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.

Dear Jamie, love your books and have made most of your thirty minute meals. Brilliant ideas and loved by my children thanks.

Would you ever do Strictly? Other commitments permitting of course.

sybil - I think Strictly is for those with faultering careers.........so including this thread, "Every little helps".

That New Statesman article hits the nail on the head.

Empty vessels do indeed make the most noise.

If you find yourself suddenly rather poor, why not sell your telly and try rustling up Cucina Povera dishes like The Cricketers Antipasti on the menu at Jamie's parents' pub.

Cricketers Antipasti

I think your recent comments were at rather ill-judged at best, and for those you are getting a sound roasting. But, TBF, I agree in some ways with BIWI's earlier post.

I love your books and have them all I think. Good solid recipes that are tasty, relatively cheap and easy to prep. I have sent my two older daughters off to their respective universities with a couple of your books and they have been a great success, thank you.

Now, of course, I live in London, close to one of the best local markets around where I can buy herbs and spices for tuppence and good and cheap fruit and veg from the humble spud to the exotic that I'm never quite sure what it is.. We do have everything on our doorstep, cheaply and fresh and I agree that locally to me (and other parts of large towns and cities), there is no excuse NOT to buy fresh food - to paraphrase you 'why not buy 10 mangetout and a carrot, a 1lb of lamb mince etc' and whip up something cheap, healthy and tasty. I CAN do that every day and I do.

But for people living in the arse end of nowhere, reliant on public transport/careful with heir fuel, they can't do that; and if they can get a supper for 4 of sausage and chips from the one food outlet near by for less than, say, £5, I can see why they do, and have to sometimes. The size of their television is neither here nor there.

My question is: how do we tackle this? I feel very strongly, like you, that food education needs to start early. My four children (aged from 4-20) are all keen cooks because they have been involved from the moment they could stir or crack an egg. What do you think are the best ways to teach the basic skills that we all need to be able to cook cheap, nutritious and tasty food? I'm not sure that an expensive book is the answer for thousands of families as they simply do not have the money spare to buy it. Would you consider making (as you have a not insignificant bank balance) copies of your book to be distributed among the many thousands of families who could really benefit from it?

Sorry for the length....

Mumsnet Antipasti

Bread ham bread

Voila! Hamwidge

Sorry HQ

Hi Jamie I hope that you do come in for the webchat -I am going to ask a question.

• I thought the Ministry of Food was a brilliant idea, and wonder if your latest venture should have really continued along those lines? Are the MoF pop up stalls still in use?

I also loved that the fact that you took on school dinners - so thank you.

I would rather people tried to make a difference (even clumsily) rather than sit on their arses and did nothing.

good luck

This demonising of the poor based on their eating habits, which is based on stereotypes, is just not on. Not the very least because it doesn't address the middle class and wealthy people that also eat junk and cost the NHS just as much money.

I wonder if it would work to link MN, MSE, and JO together for a huge campaign to put cookery lessons back in the schools. I think a decent cookery class that includes information on nutrition, meal planning, budgeting and cooking would be of so much use. (I know that on MSE there is a huge push to get children taught about basic budgeting in schools) And it would be available to all children, regardless of the financial status of their parents. Even better would be to put information together, such as a recipe book and information booklet that goes along with it, that the children can take home and use (as well as making it available then for the parents to use).

If JO wants to REALLY make a difference, that would do it IMO. That is something I could actually get behind and support.

Our local market sells knock off CDs/DVDs and cheap skanky perfumes mainly. We have a farmers market on the last Sunday of every month, which sells decent fruit and veg and meat cuts but I don't have a freezer big enough to store a months worth of food for 4, nor do I have space for a bigger freezer.

I am lucky in the area I live in, in that I have a decent butchers and a greengrocers on the school run route just minutes away from my house, a fish mongers not much further away and live within walking distance of Tesco which I buy all my 'store cupboard' things from. If we lived further from the center of town, as many people who are worse off than us in my town do, then I'd have access only to local Co-Ops and discount freezer shops, so I understand why people believe that eating frozen, ready made stuff is cheaper, for many people who cannot drive/afford to run a car/don't live centrally etc it is cheaper, by far.

I agree with MrsDV that it would be helpful if you could show people how to create healthy, quick and cheap meals prepared only from ingredients that could be found in a small Co-Op type shop.

I do have a question. I work split shifts and my partner is not a good cook despite us owning every recipe book known to man he has not managed to extend his repertoire further than pasta and a jar of sauce, omelets and poultry based stir fries (with jars of sauce) - whoch to be fair to him is a great improvement on struggling to make a pot noodle .

