or both
Yes	39	31
No	60	67
No answer	1	2
All who use oatmeal and/or flaked or rolled oats	662	731

There is a greater tendency among housewives in the lower income groups to serve porridge at other meals (although the “Up £2.10” group serve it less often than do those in the next highest income group).

Table 17

Do you serve porridge at any meal other than breakfast?

Analysis by Income

	OVER £5	£3.12 - £5	£2.10 - £3.12.	UP TO £2.10
	% to users of either or both	% to Users of either or both	% to Users of either or both	% to users of Either or both
Yes	22	37	44	40
No	77	61	56	59
No answer	1	2	-	1
All who use oatmeal and/or flaked or rolled oats	339	526	317	185

Families size does not influence the serving of porridge at meal times other than breakfast.

Table 18

Question 2.3 - Do you use oatmeal or flaked oats in any other way ?

	%
Yes	51
No	49
No answer	1
All who use oatmeal and/or flaked or rolled oats	1394

About half of the housewives who use oat products at all also make use of these in other ways, besides preparing porridge.

Table 19

In what other ways do you use oatmeal or flaked or rolled oats?

	%
Cakes, biscuits, pancakes, etc.	56
Cooking herrings, etc.	33
Meat dishes, etc.	35
Oatmeal puddings	17
Soups, stews	17
Others	11
No answer	1
All who use in other ways	752

It is most often used for baking, but quite a number of women also use it for herring fish and meat dishes and making puddings, soups and stews. Analysis by region

Table 20

Do you use oatmeal or flaked or rolled oats in any other way ?

	West	East	S. East	N.& N. East
	%	%	%	%
Yes	45	61	57	64
No	55	38	42	36
No answer	-	1	1	-
All who use oatmeal and/or flaked or rolled oats	544	309	347	194

As in the case of those making porridge, housewives in the North and east use oatmeal and flaked oats for “other purposes” more frequently than elsewhere. The West again has the smallest number of women who use oatmeal for “other purposes”.

Table 21

Do you use oatmeal or flaked or rolled oats in any other way?

	Over £5	£3.12 - £5	£2.10 - £3.12.	Up to £2.10
	%	%	%	%
Yes	64	55	50	42
No	36	45	49	57
No answer	1	-	1	1
All who use oatmeal and/or flaked or rolled oats	339	526	317	185

Fewer housewives in the lower than in the upper income groups make use of oatmeal for “other purposes”.

Question 2.4 - Do you buy oat cakes, white pudding or similar foods made from oatmeal?

Table 22

	%
Yes	69
No	31
SAMPLE	1536

More than two-thirds of the sample buy these foods.

Women were asked how many oatcakes they bought; but it was impossible to get exactly comparable answers on this point; not only were housewives undecided as to exactly how often they bought oatcakes (the frequency depends very much on how plentiful cakes are in the shops), but they also did not know how many cakes there were in a packet, and bought packets of differing sizes at different times. The information available is presented in the next table, which consists of two parts. The first shows the number housewives who said how many oatcakes they bought in numbers, the seconds shows the number who gave the quantity in pounds. This table must be treated with reserve, and is only presented at the special wish of the Department for which the investigation was carried out.

Table 23

Quantity of oatcakes bought during a week

Number of oatcakes bought	No.	%
Under 12	177	12
13-24	235	15
25 -36	98	6
37 - 48	17	4
49 and over	15	1

Lbs. of oatcakes bought	No.	%
Under 1 lb.	115	7
1 - 2 lbs.	105	7
2 lbs. 1 oz. – 3 lbs.	17	1
3 lbs.1 oz. - 4 lbs.	8	1
4 lbs.1 oz. and over	3	-
Not answered or does not apply	746	49
SAMPLE	1536

Question 3 - Housewives’ reasons for not using oatmeal or flaked oats

9% of the sample did not use any oatmeal or flaked oats, and they were asked their reasons for not using these foods. The following table shows the reasons In their numerical frequency.

Table 24

Reason for not using either oatmeal or flaked or rolled oats

	%
Don’t like it	47
Health reasons, indigestion	26
Not worth making - only small Family	7
No time	8
Not enough milk	6
Children dislike it	3
Not enough rationed foods	1
No answer	3
ALL WHO USE NEITHER	142

It will be seen that about half of this 9% do not use oatmeal or flaked oats because they or their children dislike it. About a quarter of those who do not use (or 2% of the sample) say that they cannot digest these foods properly, and that they are bad for their health.

Question 4 - Housewives’ reasons for preferring flaked oats to plain oatmeal

Housewives were asked why they use flaked or rolled oats to plain oatmeal

Table 25

	%
Saves fuel, quick to cook	36
Prefer them	28
Children like them	10
Like a change from time to time	11
Not so heating	6
Better quality than ordinary oatmeal	5
Substitute for oatmeal	1
No answer	7
All who use flaked or rolled oats	710

The principal reason for preferring flaked oats is that they save fuel and are more easily prepared. It may be reasonably supposed that It is this factor which causes the majority of people to use flaked oats rather than oatmeal, even though they now have to give up points.

Table 26

Do you use more oatmeal now that flaked or rolled oats are on points?

	%
Yes	17
No	80
No answer	3
All who use oatmeal	1086

Navigate the documents