What do you think are the barriers to eating real food?

[diapergenie]

I am doing some research and I would be eternally grateful if any of you home cooks could give me your opinions on what you think the difficulties (if any) are with feeding yourselves and your families a really good fresh food diet.

Basically, we all know that food poverty is a reality amongst lower income groups in our country. As I am single mother on benefits, we are classed as a low-income family and we eat like kings, but only because I have been cooking all my life and am food-obsessed enough to know exactly where to go and what to do to make the most of our limited resources. For me, the pursuit of good food is a full-time occupation, but I understand that most people just do not have the time, energy, resources and (perhaps) inclination to do the same.

It worries me that the current level of welfare benefits do not permit low-income families with children or pregnant women and girls to eat what I regard to be an adequately healthy diet unless they already possess cooking skills, (which have been completely phased out in most state schools) equipment and a hell of a lot of time and passion.

The Food Poverty Network

As people who cook real food, how much time do you
spend?

Do you have to really go out of your way to get good, unpolluted fresh food?

Does buying fresh food and the consumption of time involved with producing meals put you out of pocket?

What do you think you need to spend each week to feed your family fresh every day?

Why do you think it is that we have such a pathetically non-existent food culture in Britain, as opposed to, for example, France or Italy, where the vast majority of the population eat wonderfully good food.

What kind of objections have you heard people giving to the idea of eating well?

Obviously, this is not a particularly structured form or research - I just want to pick your brains, if that is ok.

What do you do with your kids while you are cooking and preparing food, especially if they are too young to help?

Does the amount of time you spend cooking have an impact upon the amount of attention your children get from you? Does this matter anyway?

diapergenie,you've neatly summarised the reason I spend so much time on MN these days!

Very interesting theory.

I always cook proper meals,even when alone with two small children (most of the time)because this is what I enjoy doing. Hosted a dinner for 6 the day before my second was born (dh was away) and was cooking for people three days later.
When on holiday,I prefer s/c rather than a hotel as for m,cooking part of the experience.

I accept that I am unusual...

Also I think we've been de-educated out of any pride in food culture. British food hasn't always been bland and overcooked - their cuisine was good up until Victorian times, by all accounts. There's a whole history of fantastic food out there which needs to be recovered.

my idea of complete unhappiness is preparing food for half an hour per night then cooking it from scratch. theres so much more to life. when i get in from work the world can kiss my hairy arse if it thinks i am cooking anything remotely " proper" that takes preperation and time.
after the kids homework x3 bath x3 evening meal - its 10pm easy. am not starting preparing tomorrows eveining meal at 10pm the night before.

Caligula,but the good thing is that it is being rediscovered and appreciated.
(I am a cookery freak.Liberated a fantastic antique traditional English cookbook out of my school library when I was 14 as I knew noone else would cherish it like me.)

It is tiring at the end of the day to cook a proper meal but actually it doesn't take that long. I home cook all the time. I hate proceessed food and to peel a few veg and grill some meat or fish doesn't take too long. My main thing is I involve the kids in the process ( I know I am sounding mad and a little rightous here). They help, we actually make up recipes and they all have their favourites which I keep in a book in the kitchen.
I also bake alot and make jellies and stuff. I enjoy cooking( I also work and have 3 kids BTW) but I can't see the appeal of ready cooked meals. Having lived in asia for many years where preparing food and cooking is a family affair thats just the way I feel. I want my kids to know what real food is.

I don't think you sound mad or righteous HD.
Iam completely with you on this.

When you come in pooped from a 12hr shift only to find that the teenagers have raided all the basics eg milk, bread, cheese, butter and Shreddies the lure of the chip shop is far far stronger than that of the larder.

Moondog, if you are a freak then we can all be freaks together.
Custardo, I think you can be excused as you have 3 kids and eating well is more important than cooking well (ie, all the time). I only have one daughter, and despite my passion for cooking (ok, eating) I seriously doubt that I would have the inclination to cook a meal from scratch every night of the week if I had another baby. The only way that would ever happen is if I managed (pigs might) to bag myself a sexy beast in a pinny who would take over the kitchen every other night and do things with a wooden spoon that I didn't even think possible.

oooh behave, me!

