Eat Well for Less
I think I've commented on this programme before.....but really!
Tonight's couple spend over £300 per week on food......and after showing them the error of their ways and how to economise, Greg Wallace and the other bloke have 'somehow' managed to get that down to £210 per week......on food!
Not in the real world? 
Comments
-
Well, the program makers obviously know that it appeals to YOU .... and presumably a great many other viewers
0 -
I was flicking through programmes, in between watching the recording of Le Tour highlights and The Titfield Thunderbolt on BBC4, I saw a bit of it. Did this family volunteer to take part? Do they really never cook from scratch, and cannot even slice mushrooms?
0 -
I saw one or two editions of this programme last time it was aired and was gobsmacked at what some folks spend on food as well as how little they seem to know about cooking or what they are actually spending.
0 -
Sign of the times I'm afraid, like most on here it shocks the living daylights out of me what they spend on food. There are some families that only have that amount to live on a month, they must feel sick watching the waste this programm shows.
0 -
Probably right TG.
The art of cooking will be lost to some young people as they don't see it happening at home because some families just live on takeaways or ready meals.
I used cooking as a fun activity with my children and grand children; we had flour from here to next week most times and quite weird shaped pizzas or fairy buns but they learned as we made stuff.
0 -
I think a lot of people are frightened of cooking ,one because it wont look like the recipe and two ,they think it will take ages to do ,
i love cooking and am always experimenting with different recipe's ,some work some don't, the problem is my wife as i tend to use a lot of pots and pans and she says i make a mess
, but she always eats it 
But to be fair ,if you have the money you will spend it on what you feel you want to , some spend a lot on going out and some spend a lot on food ,we are all different
0 -
Its the lazy way that some cook though that gets me, like the family in that programm. All veg cut,sliced and diced, I don't do that but I used to buy a wok mix now and again. The veg in it was awful, dried edges to the greens, carrots drying up, bean sprouts
going slimy and musty smelling etc. I should imagine its the same with the mushrooms/carrots/diced onions that she bought. They will have been prepared days before and then sat in the shop for a few days. All goodness gone and more than likely tasteless. It
doesn't take 2 mins to chop a few mushrooms, carrots are far nicer when you have just scraped/peeled them then pop them in the steamer/pot, nice and juicey sweet and crisp, not floppy dried up and rubbery.I don't see my Gkids as often as others as they live 300 and 480 miles away from us, but when I do have them staying with me we have great fun in the kitchen. Just doing simple things like letting them make their own sandwich (the younger ones) the older
ones like JillwithaJay make pizza, lasagne and stuff like that, as did my boys who are both pretty good in the kitchen unlike their Dad
0 -
Teaching what to do with food starts young. We have a photo of our eldest, at about age two, making a cake with his maternal great grandmother. They were having a lovely messy together time and got something good to eat at the end. The family tradition continues,
our other son is a chef and we all enjoy food preparation as much as eating0 -
Ok I'm 51 years old next month, and have only just learnt about food. I say this because I have lost 2 stone 7lbs since new years day, and learning how to cook and when to eat was actually the main part of my weight loss the secondary part was excersise. Treadmill, dumbells, weights, boxers speed ball.
OK so now I'm toned, my wife and grown up very health aware and excersise nut children all agree my eldest actually chastises her husband using me as an example, it's very flattering as he is 22 years my junior, that my body is not representing the age it should be, so yes eating less but more importantly balancing protein and calories really is the key.
0 -
The thing which really annoys me is the way the supermarkets sell quantities of 'things'! It's not easy to buy for two economically these days with the way they seem to target families with their BOGOF deals and the like. We now use the local butcher, greengrocer
and baker far more often! More expensive, yes, more frequent shopping trips, yes, but certainly less wastage and arguably better quality/tasting products. Yes, we are lucky, all these shops are about 5mins walk from home.0 -
I too get annoyed wth these programmes, the money spent and wasted. I have always cooked home made meals for my kids my eldest two are 28 this year and youngest 14, no baby food jars they were weaned on home made soup, pureed fruit, veg, mince n tatties
etc. I am gobsmacked that a lot of youngsters do not know their way around a kitchen to prepare a meal, all my kids can prepare a meal and have helped me from a young age. Eldest two have left home and can put a good meal on the table with their respective
others so I am happy. Since early retirement my OH has got himself 'a plot' or Allotment as some may know it. We are lucky to have home grown veg and fruit - can't beat it. I gave some home grown tatties, turnips and carrots to a colleague at work - her
son was shocked as they were covered in mud and enquired if they were OK to eat LOL :-) It is much cheaper to buy fresh, cook and even freeze leftovers for another meal. As a single parent to twins many many years ago I had to live on a budget and found
the BOGOF bargains a must and could rustle up many meals from 2 packs of chicken or mince. It is up to us as parents to show our kids how to cook and eat healthy.
