to listen to Jamie Oliver on Radio 4 and want to throw things...........

[catinabox]

He's not really doing himself any favours is he?

[Binkyridesagain]

I noticed in Morrisons yesterday that you can feed a family of 4 for £6, they have a deal on of a Large tray Lasagne, Side dish and a Bakewell tart for dessert. The meal could stretch to 6 people by just reducing the portion sizes a little.

I cook most of my meals from scratch, I could not produce this meal for £6 and I know how to economise, ready meals are cheap, they use cheap inferior ingredients produced on a mass scale, flavour it up with salts and sugars and shove in as much carb as they can.

When you are on a tight budget making sure that your family is not hungry is more important that making the meal balanced.

[IceBeing]

peanut you are completely confused. calories are the important thing when you are trying to fill up tummies as a priority. You can get 7 times as many calories into your kids in the form of chocolate biscuits than you can from lentils for the SAME price.

So if you have very little money there is only one choice.

1.5kg of chocolate biscuits came in at 7000 odd calories. That is the approx daily calorie budget for a family of 4. so you could keep people energy balanced for a day on £2:20 worth of 'food'.

The equivalent spend on lentils will only get you 1050 kcals and will 'keep them going' until around 10am. So not longer at all...much much less time in fact.

Do you see what I mean?

[aladdinsane]

I don't think he gives a toss about the health of the nation
He gets air time and promotion of his books with all this
Gordon Ramsey got the swearing, sort out failing restaurant niche and Jamie Oliver had to find his niche

[MinimalistMommi]

Don't agree with what ice says. Lentils turn into huge meals with little more than water and an onion and some tinned tomatoes. You can't get that with a packet of chocolate biscuits. With a 500 g of lentils you could easily make at least four meals, each one serving a family of four.

[OhDearNigel]

Jamie's market isnt people that actually have to budget though, is it ? It's thrift chic for people that watch Kirsty's Handmade Home and think they are being very budget conscious because the waitrose organic chicken they are roasting for dinner was in the reduced counter.

[IceBeing]

peanut if you only eat a few a day then they aren't doing you any actual good are they?

Seriously you are making no sense.

If you spread a bag of lentils over a month you get the same calories from them that you get if you eat them in one day.

It isn't magic?

[OhDearNigel]

Not lentils again !

[IceBeing]

mini what the actual fuck.

If you use them as part of a meal you have to fund the rest of the meal?

So once you factor in the meat the veg the tomatoes the chickpeas the spices you have a meal that is vastly more expensive.

The chocolate biscuits can feed you for a day. The lentils can feed you for breakfast nearly. No amount of mixing with even more expensive ingredients can change that.

[Crowler]

IceBeing you and peanut are talking apples and oranges. As has been said.

[IceBeing]

If you only have 25- 30 quid to spend on food a week, you can't afford lentils.

[TheOriginalSteamingNit]

Well, it's not silly, because lentils and chocolate biscuits don't fulfil the same purpose, do they? And if you need something to eat now then obviously it's going to be the chocolate biscuits.

However, I do think this also ties into the problems with Food Tech in schools, which, as I say, is a campaign I could really get my teeth into!

[Crowler]

Lentils do seem to be a lightening rod, don't they?

[ZeroTolerance]

What a lot of whinging and excuse-making.

Truth is, nobody likes being criticised for their choices.

And Mumsnetters cannot abide being told what to do - especially by people with money.

JO makes a lot of sense, though I don't know why he bothers, the grief he gets.

[IceBeing]

I am talking what you can actually afford to buy if you are seriously hard up.

That other people can afford lentils is not particularly relevant.

[twistyfeet]

so what do people suggest? How many of you are volunteering to set up cookery classes? Putting your money where your mouth is? JO is spouting off but I dont see a cooking class in the deprived area where I live. I see exhaused people in poverty in Iceland trying to make pennies stretch. I see the greengrocers closing because a fucking Tesco's metro with stuff more expensive than the Tesco superstore 4 miles away openend. It killed the High Street. Oh, and it doesnt have loose fruit n veg like the greengrocer did. It sells packs. Packs of apples for £2.50 for 5. The Butchers is faltering now.
It used to be that elderly and poor people could go in and buy a cheap cut for one meal from the butcher who would tell them how to cook it. We campaigned against that Tesco. ow we have no choice and it is more expensive for meat.fruit and veg. Ready made stuff is cheaper and there's BOGOF's on cheap crap. This does not help.

[IceBeing]

It doesn't have to be lentils...it could be anything.

The cheapest sources of calories are processed foods.

IF you have little money to spend on food you HAVE to eat processed.

That is the only point I am making.

The majority of people have enough money to eat non-processed food but a minority don't.

That is all.

[Crowler]

Well, it's not silly, because lentils and chocolate biscuits don't fulfil the same purpose, do they? And if you need something to eat now then obviously it's going to be the chocolate biscuits.

Where have I proposed lentils as a snack? Jeez.

This is from IceBeing's comment about meeting a calorie baseline, which is not the demographic we're talking about because that's extreme poverty.

Lentils are actually delicious and somehow they've gotten a bad rap. I love McDonalds, too - I have appalling junk food habits and I love lentils so they can't be that bad.

[IceBeing]

lentils: delicious but expensive.

[Crowler]

IceBerg I don't think anyone here is criticizing that extremely vulnerable minority. That's why people are getting frustrated over the lentils v cookies.

I agree 100% that lentils cost more per calorie than cookies.

[IceBeing]

seriously how can people be so dumb as to think you get more food out of the packet if you spread it over more meals?

If I have 1 biscuit a day I can make the pack last a whole frigging month!

[YouTheCat]

Bouillon and olive oil? Yes very accessible to the poor.

And it hardly makes for a nutritious meal either.

[MinimalistMommi]

I cook most of my meals from scratch, I could not produce this meal for £6 and I know how to economise, ready meals are cheap, they use cheap inferior ingredients produced on a mass scale, flavour it up with salts and sugars and shove in as much carb as they can.

I think you're cooking the wrong meals then.
I can make a main meal for a family of four for let's say £2.00 and that would be organic ingredients. Admittedly it would be vegetarian though.

[TheOriginalSteamingNit]

I like lentils very much, they are lovely. However comparing them to chocolate biscuits and saying people should just buy them instead is a bit silly.

[Nancy66]

I think all the balsamic, olive oil, chilli flake, pesto talk confuses the issue.

the people we're talking about are just not going to eat in that way. But a tin of plum tomatoes on a slice of wholemeal toast with a bit of Worcestershire sauce on top is lovely, healthy and - what - 60p?

[IceBeing]

I know crow I am cool with that. I just don't like what other posters have been saying - ie spouting the old 'home cooking is cheaper' nonsense.

It isn't cheaper. That doesn't mean that most people can't afford to do it and benefit. It just isn't cheaper.