The great british menu - food poverty... AIBU?

[Bogeyface]

I hate myself for thinking this but, AIBU to think that Lady Whatsername who said in the 90's that the reason poor people couldnt manage on benefits was because they lacked the ability to cook good simple nutritious meals, may have had a point? The way she said it was totally U and she was very sneery, but I cant help thinking that there might be a grain of truth in it.

Of the three families I have just seen in this program I saw what 2 of them ate in a day. one was a mother and daughter who's only meal of the day was a microwave burger each costing £1 each, and the other was a family where the children had fish fingers or nuggets and oven chips, while the parents had tinned veg.

£14 per week that the first family spent is enough for a bag of baking potatoes, some basics pasta, baked beans, passatta, a pack of frozen sausages, a bag of porridge oats, some cheese, some sandwich meat such as Haslet from the deli counter (35p per 100g in my tesco) and milk. The DD would be getting free school meals if I heard correctly about her age and their income. Far healthier, more filling and more than one meal a day!

The second family, again, for the price of nuggets, fish fingers and oven chips they could make a spag bol using basics ingredients that would feed them all well.

RAther than focussing on the cost of food, which is only going to rise, surely it would be better to focus on educating people who eat badly because the food they choose is more expensive than cheaper, healthier alternatives that require a bit of cooking knowledge?

EXACTLY garlic EXACTLY

If you really want to grow something then maybe cress (on some cotton wool), takes about five days, sow thinly so the seed casings easily drop off.

I make my own chips, they are much nicer. Peel and cut good quality potatoes, wash them very thoroughly at least 3 times to reduce starch. Then first deep fry at 160 degrees for a few minutes and then at 180 degrees until cooked.

I don't see how people on such low budgets could have their five a day. Plus such an awfully tight budget would make cooking a real drudgery in my opinion.

I live in a small HA flat We already have to contain all our garbage until the night before rubbish day and there are no facilities for recycling because there is simply no room.

It is definitely NOT cheaper to make your own chips, unless you live in a potato field.

Someone upthread mentioned sanitary protection. Sorry for TMI but i have an overactive bladder Have done for years. A double pack of TENA which i buy every week because thats what i need is £4.65. So in my case that would be nearly a fiver gone out of that £14 right there.

Cooking your own definitely is cheaper than buying a bag of frozen chips! Even paying corner shop prices for a bag of spuds, it is cheaper!

Well for example tesco white potatoes = 73p per kg. tesco value chips =55p per kg. plus you need oil for frying if doing in a pan.

A fair bit more for "quality" potatoes

When I was a single mum at 20 I worked hard, paid bills and rent and my son never went without. I was often skint but as long as he had a proper cooked meal I was happy with some toast or a bowl
of porridge for tea. Sometimes life is hard and a struggle. I used to batch cook and freeze as it was cheaper. My son is now a 22 yr old 6ft 4 strapping soldier, he remembers the days when I struggled. It was tight but he was never hungry, my grandma taught me I cook all sorts of cheap healthy meals.

I saw the first episode i found most the chefs patronising, the Irish dude and Angela i think it was. "This thing here is a cardamom" she said putting it in the pan. I'm sure Joanna knew what it was.

Irish chef was an idiot leaving chickens, nice gesture but its like a rich man leaving a Ferrari for a poor man how will they get the money for the upkeep. I heard a lady saying its easy really feed will last a few months, all you have to do is clean out chicken pen once a week. What about when chicken feed and and hey or whatever is needed finishes. This family have barely £1 a head to look after their own kids. Stupid present. I think they should fatten them up and have them for dinner.

James Martin was the most genuine and he seemed the most affected by it, the other two i don't think they really care was it just more pr for them?
Joanna the single mum and the elderly man really had me in tears. No man that age should be living like that alone, if he were my dad I'd be looking after him. my mother in law looks his age i could never imagine putting her in deplorable housing like that on nothing to eat. That's not living its just surviving.

this country is really generous in giving money to other countries but it really should sort out their own backyard first. the mark of a civilised country is to give no help to hard working individuals but give out benefits willy nilly to those who could work but refuse to, its disgusting! I know there are decent ppl on benefits, but i think benefits should be given to ppl like Joanna who work hard but have no food to eat except tea!

Hi garlic in my post re ready meals I was musing about the future, sorry my brain thinks sort of sideways sometimes, we are talking about supermarkets changing things to help those who are trying to cook and eat on a v small budget, and tbh I was wondering about economies of scale. What are the basics ready meals (like that lasagne he held up in the prog) like?

What did you think about my previous post?

Today I sowed mushy peas in a container, as an experiment in growing pea shoots. It's part of an ongoing project to see if/how I could live on £7 a week. I would be the equivalent of that pensioner - except I can cook, and have access to freezer, etc,

I sometimes get cheap bread at the end of the day and freeze it - but part of me wonders whether I should - I can afford to pay full price, so should I leave the bargains for those who really need them? (May try making bread myself)

Thanks for your reply, Silvery. Nah, I buy the bargain bread and there's usually loads!

