"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.

Exactly Scooter, without them what would Jamie bish bash bosh on?

for a man who is extremely rich already, he still works incredibly hard - DH works with him once a year, and it's 12 hour days at least for that time. He doesn't have to - he's loaded. I do think he is very passionate about educating people about food and trying to do something to tackle the obesity crisis we now have. And a lot of his money goes back into his various projects.

Personally, I do find him a bit irritating. But I could say that about a lot of people who don't do, or attempt to do, anywhere like as much good. Oh, and either his or his sister's accent is fake, when his sister appeared on one episode of Fifteen, she was very RP.

I'd put a healthy diet before forking out 300 for a new tv. 300 is loads of money! We don't have a tv we use the laptop if we want to watch anything. The reason we don't have a tv is that we don't have the money for it tight now but toddler and bump eat very well we grow our own veg husband shoots deer on local estates and we fish. Just spent 100 on an online shop on good foods definitely worth more than a tv. I can't understand a family who can pay for TVs and tv licences but say they can't afford to eat healthy. I suppose it's priority the petrol we use to get to places for shooting and fishing adds up as for the building and maintaining the veg patch. And a bag of potatoes is cheaper than a bag of chips these days!

BrokenSunglasses there's no problem him making a profit. Just when expects to make a huge profit with a small charitable sideline and expect to be lauded for giving a tiny proportion of his profits to charity. And setting himself up as an 'expert' on issues which he really knows very little about, and what he does know is only anecdotal.

The bloke is very good at presenting himself and his ideas in a saleable way. Otherwise hes' thick as pigshit and one of the worst possible people to listen to on serious issues.

I mean honestly, the fact he's famous and has been to a few council estates doesn't make him an authority. He has no right to lecture other people.

If he just stuck to making a profit I would have more respect for him. But it's the fact that he expects us to be grateful for the activities he does which support him making a massive profit which gets my goat.

SweetiePie you've just solved the problem! Shooting, fishing growing your own veg, how marvellous!

I think you will find that for most of us who don't have the connections you do this is called 'poaching' and is a criminal offence. And I wonder how much veg you can grow in an 8th floor flat.

I can't understand a family who can pay for TVs and tv licences but say they can't afford to eat healthy

Todays Sesame Street Myth was brought to you by the Daily Mail.

Also, well done you, but not all of us have gardens and have places to fish and shoot deer near to us

arf at shooting your own deer

Being poor is hard enough, without fucking lentils as well.

@ Sesame Street Myth.

I think JO is out of touch. I think he is going for the Daily Mail market, so swanky expensive cookery books & lectures about the undeserving lazy poor.

I wish that cookery was part of the national curriculum, along with basic household finances. That would help far more than lectures from Jamie.

I am a good cook & am very careful with my budget - but sometimes convenience food is a more time efficient & economic option. I bought a curry box from Tesco on Friday for £5.60 - it fed 3 of us with left overs. Left overs in the freezer with a few extra veg will do the DC after school one night, so that is 2 meals for under £6.00 and virtually no prep time by me.

IMO, it is about informed choice. So it is about being able to work out your options. Some weeks / months / years you are really penny pinching, so you need to know how to work out the prices in the supermarkets by looking at the price per gram or ml & not what the big sticker says. You need to know that you may not be able to make a shepherds pie as cheaply yourself, as the value range in the supermarket - but that will be because it only as 5% meat content.

It is that kind of stuff that everyone should be aware of & not stupid comparisons with flat screen vs pizza!!!!!

I am pissing myself at the idea of eating while in poverty is to shoot deer.

Roof rabbit?

See, I am laughing so hard my sentence doesnt make any sense.

We do get quite a few pigeons round here, and it would be easier to fit one of those in my little freezer.

Yes he is a bit of a patronising rich knob and doesn't think through the details of people's lives.

But his point about going to markets rather than supermarkets is totally right. Of course not everyone has a cheap market in easy reach, but I live in inner London and the local market is great and good value, and (as Jamie says) it's easy to pick up just a small quantity of whatever one wants.

He also makes some good points about how good the southern Mediterraneans are at cooking good meals from cheap ingredients.

Incidentally SweetiePie, if you are watching on a laptop without a TV licence you are also breaking the law.

But yes I do rather like your idea of poaching TV licence free anarchy. We should all do it.

Jamie is irritating and his Italian chain is a pile of overpriced subvalue shit food but at least he is speaking out about these issues. People solely relying on junk/processed food will end up with health problems draining the NHS etc etc so it is worth looking at from the ground up.

Schools could help with teaching the basics, but food is generally so expensive even if you shop around and many parents can't afford the extra ingredients as well on top of their own food budget and can't guarantee whatever the kid makes is going to be ok for the family meal tha night = extra cost. Schools can't afford to provide it. So a lot of kids will sit out during practicals and never develop the skill set needed.

Women who used to spend all day in the house of course had more time to cook from scratch. Those who posted about grannies making great recipes on a budget or whatever - maybe food was more in line with income back then? Maybe they had time to slow cook and roast everything if their jobs were part time/based at home? Modern lifestyles don't always equate to fresh cooking.

I'm in no way poor now but grew up below the poverty line. My parents would eat cereal or beans so they could give me a bit of fresh veg and meat or fish. I try to include fresh veg and meat in mine and H's meals every day as that is how I was brought up, but it is hard to be 'fresh' and healthy all the time, especially when supermarkets offer low quality stuff. If you buy in bulk to save on petrol/time the 'fresh' stuff is off within 2 days. So you chuck it, then have to go back and buy more, wasting your money and time. Govt, supermarket chains and schools need to work together to make sure future generations are well educated and capable of running a house on a budget.

Fishing season only lasts for so long and you are not allowed to take home most of the fish you catch - you can't even use keepnets anymore.

The licence and the gear all adds up. You need a skill in fishing and unhooking that is slowly dying, never mind descaling and gutting and deboning.

for a man who is extremely rich already, he still works incredibly hard

The need to validate your existence with work, beyond what's necessary to sustain a comfortable lifestyle, is not necessarily a selfless virtue or a recipe for happy relationships.

Jamie and Jools Oliver can sort out their own lives. It would be nice if he took a bit of time off from lecturing people on how to live theirs.

You dont need a tv licence for lap top - only if your streaming it

I think the shooting of deer is in fact the answer to all poverty problems. To be honest that post has made me laugh so much that it was almost worth giving Jamie Oliver more time to annoy me.

husband shoots deer on local estates

Really? Mine goes out late at night running over foxes and cats for the freezer. But then we live in the inner city.

I think I saw that someone killed and BBQ a swan last week, might be worth a go.

Right - let the poor shoot deer (and eat Waitrose Essentials Brioche).

It's easy to make cheap, healthy meals if you're rich. I spend about £100 or so every 3 months on good veg etc (I don't eat meat) and can make enough delicious meals to keep in the freezer to last for months. I also have a well-stocked cupboard full of everything I might need.

However, if you live hand to mouth on £70 per week and have to pay £45-£50 of that out on gas, electricity, council tax, bus fares, rent etc, and buy toiletries as well, you'll have to subsist on anything you can afford, like those basics fish fingers and pies mentioned upthread. Sadly costs a lot more in the long run but you'd have no choice - where would you get £100 to spend at once?

ps pasta, tinned tomatoes and an onion sounds vile.

Aren't badgers being culled now? We could always "do our bit" and eat badger.