"they ate fast food and junk food but had splashed out of a plasma TV."

[ConfusedPixie]

This comment just came up on the radio news, supposedly said by Jamie Oliver about one of the families he was working with in his new TV show.

AIBU to wonder how the fuck what you eat relates to what TV you have?

Surely this just reinforces stereotypes of the people likely to have bad diets through lack of education on the matter? What a bullshit statement.

Dahlen, i explained earlier that Id obviously not just put the tomatoes on the pasta, Id be simmering it down for longtime to make it thick and delicious. And i certainly use only the 33p tomatoes.

im also only saying that I, personally, like this as a quick cheap easy meal. so wouldnt opt for a jar of sauce. No worries if the rest of you think its too pants to bother with and prefer the jar. I am NOT saying the 'poor' should eat that, only that I like it.

Thanks Broken sunglaseses! I am amazed at the tomato hatred!

I'm not bashing tinned tomatoes! They're a staple in my house for lots of different dishes. But a tin of tomatoes is not a sauce. It is a tin of tomatoes.

I like pasta and/or rice cooked in tinned tomatoes, but I don't just bung the tomatoes over some pasta. For a start if I'm using tomatoes in this way I'd use a more expensive brand (whereas I use value range for spag bol, chilli, etc), and I add a vegetable oxo cube, plenty of paprika, a splash of worcester sauce and plenty of fresh basil.

I was very lucky when I left my abusive ex. I had some money left over from when my mum died (that I had squirrelled away so the ex couldn't get his grabby mitts on it).

So I could afford to buy a cooker and fridge freezer and equip my kitchen adequately. Not everyone can do that. If I hadn't had that it would have been a cheap microwave and a second hand basic fridge. So not exactly easy to cook varied and nutritious meals and have room to store and cook in bulk.

Yes there needs to be better education where food is concerned but that isn't going to help those caught in the poverty trap with very few options to get out of it. And having some poncy, rich bloke telling people they can make it all better if they just buy this book (at £25) is just bollocks.

Empress - so what you've saved on your 'sauce' you've basically spent double on your fuel by having to simmer it down.

And now I am going to drag my bum to Sainsburys and do the weekly shop.

And yes, there will be tomatoes.

No room for fussiness in austerity Britain, Swallowed.

This stuff about tomatoes and pasta and 9p onions - can't you see that this is like rearranging deck chairs on the titanic?

And I like a home cook pasta sauce myself - or even just with chilli, olives, oil and Parmesan - but I wouldn't expect to live on it.

i love spaghetti tossed through a pan with garlic and olive oil but healthy it is not. it may look poncier and sound better than 'junk food' and be cheap but there is very little nutrition in it.

but seriously where can you buy 1 onion for 9p?

anyway Jamie Oliver is a hypocritical twat, telling poor people what and how to eat and then selling them pasta at double the normal price just cos it has his ugly fat lipped mug all over it.

...but the spaghetti (unfried) with lots of veg and something for protein, is what i live on.

last night we had

yellow rice (rice + turmeric)
dahl
left over veg curry

there is a ready meal i would defend. in aldi you can buy a frozen toad in the hole with loads of yorkshire and 4 sausages in it. i would defy anyone to create that for 99p or to be able to make a yorkshire that small rather than throw a load out given it's hard to divide an egg! ds loves this and has one about once a month i'd say with some tinned sweetcorn or frozen peas on the side when i'm not hungry or cba or i just think he needs a good bulky bit of stodge that i can't create for him in a small portion.

and that's a 'ready meal' but i doubt anyone would really say it was unhealthy?

i'd definitely recommend keeping chickens and having a constant source of fresh tasty protein in your fridge but again that's a huge outlay that the poor couldn't afford initially.

yes fasterstronger but where does the 'lots of veg' and 'something for protein' come from cheaply?

protein = lentils

veg = carrots & onions

Maybe instead of complaining about The Poor and their terrible eating habits, Dear Jamie should be lobbying Sainsbury's to sell better, cheaper fresh food. Then maybe The Poor could afford to eat balsamic vinegar and pink salt topped with 60p mussels

right so spaghetti, carrots, onions and lentils is a complete diet? loads of veg didn't give me an image of a fried onion and a bit of carrot.

spaghetti, carrots, onions and lentils is a complete diet?

pretty much yes for an evening meal.

But swallowedfly faster stronger didnt say that was a complete diet, she specifically said she had curry and dahl last night.
So much food anger!
Cant we all agree to disagree on what makes a nice meal?

(and carrots are also 9p where i come from, so also an excellent addition to a cheap quick bolonaise In My opinion)

yesterday for dinner we ate rice, lentils, courgette (in season) and frozen peas

over the next few days/week we will eat a 14 inch marrow we were given.

but in the winter its onions, carrots, swede parsnips, turnip etc, mainly local root vegetables.

Swallowedafly, if you're on benefits you're expected to be grateful for your foodbank carrots, pasta and lentils. Doff yer cap while you stick your hand out.

Also mussels are free here for everyone wanting the cheap mussels (I dont im a veggie).

cabbage and greens in the spring.

swallowed - what do you consider a normal meal?

most people should more veg and pulses.

for their own health and so the world can eat.

so swallowed - what do you consider a 'normal' meal?

a refined, non complex carb as the staple of one's diet really isn't 'healthy'. it's cheap yes, it fills you up yes but it isn't healthy. it's more acceptable (class) than chips but doesn't contain much more 'good' in it.

nor would eating the same two vegetables (especially onion and carrot) all the time be healthy.

healthy is eating a wide variety of fresh produce with some fat in there and a mix of different sources of protein and complex carbs. it is not cheap or easy to buy a wide variety of fresh produce. it should be. it would be if tescos wasn't holding to ransom the farmers on one end and the consumers on the other and making it so whilst employing people on shit contracts with shit pay, no sick pay or pension etc and raking in profits beyond all sense.

What do you want from the food bank nigel? Why is carrots, pasta and lentils not good enough?