0 -
I have never liked throwing food away so the BOGOFs really annoy me too, however I do have a big freezer so if something can be frozen or cooked and frozen then I will take advantage of a BOGOF. I also never buy chicken pieces, like a tray of breasts or
a tray of thighs far more expensive. I prefer to buy a whole chicken and joint it myself, that way I can use the breasts for say curry, the legs for spicy piri piri and the carcuss and wings goes in the pressure cooker for soup. When I did this the other day
I weighed the chicken pieces I'd picked off (out of curiosity) and it came to 5.5ozs, in most houses that carcuss would have been thrown in the bin, thats if it had been bought in the first place and jointed, I've shown both of my DIL how to do it and they
now do the same. If i'm in the shops at the right time I can pick up reduced chickens, mince and beef joints all of these can be frozen straight away, or meals made from them then frozen, its not hard work to make and cook up double portions, its something
I've done all my married life.0 -
I was really disgusrted at a family member of my partner's family who has never worked since leaving school and is a social securiity expert.I had done some sales demo work in our local supermarket and late on a Saturday afternoon they used to sell off
unsold hot cooked chickens cooked on the premises. I bought two.One was packed for the freezer and the second I stripped the breasts which we had with a salad and new potatoes.The remainder of the meat was stripped from the carcass and I made two mushroom
and chicken pies.again for the freezer. We had 6 meals off the one chicken for 50p.On relating this to our cost conscious family memebr her comment was "Oh we couldn't do that because we only ever eat the white meat so we throw the dark meat away."This young
woman had the most beautiful collie dog, my question why could she not use the meat for him?What a waste buy a bigchicken and eat only the white meat....I suppose the fact that she didn't have to worry about the finances made it easier, except we were the
ones paying for it...This is the youth of today growing up nad guiding the population of tomorrow........Sg2......
0 -
Well, hardly typical of "the youth of today", just one individual and I'm sure there are plenty of the older generation who are equally wasteful. It has nothing to do with being on social security (IMHO), it's a matter of education. Some years ago, some
genius civil servant in the education department decided to ditch cookery lessons in favour of "food technology". Maybe this young woman was at school then, so I bet she'd be great at designing and colouring a package for some foodstuff!Thankfully the pendulum has now swung back towards proper cookery lessons with youngsters bringing in ingredients and taking home the finished
product. So maybe there's hope for the youth of today after all!0 -
Well, hardly typical of "the youth of today", just one individual and I'm sure there are plenty of the older generation who are equally wasteful. It has nothing to do with being on social security (IMHO), it's a matter of education. Some years ago, some
genius civil servant in the education department decided to ditch cookery lessons in favour of "food technology". Maybe this young woman was at school then, so I bet she'd be great at designing and colouring a package for some foodstuff!Thankfully the pendulum has now swung back towards proper cookery lessons with youngsters bringing in ingredients and taking home the finished
product. So maybe there's hope for the youth of today after all!Write your comments here...Moulesy, No she does not have any other attributes, except inviting herself to homes where good food is readily available,She acyually was just one example of very many young women about that age I know so was not just a single
random sample.My comment regarding social security was that like so many od those receiving it today care not where it comes from as long as it does and they have no social responsibility or pride. Soory these are my feelings you are freely entitled to yours
but mine are spoken from a fairly wide experience of dealing with young people...SG2
0 -
Fair enough, SG2. I actually agree with you about the obscene amounts of food that are wasted in this country both individually and corporately. As I said, on an individual basis education is the answer. If you've never been taught to cook from scratch either
by your parents or at school it's very sad and difficult to overcome. No amount of expert TV programmes or internet recipes are likely to change that. But as I mentioned the pendulum in schools has (currently) swing back in favour of proper cookery lessons
so let's all hope the next generation are less wasteful than a few of the current one.0 -
Let us hope so,so much enjoyment can come from self cooking and can improve your personal esteem as well......SG2
0 -
Roadkill curry! Now that's a consideration, believe it or not!
0 -
Just featured on ITV Wales news, an app called OLIO which can be downloaded and if you've got leftover food that's going to be wasted you can give details and invite folk to collect it from you - individuals and businesses can use it. Seems like a good idea
to save on waste but it's early days so far.0 -
I do quite like the programme, but I also find it quite amazing that people have no idea what they are spending. Funnily enough after watching it last week, I went to Aldi to do 95% of the weeks shopping and jeez did the bill drop. On this week's problem
it was fascinating to watch as one half of the couple would only buy brands and the other was an absolute skinflint, buying the cheapest of the cheap.0
