To think that the vast majority of people can't afford or won't buy 7 portions of fruit and veg a day

[LaurieFairyCake]

After listening to the debate on radio 5 yesterday Richard Bacon was making the point that it was easy as the portions were small.

No, they're really, really not!

I've just looked at the Daily Mail run down of how much you have to eat and I think it's actually prohibitive financially.

2 nectarines,
3 heaped tablespoons of sweetcorn,
Quarter of a big broccoli or cauliflower,
3 heaped tablespoons of mangetout
7 spears of asparagus
Half a pepper

All one portion

Seriously no one can afford that. In Aldi it's only 4 spears in a portion to buy for 79p so I need £1.60 to buy one portion of asparagus - obviously I wouldn't as I'm not an eejit.

Eating seasonally not so easy either as you can only get your nutrition from one thing twice in a day. So only two apples.

I reckon shopping in Aldi I'm going to need to spend about £8 a day for a family of 3 adult eaters for fruit and veg. So that's £56 a week just on fruit and veg.

Oh so if you smoothie together 80g of banana and 80g of apple, that would count as 2 portions?

Do you not break down the cells when yiu chew them with your teeth?

Oh I agree mrsk. Not a particularly cheap option. Though as my meal in itself it is cheaper than a lot of dinners.

Re frozen stuff. The researchers were on radio four saying they had one box to tick for canned / frozen, and in retrospect that was a mistake. So the data showing that wsx bad may be because of fruit canned in sugar 'hiding' the good frozen stuff. They are looking into that more now.

Probably Stealth.

Who knows, I think this is the whole problem with nutrition in this country. It's all so bloody confusing and the media don't help- yesterday being a prime example. The scientists definitely said frozen veg was good, but that's not the message lots of people seem to have got. Frustration and confusing.

Stealth it is to do with loss of fibre, and the fact that your body doesn't have to do the breaking down itself.

I haven't read the whole thread, so I'm sure someone's been along to say it, but the study did not differentiate between frozen and tinned, so there's no evidence that frozen is worse than fresh.

The authors also felt the relationship between eating more frozen/tinned and poorer health outcomes may have related to people's access to fresh fruit and veg (if there are few places to buy fresh, affordable veg, you may choose tinned instead). That's not news: if you live in an area where access to good food is limited, it's also likely that a lot of things about living there will affect your health. Depressing but not unknown.

I always class a glass of juice or a smoothie as 1 portion, no matter what went into it or how fresh it is. I do the same with blended soups. I have no idea if that's the right way to go about it!

Science/medical reporting in this country is shocking. The journalists haven't a bloody clue what they are talking about, all they are interested in is a sensational story.

Result = an ill-informed and cross public, who get angry what they perceive to be a great injustice, when in fact the media are just leading the public around by the nose.

The fact that the DM is listing things like asparagus is laughable. If you stick to seasonal fruit and veg then the prices come right down. Eating carrot, broccoli and cabbage/spinach every day, an apple and 2 satsumas is not expensive - probably 80p per person, maybe less. There is five very quickly, and then you can add whatever you like according to budget. Some pulses plus dried fruit every day, 2 more portions and again not expensive.

But it certainly wouldn't fill me up Stealth, not like the equivalent spend on carbs and meat. I would not feel full for long enough. I would probably aim to spend about £3 per dinner on average (some more some less) for 2 of us.

Salad on a sandwich for me is half a pepper sliced (1 portion) several slices cucumber (1" so half portion) bit of lettuce - negligable, and a handful of cherry tomatos on the side - 7 is 1 portion. So 2.5 portions.

Salad bowl - half a bag mixed watercress/spinch/rocket or 1/4 iceberg. - halfportion?
Half a pepper - 1
Chunk of cucumber, easily 2" - 1
Several cherry toms - 1
4 radiches - half?
Half grated carrot - half
Beetroot - no idea

I may or may not have a couple of sticks of celery, spring onions whatever else. But thats a general lunch for me.

Is that odd?

Yes youre right mrsk. Tjis is my diet dinner mixed with some houmous. Fills me up but I agree it's not most people's idea of a meal

I had 4 huge strawberries, a banana and yoghurt for breakfast.

Lunch, a turkey wrap with a grated carrot, grated apple, handful of spinach leaves and a handful of lettuce plus a tomato. it was fit to burst

Dinner will be salmon plus peas, broccoli, sweet corn and jacket potato.

It's not that hard.

I just don't get the 'fruit goes off' comments.

Not if you eat it!!

Theres only me and DH. I buy a bag of apples and bunch of bananas. Thats two portions each for 3 days.....it doesn't go off. IF a bit of fruit does get left behind, we still make used of it! DH will have baked slightlymanky banana and ice cream. Or i make banana bread. Or grate a soft apple into porridge.

Oh and to answer your post OP, it doesn't have to be the expensive stuff, huge bag of carrots are less than a quid.

Ok - my aldi receipt. I've just been shopping, and adding up roughly, have spent 18 on fruit and veg.

Frozen peas
Celery
Leeks
Bananas (68p for 1kg is NOT expensive!)
Radish
Courgettes
Peppers
Grapes
Baby plum toms
Garlic
Spring onions
Iceberg
Cucumber
Mushrooms
Sweetcorn
Strawbs
Kiwis
Onions
Butternut squash
Brocolli
Green beans
Salad bag
Carrots (59p 1kg...)
2 melons
Tinned toms
Spuds

That will feed me and DH for the week.

Aldi fruit and veg is fantastic but I noticed that the price in Tesco was coming down too.

don't get me wrong stealth, it sounds lovely, a bit of feta cheese and a wholemeal pitta, a few black olives mmmm. It's just not in my everyday budget sadly.

That's £18 for 2 of you Lotta, multiply that up to feed a family of 2 adults and 2 teenagers. Its a lot of money.

I agree it would be more for a larger family obviously, but that was me not 'skimping' on my shop. We will eat more apples, bananas and carrotts at the end of the month!

I think its a good idea to replace less healthy snacks with fruit and veg, thats what i am trying to do and have lost some lbs as a result.

Saying that, the ginger biscuits were 21p. Its not right.

The bit I don't understand is about sugar in fruit - there's been so much stuff recently about how sugar, including that occuring naturally in fruit, is the devil - but now we have to eat loads more of the stuff.

The sugar in fruit needs lots of fibre to be metabolised efficiently. Raw fruit is great for this. Fruit juice has all the sugar with none of the fibre. As does refined sugar added to other foods and drinks!

The bit I don't understand is about sugar in fruit - there's been so much stuff recently about how sugar, including that occuring naturally in fruit, is the devil - but now we have to eat loads more of the stuff.

No you don't. You need to eat more veg.

So if yoy stick an aplle in a blender it loses its fibre?

When I make lentil soup I add at least one carrot per person, one sti k of celery, half an onion. So that seems to be at least 2 portions per person. If I make it blended soup it somehow becomes only one portion?