Moondog,
I think that there is a growing awareness amongst foodies of local, traditional British food and how great it actually is. Rick Steins recent Food Heroes series was brilliant, and the Slow Food Movement supports loads of rare British produce, like some obscure variety of Damsons from some sequestered valley near Kendal, I think.

I live near Coventry, and recently discovered an ancient -17th century!- recipe for Coventry God Cakes. They are just dying to be baked, but I have not got round to it yet.

diapergenie..that's the sort of thing that gets me into a lather!
You find time to do things if you really want to,don't you,whatever they are.
My sister has 4 kids and works f/t but is a wonderful cook. (Mind you,she lives in France.)

OK now I've finally got time I'll answer the questions.

As people who cook real food, how much time do you
spend?"

On average about 15-20 minutes actually preparing/cooking the food (rest of the time things are just simmering/cooking away while I do other stuff).

"Do you have to really go out of your way to get good, unpolluted fresh food?"

Well ATM it's all supermarket veg as the budget is still extremely tight, but once we're back to normal I'll use the local market.

"Does buying fresh food and the consumption of time involved with producing meals put you out of pocket?"

No - it's cheaper than ready meal - average of £1.50-2 per meal (for 4 people, 2 kids 2 adults). You'll be lucky to buy one ready meal for once person for that.

"What do you think you need to spend each week to feed your family fresh every day?"

Just done my weekly shopping list, including Nappies, Wipes, Washing Powder, Washing Up Liquid, Soap, Dishwasher Tablets, and all purpose cleaner (do you get the hint we were living on practically nothing LOL) - it's costing £50 for 7 days.

"Why do you think it is that we have such a pathetically non-existent food culture in Britain, as opposed to, for example, France or Italy, where the vast majority of the population eat wonderfully good food."

Do they? Or is that our perception of them?

"What kind of objections have you heard people giving to the idea of eating well?"

They seem to think it's more expensive and takes longer to cook/prepare.

"What do you do with your kids while you are cooking and preparing food, especially if they are too young to help?"

Usually they play in the living room where I can watch them, or sometimes DS1 (nearly 5) comes and helps.

"Does the amount of time you spend cooking have an impact upon the amount of attention your children get from you? Does this matter anyway?"

No. No.

yes, md.
One of the reasons that I have really been thinking about this recently is because I love eating, love cooking, think about food literally 24/7, my dreams are awash with swathes of melting chocolate, you get the picture (if only I could afford Rococo or Valrhona). Even though I am resourceful, I appear to other people to be extravagent. I often get people suggesting that maybe I should get down off my high horse and accept my financial situation, accept that I can no longer have balsamic vinegar and porcini mushrooms. But the truth is, despite the apparent baroque splendour of my larder, I really can afford it! We have £100 to cover food, bills, everything excluding housing. I am not running into debt, and my younger sister lives with me and the money covers her expenses as well even though she is not actually supposed to be covered by the benefits money. I am overdrawn, but who isn't, and my bank account is in stasis. It doesn't go any higher or lower that it currently is.
I had no savings before, so I am not cheating, and there is no extraneous income. So we are living proof that it is more than possible to eat really well even as a family dependent on benefits.
Admittedly, there is an 'opportunity cost'. I don't ever buy clothes I just get my begging tin out whenever dd gets too portly for her outfits.
But I choose to overspend on food because that is what I regard as the thing that contributes most to our quality of life. Families could still eat healthily if they spent half of what I did. They could do it whilst still buying clothes, going out, even going on holiday.
So people saying they cannot afford to eat healthily because they are on a low income is probably because they think it costs far more than it does.

Also a question of priorities. 100 years ago,people spent a vast portion of their money on food. As it has,in real terms,become cheaper and cheaper and the world awash with consumer goods,I think a lot of people resent paying money on food which could be spent on cars,dvds,clothes and so on.

Nowadays,the proprtion of income that is spent on food is tiny.

