To think that Jamie Oliver is a Goady goady mc judgy pants personified!

[LEMisdisappointed]

judgey much?

It reads like a clip from the daily mail - actually, it probably is!

Now there are people, i have a friend who can make an amazing meal out of apparently nothing (she is italian though!) in ten minutes flat - although she has lots of those ingredients that are expensive to buy in the first place but go a long way,i would never know what to do with them!

I am such a boring cook, i have a small repertoire (sp) of meals that i cook - over and over again, the ingredients in my cupboard are basic because i can't afford capers and porcinni mushrooms etc. I rarely fall back on ready meals and feed my family healthily. But its boring really and i can understand why some people use ready meals - time, money - So yeah, making your own pizza will be cheaper than dominos or tesco fineset but it is not going to be cheaper than icelands £1 pizza is it? Not from scratch, not from the start - yes if you divide the amount of pizzas your flour, cheese, tomato sauce and anything else you want to put on it by 20 it might be cheaper but those ingredients have to be bought in the first place.

See, I would welcome cheap and easy ways to make my meals more exciting and thankfully we are not on the breadline this month, but im not going to watch that smug little bastard telling me how i can just knock out some pucker tucker out of a packet of anchovies and dust from the cupboard!

I have always thought him a smug twat - this confirms it!

[mignonette]

Ubik Good point. He hurts and offends. Life is hard enough for people as it is. It is possible to promote a TV show like his (though how the poor can watch it without those plasma screens I do not know) without insulting half the nation.

Most people I know work really really hard. And yes, they benefit others through that plus themselves (hopefully). And they donate to food banks and charities.

I have a rare time off today as just been to Dentist and have numb mouth and slightly sedated (Diazepam) as terrified of them! Before somebody comes on here and says I am lazy for being online a lot .

[ouryve]

I've never thought of doing that with the living lettuce, mignonette! I used to keep a packet of mixed leaf seeds and plant some in a long planter, every few weeks.

Mind after June, the cabbage whites get hold of it all before I do. I'm probably best sticking to keeping the tray on my kitchen windowsill.

[fromparistoberlin]

i get you come from a good place mignon wanna be jools

i genuinely think he cares, but you clearly dont , very much DONT

opinions are like arseholes!

[mignonette]

I've even planted the stalky bits after tearing off the leaves and they regrew Ourye. Try planting a couple of plants in a pot and put it either on the window sill or by the back door w/ a net over it. Either way it is cheaper than a £1,50 pack of seeds that may not germinate.

[mignonette]

From I cannot take your comment seriously considering the job I have been in for nearly 30 years and the food bank I help w/. Of course I don't care. I don't care at all (ironic emoticon for any literalists)....

[mignonette]

Sorry From I think I may have totally misread your comment. Apologies for that if so. I feel I am fighting a rearguard action here w/ respect to this issue and I feel pretty despairing of the way this country is going especially w/ regard to the vulnerable.

[fromparistoberlin]

yes, on re-reading I can see why you misunderstood!!! no worries

[LadyEdith]

Haven't read whole thread and these points have probably been made before, and I agree he comes over as a smug tosser. In principle I think he's right, BUT, and it's a sizeable but...

You can cook very cheaply from scratch, if you have the infrastructure to support it, i.e. some nice big pans, a freezer, freezer bags, local cheap supermarkets or markets, the upfront money to buy in bulk to take advantage of the best deals, your own transport, your gas/electricity nicely taken care of via direct debit, you have recipe books and/or you are from a background where you know how to cook nice meals, and you have the time and motivation.

Cooking cheaply from scratch is very hardgoing and ineconomical in the absence of these things and this is why it doesn't happen in many families. It is more economical in the long run of but you need upfront cash which many of us will never have.

[mignonette]

I am sorry From. Been to the dentist earlier and always have a little Diazepam sedation to take the edge off of my terror. Guess it took too much of an edge off!

[printmeanicephoto]

I agree with Jamie. I think some people's priorities are skewed - ie. an expensive tv but shite, unhealthy (but expensive) food for their kids. Takeaways and most processed food costs more than cooking simple meals from scratch.

I still refer to my "Grub on a Grant" cookbook even though I finished college 20 yrs ago. Cooking from scratch can be cheap and easy!

I think if the parents don't have the cooking skills to pass onto their kids, then I think it falls to the schools to educate the kids about healthy eating and how to cook. From my experience, the schools do indeed bang on about healthy eating, but sadly I can count on one hand the amount of times my kids have done any baking/cooking at school.

[alemci]

STD

what is it about the crotch on boy's school trousers. I am always repairing my ds' s