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.

He wouldn't want to alienate his target market by criticizing their choices though would he?

He didn't really answer many questions did he

Not impressed much tbh, £25 for a book for the poor . Too expensive if you ask me.

I generally love jamie but this was lame

I thought it was her! Then it's even worse that he used her as this example. She did everything she could when she was offered help and support and in return, she gets thrown under the bus years later. That's really not fair...

How do I put the kindle app on the PC?

oh, its on Amazon. My one brain cell found it

For those of you who say you feed a family of four on around £35 a week, what DO you cook?

I thought that too, pumpkinsweetie - other webchatters seem to get through a lot more questions - though maybe they are at MNHQ, and have several people at laptops so the guest can flit between them, reading questions and dictating answers, and then quick-smart, off to the next one. I seem to recall reading somewhere that this is how MNHQ webchats work.

Perhaps this one was just RachelMumsnet typing her poor fingers to the bone with nary a biscuit in sight.

worldgonecrazy if someone said your parenting choices "didnt weigh up" you wouldnt take that as castigation then!

Personally? No, I wouldn't. There is probably a lot about my parenting style and choices that "don't weigh up" if viewed from the outside, but I wouldn't take it as a castigation, just a difference of opinion.

The woman in question has moved on from the place where she was, she has learned cooking skills. I don't think she has been thrown under a bus at all, just been used as an example of what things look like from the outside.

Jamie has brought attention and discussion to the issues, that is all.

I think that worldgonecrazy is right. He was (clumsily) making the point that people don't know how to cook and that this is an issue.

I would imagine that he dictated his answers today, and it can be difficult to get exact phrasing right when doing that. He's not a politician or a writer, he's a chef and businessman.

A friend of mine is teaching people through Southwark Council how to cook healthier versions of fast food. Her recipes are on her blog. She doesn't make money from the blog, does it cos she loves it.

STD
Jamie is dyslexic, I think, so might have been more difficult to scan the thread and pick questions to answer.

Thank you Jamie :)

Can't wait for the vegetarian cookbook next year

MmeLindor - i complete agree about us being the target market, though if it's saving money on takeaways, then we're probably not. While we're solvent, I'll not be sacrificing my weekly M&S chinese (with lots of fresh veg on the side!), either.

It'll be interesting to see what the recipes are actually like. Meantime. I'm off to cook dinner. Chicken burgers and corn on the cob for the boys (with oven chips for brown food loving DS2) and curry made with leftover roast chicken and cauliflower for DH and me. The boys don't do spicy, which limits my repertoire of home cooked food, somewhat.

I wouldn't take it as castigation either.

He's a skilled programme maker as well as chef and businessman.

He and his researchers have a flair for finding people who will further his career.

I doubt anybody capable of making a decent argument for their decisions and questioning him about his own would make the final edit.

I don't know if this has been suggested already, but what do people think about those who want to taking a few of his recipes from the book and costing them? Maybe the 'mother ship' ones would make a good start and then move from there with the ones which use leftovers? Then, those which work cost wise, we could publish on MM (with Jamie's permission of course) and those who needed them could get them for free without buying the book? If Jamie is really interested in helping people, I don't see how he could say no?

(Probably a daft idea I know)

The book might be useful for slightly better off families - if it's £38 for dinners, you can spend another £ 42 on breakfast, lunch, snacks and it still be £80 which isn't too bad.

It's just a shame he didn't say that was his market instead of making comments about tellies and really poor people that inflame the benefit bashers.

Hmm, missed the live webchat. Do you think he read the whole thread? Even if he didnt address concerns properly here, he might go away and think? Or probably not.

I agree TeWiSavesTheDay, I think it's mostly aimed at families who spend a fair amount on food but want to reduce their costs/waste. There are a few recipes which might be workable for those on low incomes, but I can't see many people being able to buy a whole shoulder of pork for example. The chicken recipes might be doable, but it's still a fair outlay initially.

There are some poster that seem to think 'on a budget' means on their own budget, or that of the poorest person they have ever come across.

If you have an upper limit of what you can spend, and you have to think about what you are feeding your family with less money than you would like to be able to spend, then you are on a budget.

"You could use rosemary, sage, thyme, anything found in any park."

Nope, no rosemary, sage or thyme in our park. Will dog shit and nettles do instead?

Given his comments in the press Broken, it was totally fair to assume he was talking about genuinely poor people.

What, like the ones he's visited in Africa while doing stuff for comic relief?

Has rosemary growing in my back garden!!