True.
Also, price premiums on healthy, good quality foods stocked in small grocers in low-income areas are higher then elsewhere because of the relatively small demand for them and the consequent absence of real competition (economists please put me right if I'm being thick). So I guess that if a family do decide to start buying fresh, there is the extra problem that they are going to be paying higher prices than they would be if they could get to a supermarket.

HondaDream,
I sometimes feel as if people see me as self-righteous too.
But I think that there are some areas where the world needs people to be fanatical and self-righteous, especially where health and wellbeing are involved.
It is nice to come on this forum and hear people who feel the same.

yes, i sign up to real, non-processed food, fairly treated farmers, family mealtimes etc.

however, until loyd grossman comes round to give me a hand with:

• laundry/folding/putting away
• tidying up toys
• writing thank you letters for dd's b'day presents which are already rather late
• sorting through endless utterly useless nanny applications
• getting a zillion things ready before we go on holiday
• reading through the final drafts of dh's and my wills
• and umpteen other things that i will be doing in the evenings this week....

i am mightily glad i can reach for a jar of his rather excellent green thai curry sauce instead.

It's much easier to get interest free credit to buy dvd players etc., than it is to buy food.

Caligula..now that is a sobering thought isn't it?

well, ladies, i find i can't leave this alone. like many of you this provokes strong feelings in me, albeit for different reasons!

so - tonight, i have scrubbed a load of my home grown new potatoes with a toothbrush, chargrilled some courgettes and aubergines, prepared a roast chicken with lemon, thyme and garlic...

this is for a meal we are having tomorrow - absolutely no chance in the world i would be home in time tomorrow to do all this from scratch - not unless we were going to eat very late indeed.

i only managed to do this tonight because i got dd's thank yous (see below) done at work today.

so, while i am educated, have money and can cook - TIME is the biggest barrier for me when it comes to preparing fresh food from scratch every evening.

oops, forgot to mention, decided today we didn't have any time this week for any further nanny recruitment - it will have to wait until we come back from holiday, therefore freeing up a bit more time this pm.

Errr I'll second that. Have just completed my online grocery order, now have to do bottles and packed lunches for tomorrow. Will then need to crawl into bed - so no time to prepare tomorrow night's meal before bed tonight. Bye then....off I go

Supermarkets seducing the working mums.
Time.
Energy and/or stamina.
Very basic and easy cooking before children, so maybe lack of cookery teaching.

bossykate,
I struggle to pull a meal together sometimes and I am a sahm with only one child, so I really don't know how you manage it with working as well.
I think that time is the biggest issue for us all.

1. About 10 hours per week
2. No not really, local waitrose or organic stores
3. Yes!
4. Spend about £180 pw
5. Perhaps the climate as meant that eating in europe is more of a social affair. Whereas in this country I know a lot of families that eat when they get in at different times and it is just seen as something that is essential rather than an opportunity to socialise.
6. Money, time, don't like healthy food.
7. Do it when he is in bed or napping. Try to distract him with his toys.
8. Yes it does and yes it matters I do feel that I am neglecting him sometimes. Hopefully as he gets older he will be able to become more involved.

Dunno cos 'im indoors does most of it but I reckon about 30/40 mins a day.

Buy most food in supermarket as is round the corner. Dont have a car but have just got some bikes so will have more options to travel now.

Dunno have never really bought prepackaged food. was brought up on home cooking and do so now.

We have a budget of £50 a week for all food and other items (cleaning stuff toiletries etc)

think this is a bit of a myth really. Real British food is really good. Ive got Keith Floyds book of British and Irish cooking and its got fab recipies in it yummy.

Kids wont eat the food. No time. No money. Cant be arsed. Cookings not my thing. Im not a domesticated person.

ATM dp tries to cook dinner while she is having her nap. Otherwise she will play or 'help' by setting the table

Kids can helping with dinner prep from a very young age. DD 'helps' by putting the mats and cutlery on the table and taking the peelings to the compost bin with me but once she is a bit older she will be peeling veg and chopping things and generally helping out. She also plays with the plastic stuff in the cupboard and 'cooks' her own food. When dss is round its bliss cos he 'helps' by amusing dd (its easier than helping by potato peeling anyway)