To think that £17,000 a year on food is obscene

[ChillySundays]

Watching 'Eat well for less' on i player. The family are spending £17,000 a year on food. I'd quite like to earn that. The bloke is saying about saving them £100 a week - my food bill is that a week (4 adults) never mind saving it.

What is really getting my goat is the mother laughing about how little fruit and veg the family eat. Surely most people would be embarrassed whatever the reason was.

Am I being incredibly judgey?

My trolley doesn't have ready meals, loads of sweet stuff or rubbish really, but I do'nt understand how you can get 7 main courses and the rest for only £60-80 p/w as some people are saying on here.

I spend £550ish per month. We eat nicely but there isn't huge joints or steaks in there. Yes, we could cut down, but the food wouldnt be as nice.

I guess like everything, there is a happy medium between spending less because you can't afford more, and spending what they did on the programme.

Owllady mine wouldn't be fobbed off with coleslaw and salad though, they want the actual pizza!

Ooh do it CatMilkMan! I'm genuinely intrigued.

I can spend £70 a week because I meal plan (which I hate doing), and only buy what we need. Sometimes it's more depending on if we need nappies, or wine. Rarely spend more than £100. We can afford more, but I like a bargain and offers. I'd rather spend the money on something else.

My dh fried my food in evoo the other day, remembering i told him not to use the light olive oil for frying. HOW were they eating it without spewing?!

Frying in olive oil is carcinogenic.

Frying in EVOO is really bad for you.

I am still shocked at £200 for Sunday lunch.

We don't spend that on Christmas lunch!

As for those who say this is possible, of course it is if you're shopping somewhere other than a normal grocery store eg Elizabeth King or Selfridges or Whole Foods at a push.

I spend about £180/week for 4 people at Ocado (this excludes alcohol, I buy it separately) without much of an attempt at being frugal. This includes quite a lot of smoked salmon, Duchy, mostly free-range etc.

If I switched to Whole Foods I could probably spend 325 a week, but I really couldn't at Ocado or any normal grocery store. I suspect if you're a proper gourmand you would not consider Ocado an adequate store.

We do have some pre prepared fruit and veg and I buy a block of cheddar and a packet of grated cheddar too. I think some convenience foods are great, but I've no idea how they spend that much. my feeling is the show must go on RRP of products rather than actual price paid - I have NEVERpaid full prprice or Haagen Daaz ice cream, for example, or Pizza Express pizza or Cathedral City cheddar - I stock up (within reason ... we wouldn't have room for 7 blocks of cheese!) When it's on offer and buy an alternative own brand when it isn't!

We are v v lucky to have a full size Aldi, Lidl, Asda and Morrison's within 10 mins walk, 3 Co-Ops and a Tesco Express within 15 mins walk and a Sainsburys within 30 mins walk, plus 2 of those obscenely big Tesco stores within 6 or so miles.

Catmilkman, you sound like a wonderful host! Economy cooking is great but it's nice to do something special for guests.

I would feel very loved if someone cooked me a whole lobster

I don't think the blind taste testing on that programme makes sense.

Of course taste isn't the only criteria when you choose food. E.g. non-factory farmed food, fair trade, organic etc, is going to justifiably cost more.

Food manufacturers know that if you substitute some of the fresher healthier ingredients with extra sugar, fat and add salt people will often perceive the food as tastier, but mostly we use more than simply taste when deciding what to eat.

I used to see Greg Wallace shopping in Morrison's, as an aside point. He was smaller than me. Why is everyone on tv so small? (Not that there is anything wrong with being petite) I'm just always surprised how little everyone is

And im a big buyer of value chocolate, but 100% sure i could pick dairy milk out of a line up. It tastes completely different!!

Tell me why frying in olive oil is carcinogenic.

CatMilk, cook for seven and PM me your address

I fry in olive oil, not extra virgin though. It tastes great!

Fallen, olive oil oxidises less than some other vegetable oils. and it doesn't matter anyway. and it tastes nicer :)

Phew! thanks Garrick

I just wondered where it came from, that's all.

I googled, and found this.

I shall remain unbothered then.

And I meant to say, before I got distracted by aldehydes, that I use microwave rice a lot. The Tilda mixed white and brown basmati. Lovely.

It is perfectly safe to cook with Olive Oil and for Mediterranean recipes it is the correct fat to use.

Yes I've always used olive oil to cook with, prob not extra virgin though that would be for salads.

I could happily spend £200 per week in Waitrose (I don't but have done occasionally). Free range and organic everything, nice steak and proper wild salmon etc it could be easily done. £325 though? Might struggle but suspect I could rise to the challenge quite happily!

It is safe to cook with olive oil, yes but not with evoo which is what was being discussed here.

but not with evoo which is what was being discussed here
Why?

Why is it being talked about here? Or why is it not good to cook with?

We're talking about it because the woman on the programme did it. It's not good to cook with because it loses its goodness when heated and possibly also turns carcinogenic?

Olive oil is fine to cook with, though. Just not extra virgin.