Here are the ingredients of Tesco Value Lasagne: Beef (20%),Cooked Egg Pasta ,Tomato ,Water ,Tomato Purée ,Tomato Juice ,Onion ,Milk ,Cornflour ,Mature Cheddar Cheese ,Wheat Flour ,Single Cream ,Salt ,Beef Stock ,Butter ,Garlic Purée ,Oregano ,Black Pepper ,White Pepper ,Cooked Egg Pasta contains: Durum Wheat Semolina ,Water ,Pasteurised Egg ,Beef Stock contains: Beef ,Yeast Extract ,Salt.

As you say, ready meals are made of actual food - and the value versions usually contain fewer chemicals, according to my one-woman research. They're usually quite small, in my opinion (the lasagne is 400g,) though a better meal for the money than a microwave burger - assuming an oven and the fuel for it are available.

Your experiment sounds interesting, and admirable! Will mushy peas sprout? I thought they were cooked?

Asda and Tesco have signed up to Fare Share, which distributes unsold foods to organisations that help disadvantaged people.

Didn't quite have lino mushrooms! I grew herbs, spring onions and rocket salad. Also 4 cherry tomato plants on the windowsill. It did make a difference to the monotony of things but wasn't too much variety. I took a grow bag up, again from pound shop and split it into the tubs. If I sewed them every 3 weeks I got a steady supply and the salad sprouted within a few days. Did quite well as there was quite a lot of light and didn't need any tending really. Didn't get pests, maybe they didn't fly up that high! Also sprouted alfalfa which was very cheap and grew within three days. Full of vitamins and doesn't need space, money or time.

all the chefs mentioned how a stored cupboard means you can eat more cheaply. it would be useful if food banks could also provide a store cupboard starter kit so some people would need to be less reliant on food banks in the future.

Faster - that is a brilliant idea!

And maybe some sort of slow cooker scheme/voucher to help with electricity costs?

I've had the value chicken korma and it's ok but has a bit too much coconut for my tastes. Value chicken and mushroom needs salt and pepper. But these are under £1, so you can't expect cordon bleu, they fill you up.

A ready meal I'd recommend is the Tesco healthy option chicken breasts in tomato and basil sauce. This usually costs over £3 for two, but they're sometimes on offer for half price. It goes ok with rice, pasta or potatoes.

If you use dishwater, don't the plants taste soapy? I have absolutely no knowledge of gardening, one look from me and plants tend to die.

love that idea faster.

Could people on this thread propose a list of things they need that would make future shopping cheaper?

If we're talking about stuff that's bloody easy to grow when you have no gardening talent chard is bloody easy. However, you have to buy packets of seeds and then wait weeks for them to grow (and have somewhere to grow them). On a very limited budget, you can't waste £1 on seeds that you won't get any food out of for weeks. You need to buy food to eat that week.

Although, I suspect you could produce a lovely nettle soup from my garden right now. Maybe we should start encouraging those attempting to scrape by to get themselves a grow bag, lug it home and then cultivate themselves some lovely nettles in the bath. HFW probably has a recipe or 6 for nettles. And, of course, the risk of nettle rash would make bathing more exciting.

i did try dandelion leaves as per MrsBeeton and Greek tradition, but my children told me they 'tasted like earwax' - perhaps a longer pre-cook soaking was required? or the leaves were too old?

I also found pounds of blackberries, sloes, and a few wild strawberries.

Foraging is great but not possible if you live in Kennington I suppose.

Nettles make fab soup btw.

ooh and rosehips by the bucket load!

Some of us may have been a little slow to understand difficulties with transport, shortage of fuel to cook with, lack of value supermarkets and housing with no facilities to store sacks of rice and potatoes. Yes cooking is more difficult without a freezer or cooking equipment but people are trying to contribute helpful ideas and being resourceful is a must, is it so bad that someone should suggest sowing a few seeds on a windowsill? Maybe we send a pack of cress seeds or rocket seeds in to the food bank. Please don't knock all the suggestions. I am not great in the vegetable garden but I like to be resourceful and will give it a go, if I didn't have a car I would use a shopping trolley but no doubt someone will have a go and say I am unreasonable. Thanks Florence, in war time people were encouraged to grow vegetables and keep chickens, I will certainly be sowing some rocket and cress.

anyway all this 'buy sacks of rice and potatoes' is nonsense if you a) cannot physically carry them and b) cannot afford them that week.
sometimes only the rich can afford to be economical.

Rice and potatoes come in half sacks too, spilt between 4 people it would last ages and cost no more than a small bag. I would use a shopping trolley or put under a pram. It's about taking ideas on board rather than finding excuses not to do things suggested.

shopping trollies are expensive and social isolation is rampant - just saying -as you can see from my foraging post I am open to resourceful ideas - as a newish car driver I know all about getting shopping home by hand!
i bought a half sack of rice recently and it was a bargain, but then I have a car and a reasonable income.