Marcus Radford / Tom Kerridge

[Ihatesandwiches]

I like both these guys. Today I followed the links for their inspiring recipes for FSM families. As a confident cook (and with money to spend on food) I was appalled at the recipes. So disappointed.
Yes - the recipes are too complicated
No - the recipes are accessible for most people

That’s not the truth as MN sees it, that’s the opinion of one arsehole.

Not sure about complicated but the ingredients in this aren't exactly basic...

1 small onion
1 carrot, peeled
2 celery sticks, de-stringed with a veg peeler
4 thick slices of sourdough bread
2 tbsp olive oil
4 large portobello mushrooms,stems removed
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 x 250g packs cooked Puy lentils
150ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp thyme leaves
100g blue cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad:
180g mixed rocket, watercress and spinach
Juice of ½ lemon, or to taste
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

@ThinkAboutItTomorrow - except that’s not one of their recipes?

And which of the recipes from this scheme is that supposed to be?

@ThinkAboutItTomorrow can you link that recipe? I can't see any like that in this scheme

@ThinkAboutItTomorrow

Not sure about complicated but the ingredients in this aren't exactly basic...

1 small onion
1 carrot, peeled
2 celery sticks, de-stringed with a veg peeler
4 thick slices of sourdough bread
2 tbsp olive oil
4 large portobello mushrooms,stems removed
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 x 250g packs cooked Puy lentils
150ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp thyme leaves
100g blue cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad:
180g mixed rocket, watercress and spinach
Juice of ½ lemon, or to taste
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

That's TK's portebello mushroom bake and nothing to do with this set of recipes?

@ThinkAboutItTomorrow

Not sure about complicated but the ingredients in this aren't exactly basic...

1 small onion
1 carrot, peeled
2 celery sticks, de-stringed with a veg peeler
4 thick slices of sourdough bread
2 tbsp olive oil
4 large portobello mushrooms,stems removed
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 x 250g packs cooked Puy lentils
150ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp thyme leaves
100g blue cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad:
180g mixed rocket, watercress and spinach
Juice of ½ lemon, or to taste
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

I can also post a random recipe that has absolutely nothing to do with this scheme, but that would be literally pointless.

@ThinkAboutItTomorrow

Not sure about complicated but the ingredients in this aren't exactly basic...

1 small onion
1 carrot, peeled
2 celery sticks, de-stringed with a veg peeler
4 thick slices of sourdough bread
2 tbsp olive oil
4 large portobello mushrooms,stems removed
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 x 250g packs cooked Puy lentils
150ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp thyme leaves
100g blue cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad:
180g mixed rocket, watercress and spinach
Juice of ½ lemon, or to taste
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

How utterly disingenuous to post a random TK recipe.

WTAF is wrong with some posters on here?

He’s a professional chef. He has published other recipes. That is not one of the recipes created for this campaign.

Seriously, I’m starting to worry about MNers basic comprehension skills.

You don't then want to have to find the mental and physical energy to cook something complicated.

I work p/t & DH f/t. Earn well in non physical jobs. We cannot stand the mental load of meal planning, shopping, cooking to produce healthy family meals. I want easy.

@gagrag

You don't then want to have to find the mental and physical energy to cook something complicated.

I work p/t & DH f/t. Earn well in non physical jobs. We cannot stand the mental load of meal planning, shopping, cooking to produce healthy family meals. I want easy.

To be honest, bar a takeaway, these are about as basic as you can get.

Yes that's why I like the look of them & will have a go.

@ThinkAboutItTomorrow ... where on endchildfoodpoverty.org/full-time-meals did you find that recipe?

I swear some people are being deliberately obtuse in not understanding that a Michelin star chef can also have other projects with varying audiences ... a bit like how a now millionaire footballer playing for one of the biggest clubs in the Premier League can also have a personal understanding of being living on low income, relying on FSM and the importance of childhood nutrition and ensuring children don't go hungry.

@melj1213 it was on the original link to full time meals. Under recipes. Or is that just his normal site with a welcome page about the full time meals initiative?

If so then I was confused, not obtuse, certainly not deliberately obtuse. Thanks.

it's very clear that the website linked by the OP is Tom Kerridge's personal website (hence the fact it is all personally branded, has information about what TK does and all of TKs information and personal social media links)

The Full Time Meals is a totally separate website (as both explained and linked in the post from TKs website). It does not take a huge amount of reading comprehension to realise this.

Tom's recipes all look like something a competent cook could make; not convinced that they're suitable for someone on a really low budget though, unless they managed to get a lot of stuff that's yellow label.

www.theguardian.com/food/2021/may/29/easy-tortilla-pizza-creamy-chicken-pie-kettle-omelette-shakshuka-traybake-marcus-rashford-and-tom-kerridge-easy-family-recipes

Some of the recipes in the guardian today. Why do so many on mumsnet think that families receiving free school meals or on a tight income are complete idiots who can only manage to heat up oven chips. These look like filling tasty meals with long life freezer and cupboard ingredients.

@melj1213 you're either in a very bad mood or just being rude. My reading comprehension is fine thank you 😂

Looking at the 'real' site I don't understand why they are drip feeding the recipes. Looks like one a week for a year. If they've done the development (which is what they say on the Tom kerridge site) why not just make them all available?

I noticed this recipe in the Aldi mag. Not keen I have to say!!

By doing one recipe a week people aren’t over faced with a lot of choice.

They can do lots of pushing of that recipe each week giving prolonged exposure of the scheme.

People are more likely to get into a “and on a Wednesday will will try the new recipe” mindset this way.

The whole idea revolves around a “cook a long” method with a different video every week

I am sure there are plenty of other reasons behind the approach taken!

[quote ThinkAboutItTomorrow]@melj1213 you're either in a very bad mood or just being rude. My reading comprehension is fine thank you 😂

Looking at the 'real' site I don't understand why they are drip feeding the recipes. Looks like one a week for a year. If they've done the development (which is what they say on the Tom kerridge site) why not just make them all available? [/quote]
I'm neither in a bad mood or rude to call out a spectacular lack of reading comprehension. It is not difficult to think that the recipes on TKs website, which are clearly not marketed as part of the FTM or particularly "family orientated", might not be part of the programme he is advertising and you should maybe clarify/query this before posting a random recipe?

As for "drip freding" the idea is, as another poster has said, to give people options regularly rather than just dump them all at once. Buying a few specific ingredients a week is much easier than having to add to the mental load of deciding and trying a new recipe. This way there is step by step instructions, supporting material for the specific recipe (for those who aren't as confident) rather than just a recipe dump. Additionally it allows them to highlight different things - eg the kettle omelette allowed them to highlight that you can still make nutritious and fun meals even without a huge kitchen and loads of gadgets.

For families looking to make a "proper" meal using (mostly) minimally processed ingredients I think they look great.

And when a cheeseburger costs 99p or a chicken shop meal that you could stretch to feed two costs 1.99 we need as much of this stuff out there as possible.

Of course they're not as simple or cheap as beans on toast, but they're giving people options if they have an extra few quid.

The only gripe I have is that some of the ingredients like frozen veg might be hard to get at a local corner shop within walking distance. You need to get to one of the big supermarkets really, and for that you often need a car or paid transport.

Luckily all these ALDI and LIDL popping up are making that a bit easier for people.

Uabvu. What have you done to help child hunger op?!

I’ve been cooking these recipes with my kids each week who are really enjoying it. I think it’s great and I think Marcus and Tom are brilliant.

The only gripe I have is that some of the ingredients like frozen veg might be hard to get at a local corner shop within walking distance.

Yes, and often people only have a tiny freezer compartment inside their fridge.