Jamie Oliver webchat, Thursday 29 August, 2.45pm

[GeraldineMumsnet]

We're chuffed that Jamie Oliver is paying a return visit to Mumsnet this Thursday. His first MN webchat was back in 2010.

Jamie has a new book out, Save with Jamie: Shop Smart, Cook Clever, Waste Less (all subjects dear to MNers' hearts). It has 100 brand-new recipes designed to be accessible, reliable and, above all, affordable.

This is what Jamie says about his new book: "For years I have been telling people that if you look back through history, the best food in the world has always come from communities under massive financial pressure. But the proviso is that you MUST be able to cook! If you can't, and have no money, that is where the trouble starts. This is a cook book which, from start to finish has tasty recipes, all dedicated to great value, is a brilliant weapon to have on the shelf, and is relevant to every household. If you use this book the way it's intended, you should end up saving a wodge of cash from your wallet."

And to tie in with the book, he has a new six-part series on Channel 4 starting on Monday 2 Sept at 8pm.

Please post your question and join Jamie for a chat at 2.45pm on Thurs.

I do wish we had a national cookery book for schools.

Trigglesx - sorry about the "lard-assed" comment - I just get really cross that so much of the comment on this issue is around doing things for people who, essentially, are too lazy to do it for themselves; i.e. unemployed 20 years, etc. I am NOT disparaging the working poor, who are as noted time-poor as well. If someone is not working they have, by definition, a lot of time on their hands to research and seek out healthy options with the small income that they do have, and have no excuse whatsoever for being overweight or unfit as they have more than sufficient time to combat both problems! The working poor, with little time and little money, are genuinely in need of help and I fully support this.

Alikat, many people on very low incomes do not drive/cannot afford to run a car and most supermarkets do not have a bus stop right outside of their door that will drop you off at your front door. Which leaves them with the option of doing small three times weekly shops (as much as they can carry) ime, this costs more and you end up wasting more, internet shopping, again this costs more as you miss most of the bargains and are limited to one or two overpriced local shops or they shop at one of the many bargain freezer shops that are sprouting up like weeds all over my town (mainly in the poorer areas) where they can buy a family sized frozen lasagne for £4.

I agree, if you have the time, access to fresh produce from grocers/butchers/markets etc as I do and the know how, then cooking from scratch can be as cheap as (but not cheaper) than living off of frozen nuggets and mashed potatos in the shape of faces, but a lot of people do not have access to these things, as proven on this thread. Accessing cheap food is something a lot of people find hard.

BoffinMum - love the recipes, and yes, I agree, cookery book/classes in schools should definitely be a factor in any campaign. Come to think of it, that's where I learnt my initial cookery skills as I would never have learnt them at home!

Dooinmecleanin - why would a bus that drops you at the door be in any way necessary if you are unemployed and have about 10 more free hours a day than someone who works? WALK TO THE DAMN STORE, and guess what - carrying home your shopping will help your fitness!! I come from a very small country town in the middle of nowhere (yep, I'm an immigrant - Australian, actually, so when I say in the middle of nowhere I actually mean it!) and the trials and tribulations of those who do not have a bus to the door will unfortunately receive little sympathy from me.

Any chance you could write a recipe book for people who are just lactose intolerant i find it hard to find / buy ckes etc that are just milk free ps sally hello to my uncle freddy kindall next time you see him for me

Alikat, the problem is that there is no 'pride in the job' for these groups of people - they are not particularly house proud, not bothered to make home cooked meals, not bothered to sit their kids down and make sure homework is done, and so on, but this is not a new thing - this type of family has existed throughout history. Shouting at them to make an effort to better themselves doesn't work, because they don't see the point. The 1910 home management book my blog is based on came about for exactly the same reasons as Jamie is wading in to the debate, concerns about health/neglected kids/social decline, yet we are a century on and still worried by all this.

The core of the solution clearly lies in how to make healthy living easier than unhealthy living, how to make getting an education easier than not getting one, how to make good parenting easier than crap parenting, how to make working the line of least resistance. Some current policies nod in this direction, in fact at one stage we had a whole nudge unit in the Government working on developing this type of approach, but even this is not enough, as changes need to be more radical. Corner shops need to be restocked with better food, developers need to pay more towards infrastructure, schools need to offer better services and longer hours, and home and financial management need to be taught throughout school, in fact drilled into pupils at all levels. And ultimately there needs to be a better spread of wealth throughout society, something a lot of vested interests are working hard to prevent.

