How much fonio does your family get through in a week and how much will the reduction in price help you?

[noblegiraffe]

The govt have released a list of 125 "everyday essentials" that they plan to cut tax on to help families with the cost of living.

It's a bit of a weird list. Beans, biscuits and chocolate yes, a bit more baffled by the fresh figs, gherkins and plantains. And I had to google fonio.

Aubergines
Avocados
Baked beans
Bananas (fresh and dried)
Biscuits
Boiled sweets
Bread
Buckwheat
Candied fruit
Chewing gum
Chocolate (bulk and retail)
Chocolate bars
Chocolate drink preparations
Chocolate spreads
Chocolate with fruit, nuts or cereal
Citrus fruits (various)
Cocoa paste
Cocoa powder
Couscous
Crispbread
Crisps
Dried apples
Dried apricots
Dried figs
Dried papaya
Dried peaches/nectarines
Dried pears
Fonio
Fresh figs
Frozen fruits
Garlic
Gherkins
Gingerbread
Green tea
Jams and marmalades
Limes
Liquorice products
Margarine
Marzipan and pastes
Mixed dried fruit
Mixed fats and oils
Mixed fruit and nuts
Mixed nuts
Mixed preserved fruit and nuts
Non-alcoholic beverages
Olive oil (extra virgin)
Olive oil (other)
Olive oil (virgin)
Olives (for oil production)
Olives (fresh/chilled)
Olives (frozen)
Other fresh fruits
Other peppers (capsicum/pimenta)
Pickled peppers
Pizzas and quiches
Plant-based drinks
Plantains (fresh and dried)
Prepared vegetables
Preserved beans
Preserved citrus fruits
Preserved tropical fruit
Preserved vegetables
Processed potatoes
Quinoa
Rusks
Soups and broths
Sugar confectionery
Sugar tablets
Sweet peppers
Throat pastilles
Toasted bread products
Toffees and caramels
Tomato ketchup
Tomato sauces
Vegetable oils
Waffles and wafers

Thank you! On holiday so not keeping up with the news, saw someone posted a link which I’ll read now.

It’s a good idea but a bit of it is unhealthy eating (sugar, sweets) which I thought the government was trying to cut down on us eating. And yes, I am guilty of eating sweet stuff.

I’ve never heard of Fonio. Is it tasty?

Haven’t we got a sugar tax to deliberately increase the price of sweets and chocolate?

Well that’s a bonus.

I bet frozen olives are used in manufacturing, for pizzas etc

I thought that too.

If they haven’t done it, things like pop chips, Jaffa cakes, Kit Kats, these should be on that list as they’re a teeny bit healthier.

Well I’ve never seen them in a supermarket.

It’s similar to couscous - not a particularly strong flavour but a good base for other things

I literally eat nothing on that list.

If they want to help people so much why don't they just stop the energy companies bumming us all to death?

Well high cocoa content dark chocolate is supposedly good for you in small quantities.

What a weird list! 6 different types of olives/olive oil plus other vegetable oils and "mixed fat and oils" but no pasta, unprocessed potatoes, rice, meat, tea bags or coffee beans - unless they come under non alc beverages which seems weird because they aren't beverages at the point theyre sold!

I also haven't heard fonio - thought it was a typo!

Asda, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose do not sell fonio so I’m out of luck.

I don't eat 48 of those items - ever - so not much help to me!

If this is about import tariffs, I imagine they don't want to reduce the price of imported dairy as would prefer us to buy British

Do we import baked beans? That’s disappointing.

A list full of processed crap. Margarine but no
butter. Very few fresh foods and not
much protein. If they really wanted to help people buy healthy food for less it wouldn’t look like this.

We import plenty of dairy but hardly any of it from non-FTA countries (EU is by far the biggest).

Why they cutting tax on foods that are full of sugar? The fresh stuff, great and I do buy a lot of oils, dried fruits and nuts and preserves.

A lot of things on that list I never buy, eg chocolate stuff, waffles and the like.
Fonio is like ground rice, very popular with West Africans. I don't use it.

What on earth are "processed potatoes' ?

Margarine isn’t what it once was. It’s not close to plastic and is unsaturated rather than saturated fat which is a good thing. Margarine used to be full of trans fats and PHOs but no longer are. modern margarines are much healthier than older versions, because the dangerous trans fats have been removed - they are made from refined vegetable oils, often high in omega‑6 and fortified with vitamin A and plant sterols.

'Baffled' by fresh figs and gherkins? Really?

I've got through 5 XXL jars of gherkins on Lidl special in the last fortnight. They're like CRACK!

And you simply cannot be ignorant enough to not know that Caribbean communities eat plantain.

That list looks pretty good, I think.

What about fresh vegetables???

Just looked it up and think I need some. Like Quinoa but easier cook?

I assumed it was an auto-correct error in your thread title!

I like fonio, too. There's nothing better than a good chat on the phone. 🤣