To think that fucking cartoons on cereal boxes aren't what's making children overweight and parents just need to say no to their kids?

[GoblinGreen]

www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7848217/amp/Supermarket-Lidl-announces-remove-cartoon-characters-sugary-cereal-packaging.html

Ffs, what are they going to do next, get rid of all sweets and chocolate in case the kids pester their parents?

those ingredients aren't necessarily available at local shops and if you're relying on a food bank you would be lucky to get any fruit or vegetables. Of course knowing how to cook those ingredients would come into it too

Okay, if we're narrowing it down to areas where you can't buy lentils, onions, rice and sweet potatoes, and to people who use food banks, then we're talking about a very tiny proportion of the population.

I thought we were talking about the general low-income shop at iceland 10-chicken thighs and five fries for a fiver kind of people.

Just costed my lentil bolegnese at around £12, buying everything but would get a meal for 4 twice.

And that's excellent if you have the knowledge of how to make that dish and if you have the £12 all in one go needed for the initial outlay and access to a shop that sells the required ingredients at the stated total price, and enough gas/electricity on the meter to be able to cook them.

I do agree that knowing how to cook healthy, nutritious meals within a budget is important but there are other social and economic factors at play.

When I was a child there were free toys in cereal boxes

Yes! We collected the Robin Hood characters. They kept turning up in the garden for decades afterwards.

but my mum knew how to say no!

This too. Plus far fewer families had cars, nearly all children walked to school, and you walked to the shops or took the bus. And when you had to carry home everything you bought rather than just putting it in the boot of the car, you bought less.

It’s not being fucking goady - it’s true!

Cool story, bro.

I just think knowledge of how to cook cheaply is a much bigger barrier than cost. Even when you factor in a bus ticket and gas to cook.

Thanks, @hoik - didn't know about that.

Most people have internet access and can Google a recipe, there is an app where you can input what ingredients you have and it will give you a recipe.

And this wasn’t the case, person did not only have access to a microwave

I get everything out of a chicken!! I cook the bones for broth too. Which filled with veg does have some great benefits. I get meat from the butchers though. I don’t think supermarket chicken is good

YANBU op. We aren’t perfect parents and our dcs aren’t perfect kids but we have always said no to sugary shit cereals. I think they feel like the most hard done by kids in in the world for that and the fact we don’t take them skiing but I’m sure they’ll get over it.

Oh the free toys yesss!! That was brilliant!!!

@bonnyconnie that is the nastiest post I have ever read on Mumsnet in over ten years of being here.

@MarySidney - or you went shopping more often.

It's shameful to judge someone at a foodbank as picky. Ffs

I'm constantly astounded at the sight of people walking round the supermarket with a trolley bursting with fizzy drinks, multi packs of crisps and junk food.
Usually fat mother's with fat kids.
Disgusting.

I think people need to start taking some responsibility for their own choices.
A cartoon character on packaging doesn’t even enter my radar when I’m buying cereal.

Okay, if we're narrowing it down to areas where you can't buy lentils, onions, rice and sweet potatoes, and to people who use food banks, then we're talking about a very tiny proportion of the population.

Not that tiny.

I remember a thread on here a while back when some "let's point and stare at poor people" reality programme had been on Channel Four or Five. One of the people on the show had spent their last £5 on a large kebab and chips from the take-away and someone had posted to say that they were appalled, that £5 could have bought so much fresh fruit and veg and a bag of rice and so on. This poster genuinely couldn't understand that not everyone knows how to cook these things, particularly people with chaotic lives or a poor education, and not everyone has the means by which to cook them. They couldn't understand that £5 on a large kebab and chips that could be split between two people that night with a further two portions leftover for lunch the following day was cheaper than getting to a shop that sold low cost nutritious food, buying the ingredients, puttibg money on the meter to run the cooker and the lights while cooking, etc.

I don’t think it’s cereals or parents not saying no that is the problem. I think the lack of exercise, internet and sedentary lifestyle is a bigger issue.

I also remember my children’s dietician. (They were both very small and very early) telling me to buy them food very high in fat content.

I spent a whole day. Searching for the items she suggested (good fats) and came out with 1!!

Supermarkets are geared at low fat. Low salt. High sugar.

@MrsBrentford - person? There are many, many people using foodbanks that only have access to a microwave. How do they cook from scratch. What healthy recipes are there for people who just got some cocopops, pasta, rice, jar sauces, baked beans, bread and doughnuts from the foodbank?

YANBU. My DS eats porridge for breakfast, supermarket own brand costs about 70p.

I spent 4 years on income support and I never found it hard to eat healthy on a budget. Loose vegetables are cheap as chips. I don't have a car and didn't have spare money for the bus back then, I used to walk the 40 minutes and back to the supermarket with DS in the buggy. You do what you have to do.

@RemediosVaro - no not really - or not a small population of poor people anyway.

I wouldn't be able to get all those ingredients at my local shop let alone if I used a food bank.

"On the one hand we are told being obese is bad news healthwise, but yet there are thousands of videos/ songs/ pop singers promoting positive body image for overweight people.. isn't this rather contradictory?"

😂 Where? Who?!

I think many people don't think their children are overweight because they themselves are overweight, and they see their children are the same proportions as they are.
As a teenager I was a "size ten"...thirty years later I'm a "size eight". I'm 5'0" and weigh 7st12lb, about a quarter of a stone more than when I was 15. I had a couple of my mother's dresses from the 60s when she was a "size ten" and the were so tiny- like a size six thirty years ago, goodness knows what they'd be today a size two or four maybe.
Many people think size 16 is normal. Well it is fairly common, but it isn't really the size an average height (5'4") woman should be. Particularly as that "size 16" is probably a "size 18" or "size 20" from 30 years ago.

People make too many unhealthy choices in their diets. We seem to have developed an idea that we "deserve" treats all the time, but it isn't good for our health.

YANBU Tony the Tiger has made no one fat. However if you look on the side of a cereal box at the portion sizes you are supposed to have they are a tiny 30-40g. Do you know how small that is? Bowls have got larger since the 80's and if I had a 40g bowl of Frosties I'd be hungry in a hour. Try double that for a standard bowl in our house but my kids are not fat and honestly couldn't give a monkeys what is in the box! 40g of Greek yoghurt or porridge is far more filling.

YANBU