But if it was easy, we would have fixed it already. And telling people off is like pushing a jelly - you may get a result for a while but it will soon flop back in place.

Fact is JO used lazy umbrella journalism to promote his latest money making scheme. Donate all profits from this to local food banks, school culinary initiatives and occupational therapy kitchens in hospitals, MH units and he'd regain some credibility.

But JO you are trying to make money out of the poor this time.

Nice

I don't think there is anything I can add to the questions and comments already made, other than I used to love Naked Chef, but think that Jamie has totally sold out by signing his name up to anything remotely food related that will sell and add to his coffers. Which is fair enough; if I had had that opportunity I might do the same, however trying to dress it up as righteous do gooding and hoping that people don't see through it is pretty naive. I'm also very disappointed in the cheesy chips/plasma TV comments and wait Jamie's response with interest.

Oh, just to pick up a point made earlier about handfuls of fresh herbs that cost ££££. A packet of seeds costs around £1.50 and will give you an endless supply of aforementioned fresh herbs for a good few years or herb plants from a garden centre about 80p each...just takes a tiny bit of time and effort. I'm lucky enough to have the space for a herb garden now, but when we lived in a flat with a manky strip of concrete outside we used cheap plastic pots and any container we could lay our hands on and had hardy herbs outside and things like basil and coriander on the windowsill. However, it's surprising the number of people who don't realise that things can actually be grown at home (we used to always get comments about it) and this is, in part, due to a lack of education about where our food comes from in schools.

Any chance you could provide a weekly menu for a family of six that costs under £50 including breakfasts, lunches, dinners & snacks all in?

Cooking from scratch is affordable a few times a week but just isn't economical 7 days a week. Could you provide some realistic ways of getting around this. I do not have a car so everything would have to be bought in one supermarket.

Hi Jamie,

My son is 20 months old, loves fruit, veg, bread and dairy BUT will not eat meat, fish or eggs. Can you recommend a dish that is easy and cheap to make but which I can 'hide' some meat or fish in? He loves finger food but doesn't like messy food I.e. things in sauce!

Many thanks,

I do carry my shopping home, I am lucky enough to fit enough and able bodied enough to do that, a lot of people are not (disability/old age/a pram to push and a walking toddler to keep an eye on etc)

Yes, they could spend one of their days walking to Home Bargains for all of their cleaning things and herbs and dried things, take it all home and then walk back to the cheap butchers and carry all the meat home and then walk back to the cheap veg shop etc. but really who is going to do that!?? Even the unemployed have children to collect from school, homework to help with, meals to cook, a house to keep.

As I said I can do this and do when I have the time, simply because I like having extra cash to spend on crap, but I live a stones throw away from a butchers/greengrocers and a 5 minute walk to town. Most people on lower incomes live much farther out than me, this would be impractical for them.

And FWIW, carrying shopping home has gotten harder because carriers have gotten thinner, so now you have to stock up on bags for life etc before you go shopping and remember to bring enough of them with you or you end chasing your tatties down the street when your bag splits (bitter experience)

MNHQ .... When could you do a big ahem and direct people to the 8.6million other poor people bashing threads so there is room left on this one for Mr Oliver?

Don't know if its been asked already, there's a lot of pointless posts to plough through.

I'm a low carber, I don't eat bread, pasta, or rice - if I was your guest, what would you feed me?

Hello Jamie,

I really admired the work you did on school dinners, under the last government.

My question is, why haven't you pushed Gove and co to maintain the good work you put in and as others have suggested, to get cookery lessons/meal planning/budgeting being taught in all schools?

Second question if you get time: what did Jools say about your chips/TV comments? Can you understand why people who have been made redundant etc are so offended by the crassness and contempt of your comments?

I always liked that you were trying to improve schools/food education. I feel very let down that you've allowed yourself to be drawn into the nasty, divisive strivers versus scroungers agenda being pushed by the current government. You are very naive if you think that carrying on with zero hours contracts and taking money from promo deals with stores who use Workfare will make people think you are a good geezer - doing so is NOT pukka, it's exploitative and morally repugnant. Take a long look at yourself please!

