Things I have learnt since becoming rich (a.k.a. fuck you: Nigella and Jamie)

[TheAutumnHere]

1. Having an oven that holds temperature stops cakes falling
2. A stand mixer simplifies baking by a factor of at least 4, and improves the results
3. Branded vacuum cleaners actually remove dirt from the floor
4. Le Creuset pans don't stick, and just wipe clean
5. Baking with children is delightful japes, when timed the morning before the cleaner comes
6. Corn fed chicken is the bomb

Just leaving a note to my past self - who never cut herself any slack and thought she was a slattern and a crap cook.

i didnt say cleaning was easier with a cleaner - I said that cooking with kids is much more fun when I know the kitchen will get a regular deep clean.

No you didn't say it literally but it comes across the same way. Making a mess is better when you don't have to clean it yourself.
I understand why you think that. I do not understand why knowing that is helpful to someone who can't afford a cleaner and I do not understand why you claim to have not realised until you had a cleaner.

If you had started a thread about how draining the mental load of poverty is, how those who haven't experienced it don't understand it and can be incredibly patronising.
I'd have agreed with you, instead you've come across as the patronising one, I think if May read June's letter she'd tell her to fuck off.

and a London house with a kitchen big enough to have a dining table in

Well that's more of a timing issue. A teacher whose aged 40 plus & got on the ladder early then yes likely to have (like many) an expensive house with a low mortgage. Different ball game for the younger ones though.

It isn't rocket science though nor is it to do with ones wealth.
Popping into a town to do a shopping trip? Add a couple of hours and make sure you are back to the car.
A health appointment or something that you can't predict the time it will take, you add extra time to the ticket ( or use an carpark app - not many down here in rural Devon ).

Laughing at Henry vacuums being the wealthy persons choice of vacuums, they might be fine for office block cleaning but they aren't all that for removing allergens/pet hair.

This makes no sense. All the top tv chefs go on about 'peasant food' from places like Italy and India being the best - no fancy gadgets and ricidulously heavy Le Creuset there.

@HowlsMovingBungalow - but I remember when it mattered. When an extra £3 on the parking 'just in case' was a difference between getting the kids a little treat in Greggs or not.

Being told it's not rocket science meant that I wouldn't solicit people's sympathy when I got hit with the fine. Because it's not fucking rocket science to plan you parking time and I should have been that bit sharper, that bit more organised.

But it's a fucking lie. I could never have reconciled all of those 'it only takes two minutes to....' jobs. It's a fucking lie that meant that not only did I have a shitty
hand to play - but I genuinely believed I deserved it by not trying hard enough.

I do think you're unfortunate to know some not very nice & very judgey people OP.

I've had all the vacuum brands and a Henry before they downgraded the wattage is the best at getting my four pets and my mane of hair out of the carpets. I wish it wasn't the case because I hate the thing and would much rather something more portable (but my cleaner loves it).

Rufflecrow Tbf both my nonnas in Italy have/had a lot of kitchen gadgets in their tiny galley kitchens. The same ones have been probably going strong since the 70s if not earlier.

My oven door hasn’t shut for nearly a year.
I only use it to cook cook frozen pizza.
Makes the whole house smell heavenly for 5 mins, then like we live in a greasy Pizza Hut.

Agree with the vacuum wattage nonsense.

I do think there are a lot of posters here absolutely determined that money doesn’t make your life easier. Like a single parent on minimum wage and a comfortable couple are in the same boat when it comes to getting uniform ready and dinner made.

It’s the little things. The little things make a difference and they add up to big things. Big drags on time, energy, money and quality of output

The OPs general point is quite correct. Not well framed, but then a number of the posts arguing with her have been stupid enough to balance it all out.

asterix

Isn’t Asterix a cartoon character? Asterisk however .............

@AlexaAmbidextra - is that what you wish logged as your most insightful contribution?

I bet the quality of hand me down kitchen ware, tins that our grandmothers used etc is way better than the cheap stuff I picked up at Argos when I was a student and haven't been able to replace yet.

Slight tangent.

I dunno some of mine was aluminium.

I’m with you. Stand mixer is a game changer for cakes. Yeah, you can do the same with a hand mixer or maybe even by hand if you’re good at it, but it’s not quick or easy. So if a recipe suggests a good cake can be whipped up in a few minutes then that assumes equipment. Also worktop space. It’s much quicker and easier to cook if you don’t have to completely clean down after each stage and you’ve got room for more than one process to be going at once.

As an aside, Jamie’s 15/30min meals don’t just need equipment (he admits you need a food processor for a lot of the recipes) they’re also REALLY expensive. I once fancied one of his 15 min meals featuring crab. I priced up the weight needed and it would’ve been £20 for two people. So
it might be healthy and/or quick but it’s not cheap.

A secrets of the well off whistleblower. They'll never make us feel wretched again.

Watch your back OP, Nigella will hunt you down.

I kind of see your point, but don't at the same time. I cook pretty well with cheap crap, but it probably would be even better with the best kit.

It's the ingredients that get me - Jamie's budget meals consisting of "high welfare" meat, specialist bread, a splash of wine and "quality" olive oil, not the cheap crap. He does seem rather out of touch.

I don't think Nigella has cleaners, she probably likes seductively slipping on a pair of squeaky Marigolds for the camera, she just pays people to come round her house and pretend to be dinner party friends for her programmes. If they are her real friends then it's the most awkward dinner parties I've seen.

I'm intrigued by your web development venture. What did you do before that made you poor?

My godaughter is applying for medicine & stressed she didn't get any clinical work experience & thinks her application is a joke because of it.

I do have to sit her down & explain that it is unfortunate - but that it doesn't mean she's a half hearted candidate. If your mummy is a surgeon and your daddy is a GP - it really isn't as hard as if you barely know three people who went to university & live nowhere near a hospital. That people will tell her she could have knocked on more doors, researched wider to look for options, taken the initiative to work out transport routes... but fundamentally the diversity stats in medicine speak for themselves. It's much harder for those from non traditional backgrounds to do things like work experience and internships. Which already directly disadvantages them, even without the knock on their self-esteem of feeling like they're second tier candidates.

Fuck off OP

@Monsterinmyshoe - I had two children in 4 years with a DH who was a student at the time. Took 11 months mat leave with each one, and then was the wage earner 4 days per week paying london rents and childcare prices.

At our peak, tax credits assessed us as having a negative household income - but at that point it was 3 of us living in my parents spare room. I felt poorer once I got back to earning and we rented our own place - but I was still paying childcare so that DH could qualify.

In fact - the child tax credit lady was very snooty about a DH who was not earning but the family paying nursery fees. Directly said that he should quit studying and get a job to support his family. So we were never 'supposed' to be rich. The advice that the system gave us would have trapped us in a low wage lifestyle indefinitely.

I get where you’re coming from OP. Interesting thread.

Not read the thread

What’s your definition of rich op?

@Lovemenorca

Rich buys a Miele washing machine. For cash.

Rich pops in to John Lewis while out in town and picks up a nice quality crepe pan thinking ahead to Shrove Tuesday.

Rich decides whether something is worth it for them - placing some weight on what their own time is worth - not on if they can afford it.

Rich shops to their appetite ( ... or complicated ingredients lists of ... ) rather than to a budget.