My children get bored of this quickly so when I have time I'll prepare something for them to reheat/be left in the oven/slow cooker for DH to finish and serve.

However, I get stuck for ideas so even these meals are limited to things like shepards pie, bolognaise and home made chicken curry with micro rice. Any ideas on meals that can be prepared quickly, cheaply, using ingredients I can get from the few shops we have very close to us (butcher, grocer, Co-Op - so no fancy herbs and spices I might not have because Co-Op don't sell them) that can be left in the oven or slow cooker and need only simple things (steamed veg or pasta) to 'finish' them?

REAL nutrition info, I might add, not this simplistic "good food v bad food" that is being handed out in primary schools and making children refuse to eat cheese because it is a bad food high in fat.

Do you suggest using ethically produced meat in your recipes, yet still consider that this is achievable on a budget?

For example, sainsburys mass produced water, hormone full & accelerated growth 'basics' chicken = £2.50 for 1kg - Sainsburys organic chicken £6.39 a kg.

Might I suggest that you direct your ire at the mass supermarket chains who 'employ' shelf-stockers on benefits, (including sainsburys who raked in pre-tax profits of £788m for the year ending 2013) as opposed to people who are doing the best they can to feed their families on very limited budgets.

I agree Triggles. Already my 11yo daughter is weighing up which pizza to order, based on the calories stated on the menu. (the one and only time that we have been to Pizza Hut. I will never go into a restaurant that has nutritional info on the menu again)

The difference between living in the not-hugely-wealthy, immigrant-rich centre of a vibrant city and living where I do now, in a commuter belt town with a big Tesco and a slightly smaller co-op is phenomenal. I wouldn't actually have believed it if someone had told me my food bill would go up around 40% through lack of choice, lack of smaller shops, etc etc.

It's all very well to say 'buy the cheaper cuts of meat' which I did when I used a proper family butcher. I refuse to buy Tesco's 'cheaper cuts of meat' because essentially they're the shavings from the slaughter house floor.

Luckily I have the skills and time to manage this. But I'll be very disappointed if you come on here and tell me all I need to do is pop down my local market... Because there isn't one.

Triggles, dd1 has been doing this lately. We took her out for a meal at the weekend, she ordered a Hawaiian pizza and then proceeded to pick off all of the pineapple because the rest of the pizza is "bad" while I am sat there going "But the cheese would be better, it has protein, calcium and less sugar than the pineapple, plus pizza is essentially just bread, cheese, tomato and veg" Apparently bread and cheese are "bad" This was proper italian pizza too, with the thin, crispy base and decent quality cheese.

I have asked my trainer/nutritionist to make time to speak with her one day about 'real' nutrition.

I have been cooking meals for 4 for 15 years now, even taking off 5 years for toddler meals that equates to 3650 days I have shopped, cooked and produced meals. I know what I'm talking about.

I can cook most things but only if I want to. I find the cheapest good food and sometimes add up how much it costs. Normally this is a £4 pack of protein plus another £2 for pudding, carbs and veg. Recently I have had to accept that I can't get decent pudding, carbs and veg for less than £4 and protein is going up, leaving little after £10 for a meal. And that's just for one meal a day.

Now if I didn't pay this for food in a supermarket I would have to go to the market and do things like bulk cook overdue veg, get discarded cuts of meat or fish. There is something very depressing about having to forage around, when you have a decent average income that ought to be able to cover the cost of a decent meal every day. The truth is it can't any more. Food, housing, transport and fuel bills have ALL shot up and we can't get an overdraft any more so have to be extremely careful about extras. All around people are putting up prices as far as they possibly can because they are afraid of what might be around the corner - even Lidl and Aldi prices are creeping up, knowing that there is nowhere else for us to shop and knowing that they have to line their coffers to cover their own costs.

Subverting this by using alternative sources of food is a great idea in theory but for most people it's a desperate and depressing solution which chips away at our dignity.

THIS is the most important question you will be asked today!

I haven't been shopping this week - my store cupboard is deplete and even though im pissed off with you about the whole poor bashing thing, I need to know what to cook for dinner tonight and you are clearly my best bet! From scratch - for three, fussy DD aged 8 so nothing too spicy, she likes an olive or six though so you tell me what to fetch and how to cook it? Oh, and a have a tenner in my purse. Thanks

Just want to offer my support to Jamie - he is exactly right, the chips/cheese/tv comment may have put a few noses out of joint but it's the REALITY of the situation! It doesn't cost any more to cook healthy food, but it does take time, forethought and intelligence which most of the lard-assed chips/cheese brigade find all too much trouble. And for the record - I am not middle class, I grew up very poor (was brought up on benefits), by a mother who could literally burn water, and taught myself to cook in adulthood - so anyone can do it for him/herself and their family - and Jamie is just trying to HELP!