Thank you for coming to Mumsnet. If you haven't already heard of her you should check out Jack Monroe

(Aside - just bought the new book on Amazon for £9.99. As an investment/by way of support for JO.)

So it's tough to remember to take enough bags for life when going shopping to carry the amount of groceries one can comfortably carry home....

I think I'm just going to offer one more comment in that I think I missed a memo that said life was supposed to be easy?!?

Honey - im sorry but "Mr" oliver has made some pretty sweeping statements in the press lately, i would hope that he would appreciate that opportunity to put that right. there are 240 posts on here, thats a lot of interest, would you rather he just answered questions on whether oil should be virgin or slutty?

Ooh loving this, I love Jamie's recipes. One pot fish pie from the old books is a house favourite. But like everyone else I'm sceptical about these types of books - a boy called jack blog seems to be the only truthfully costed and practical.

My question is - Many have to use a food bank when they are in a crisis. Have you looked at the typical contents and advised/devised recipes the families can use? I have used a food bank twice ( don't worry I have no plasma TV, or goat, am not on benefits and am a fully signed up boden wearer - life just has a habit of being shit sometimes) and they said often the ingredients are difficult to make into meals.

Also do you realise there is a middle ground? I don't use ready prepared meals, not even oven chips but still sometimes struggle to feed 2DC (my other DC is tube fed) and myself. For me its keeping them satiated and still being healthy. I feel most cheap recipes are carb loaded or too unhealthy for active DC.

Hi Jamie,

I'm diabetic. Have you considered writing any books/telly progs for people with long standing medical conditions e.g. coeliac disease, diabetes, lactose intolerance?

Apols if you already have and I've missed them

Vast numbers of people struggling with current food prices are working. People on job seekers allowance are expected to spend most of their time looking for jobs (fair enough) they haven't got 10 hours a day to walk with 5kg bags of potatoes to get the best price.

I'm not sure how this slips people's attention unless they are actually hugely loaded, there were lots of people on my facebook yesterday talking about properly cheap recipe ideas - all of them work, are good cooks and struggle to afford the kind of food they used to eat prices have gone up so much.

have to agree mn, the comments Mr oliver has been chucking about recently havent made him the most popular person around, and he wont be answering questions about food, he will end up defending his glibe generalizations about low income families instead.
personally as a mum of 3 where both adults work, we couldnt afford to make half the reciepies in his book anyway. try bringing a budget meals book out for people who have to stick to a real budget, not middle income groups that can afford the 25.00 essentials to pre buy 1st!

I also agree with blondie why have you gone along the government route with your views?

I was a very avid fan but not so much now. My partner was made redundant and for 11 months we relied on benefits, we had no other choice, and yes we had a big telly, which was bought whilst he was WORKING!

You do such good work so it is a shame you are going down the route of taring all benefits claimants with the same brush. I hope you can apoligise about those things you said.

And also what sally said even workers have trouble affording the food that goes into your recipes.
It's hard times for us all at present.

I think I'm just going to offer one more comment in that I think I missed a memo that said life was supposed to be easy?!?

I never expected life to be easy, but neither do I expect people to be shitty about those of us who may struggle in certain situations. I'd love a bus to come to my door, dammit, so I don't have to push one child in a wheelchair and drag another younger child along (thank god at least he is walking distances now - having one in a wheelchair and one in a pushchair is NOT possible to go anywhere practically!) to the market or different shops to get better bargains is horrendous. Don't even get me started on people with prams on the bus who won't fold them for DC's wheelchair. But that is why we have the food delivered - even though I'm not working. For some people, simply walking to the market or shops can be a hellish ordeal.

Hoping there is room left on this thread for some sensible culinary questions rather than debates about the other press related comments, can't that be left for another thread?

I hate anchovies/fish sauce, if I want to make a salsa verde, is there an alternative I can use?

What's your favourite veg of the moment and how would you cook it?

Cheers

Thanks pumpkin I just can't understand how a fella who did so much good with school meals and who has tried to help with the Fifteen initiative etc can have somehow let those words come put of his mouth.

Unless of course it's because he has no clue about the realities and costs of feeding the family in modern Britain?