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gruel

Gruel is a type of thin, watery porridge.
You make porridge by cooking oats in milk or water until they go soft. It doesn't really taste of anything. It's a bit like baby food, but I like it. Especially with jam, although some people prefer salt. 👁 Smile :)
Yes, it tastes like the pages of a dictionary, boiled with a pinch of salt.


 A
noun
1 gruel

a thin porridge (usually oatmeal or cornmeal)

A
noun
1 porridge

soft food made by boiling oatmeal or other meal or legumes in water or milk until thick

In AE such things are colloquially called 'hot cereal'.
Gruel is usually a pejorative term for a thin soup of oats or cornmeal especially given to prisoners and orphans in the 19th century.

You wouldn't say, "Come over, I'm making gruel!".
People don't really eat gruel anymore though. It's more associated with the idea of a stereotypical orphanage, where the children are fed for as little money as possible.
Porridge is stil quite popular.
There is also a figurative use of the word, not frequently heard, but generally understood:

"That's pretty thin gruel." This is said to disparage an argument by implying that it has little substance.
Can 'gruel' be used for baby food sold in packets as powder that is then mixed with warm water or milk? Such as the one in the picture?
Only if you wanted to be disparaging.
I see. That's actually not what I'm afget
What would one call this kind of food? Just 'baby food' or is there another common term for that?
baby food sold in packets as powder that is then mixed with warm water or milk?
I'm only aware of formula - that is powder that you mix with water. That's called "formula" or "baby formula". I'm not aware of any type of baby food that you mix with milk. You would definitely not call any sort of baby food "gruel". As others have said earlier in this thread, it's associated with not feeding people properly, historic poverty, orphanages, prisons etc.
Marketed for infants, it's called "rice cereal" in the US. The same product (I'm sure there are some differences) marketed for children and adults is called "cream of rice" and there's also "cream of wheat." The boxes say it's "hot cereal" not "porridge".
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