We love Jamie's cook books and enthusiasm for family fun in the kitchen.
We are in the process of publishing our first language learning cookbook and would like to ask which UK Recipe we should not miss out that should be introduced to Spanish people.
A simple but scrummy recipe that they may not have heard of ... thank you! ¡Gracias amigos!

I have read his original comments and think that they were misjudged but also taken out of context.

But my question is around what can we do to change the situation. An expensive book isn't going to help, given that a large number of those who need help have low levels of literacy, have no role models, and will not be able/know how to cook even basic food, such as a bolognese sauce.

Do you think that there should be some sort of charity that Mumsnetters can donate old/unused kitchen equipment too, in order for it to be distributed to those that can't afford it? I have a decent set of knives, but tend to only use 3 of them. The other 5 could go to someone who wants them but can't afford good knives. Instead of just donating food to the food banks, could we also donate kitchen utensils, old mis-matched crockery, good quality pans?

For info, I live in a street where only 2 out of 20 families work (and one of those is me!) We don't have a big TV, but everyone else does. They are all unemployed because they don't know life can be any different, and let's face it, if someone has been out of work for 20+ years, very few employers are going to give them a job. But I understand the frustration.

p.s. more 20 minute veggie recipes would be fab!

It doesn't cost any more to cook healthy food, but it does take time, forethought and intelligence which most of the lard-assed chips/cheese brigade find all too much trouble.

You might want to actually READ the thread. Loads of people struggle with this for various valid reasons. Calling people "lard-assed" is not necessary. And if he wants to help, there are better ways than slagging off the very people he claims to want to help (and then pricing his book out of their orbit anyway).

Corner shop meal suggestions.

1. Chilli and rice. Take fresh, tinned or frozen mince, or quorn, and fry up with a chopped onion. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, preferably with garlic and herbs already in if they have those, and add a slug of Worcestershire sauce or HP sauce. Add a tin of baked beans or red kidney beans (or indeed any other pulse in a tin or packet you have to hand) and a bit of curry powder or turmeric/cumin and boil up until the mince is cooked through and the chilli smells edible. Serve with any old rice, or pasta if you have no rice. You can also use this to top baked potatoes.

1. Macaroni cheese. Take some macaroni or another similar pasta such as penne or fusilli (i.e. not spaghetti). Boil up and while it's cooking make a cheese sauce out of a bit or margarine, a handful of grated cheese, a couple of tablespoons of plain flour, and a pint of full fat milk. Add a bit of chopped bacon or ham, possibly a bit of chopped onion (great for using up a leftover half) and some ground black pepper if you have some. Pour the sauce over the pasta. Can be improved by sprinkling breadcrumbs made from a leftover loaf on top and sticking it under the grill for a couple of minutes.

1. Convict curry (stole this recipe from a film, Stuart, A Life Backwards)

Get a load of cheap frozen chicken, defrost (he doesn't in the film), mix up with a chopped onion and a tin of chopped tomatoes, add curry powder, and stew for a bit on the hob or in the oven until the chicken is cooked through (use the rest of the oven to cook other things at the same time to save fuel). If you have some, stir some thick yoghurt through at the end for a thicker sauce.

1. Fish stew. Get some cheap white fish fillets (eg coley) and some cheap frozen prawns and defrost the prawns. Cook up with, yes you guessed it, another tin or ubiquitous chopped tomatoes and a chopped onion, as well as a bit of fresh or dried garlic. If you can add some Schwartz dried tarragon this will help. This dish is best served with bread or rice.

Desserts:

Tinned rhubarb crumble
Banana split yoghurts - plain yoghurt topped with chopped banana and a bit of chocolate ice cream sauce
Baked tinned apricots with crushed or flaked almonds on the top, served with custard

My question is totally unrelated to cooking or flat-screen TV's

Jamie, a few years ago you did that Zombie Mall thing in Reading. My husband and daughter did it there a few days after you and they LOVED it.

Still talk about it to this day. I'm not sure that my middle aged bladder would cope with the excitement however.

Would you do it again? Was it really really scary or just really scary?

If you prefer to answer a different question of mine then can I ask instead about your wet tea towels (the ones you place under your chopping board on 30 Minute Meals).

Its a really great tip but doesn't Jules flip out with all the wet and mouldy tea towels everywhere?