If you believe "everything in moderation" where food's concerned, answer me this, please

[SneakyMouse]

I was wondering - why aren't more people actually quite pissed off that so much of the pretty expensive food and drink marketed specifically at children so often has low-grade cheap (and shitey) ingredients in?

Most mothers go "ah well, moderation's the key" and often get bitchy and snippy at anyone who mentions the yard-long list of ingredients in so many soft drinks and other foodstuffs.

But I don't think that this is the issue. Yes, moderation's the key when it's FOOD made of , but a lot of this is ingredients you'd never have in your kitchen, put there to preserve food so it can live on a shelf for two years, improve the "mouth feel" (fgs), or make it "appealing" colours.

So, all you "moderation" mums - why doesn't it bother you that you're being marketed at and taken for lemons (with added E numbers, glucose fructose syrup and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil)?

I find people who mention the "yard-long list of ingredients" as if it is news to anyone very irritating, tedious and patronising - so I might well respond with "moderation in all things" or similar to anyone who was getting on their hobby horse about it.

So this moderation mum is no fan of marketing and quite able to see through the hype for herself. But by the sounds of it you probably wouldn't realise it if you spoke to me

Message withdrawn

But you know what Pitchounette, by the time I'd finished faffing about burning a hole in it because although it said you could put it in the oven, the effing container thing didn't like my pre-heated baking tray (have only today got the last bits of burnt-in platic off), then timing it carefully, allowing it to stand for 2 minutes and then re-microwaving the shite for a further 3 and a half minutes, then opening the plastic bit so the steam didn't burn me, trying to time it so that it was all ready at the same time, it would've been easier to just chop an onion, open a tin of tomatoes and chuck it all in a saucepan and stir with some pasta in the other saucepan.

But take your point that some people don't know that boiling water and putting pasta in a pan is easier than faffing about with these effing little plastic container thingies.

I do think the demise of cookery teaching in schools has had a role to play here. It is just as quick to make a quick homemade stir-fry/soup/fritatta/pasta bake - but many younger people just don't know how to. That's not their fault - nobody has taught them.

I was taught 'coooking' in school and NEVER ONCE in my adult life have I cooked anything that I made in school, it was all rock cakes and gross, tasteless 'pizza'. Yuck

sorry, 'cooking'

I was also taught spelllling, too

You had a shite cookery teacher then

I made spaghetti bolognese in school and with small variations, it's the basic recipe I've used for years.

(Mind you, don't remember or use any other recipes!)

It wasn't called 'cooking', it was 'food technology'

BTW - Cooking is still taught in schools. My DS1 & DS2 both have cooking lessons at their state secondary school. Admiteedly it is not a regular lesson every week, but they do do it.

It must carry across the regions then. My brother's school doesn't do it at all.

I rarely buy any stuff marketed at kids

there's loads of crap in grown up food too though

nom my ds does 'food technology' in his secondary school too

food technology

I learnt fruit salad and shepherd's pie

but mainly learnt at my mother's knee, and by having lots of homosexual boyfriends when I was a teenager (should I have recognised the signs as he whipped up a lovely batch of taramasalata?)

I did rather get the impression from my cooking lessons (home economics I think they were called then) that all meals were made of mince...

I agree with GLTA re cookery lessons at school.

I learnt how to make rock buns, (then we weren't allowed to try them), stupid bread based pizza and homemade sugary lemonade.

I wasn't taught to cook by my parents either, unfortunately they were happier down the pub leaving me and my sister to make our own meals, hence we are both overweight and eat aformentioned crap foods.

If we aren't brought up to appreciate good fresh food with treats and meals being healthier rather than being a truckload of additives, it is so hard to change your ways as i have found.

I made rock buns from my 11 year old school recipe for years. I like them. have lost the recipe now though and am missing it.

but yes they were the only thing which didn't involve mince.

I had home economics at school which involved lots of cooking and never made anything that's been of use to me as I've got older

It's just not something I stress over. I don't generally buy food marketed at children, they are teens now anyway.

They eat enough decent food to get away with the odd junk item, they exercise and get plenty of fresh air. They eat chocolate but not sweets, never have done really.

I've not knowingly used food as a treat.

I do wish labelling was more honest though. My Tesco (I know!) Pure Organic Apple juice has 'non organic added aromas'. WTF does that mean and is it therefore really neither Pure nor Organic?

oh yes, cookery lessons including how to make a basic pasta sauce would have really helped me instead of all the fairy cakes, and chocolate rice crispies we made. And peppermint creams at brownies ffs!

I must be deprived, never had a cookery lesson at school, ever

MP, lol at taramasalata lessons...have always had boyfriends who were good at cooking, now married to one of them

Not that its taught me anything other than how to eat well

Caligula, if you were born in the 70s (as I was) everything was made of mince.

Apart from roasts on Sundays and chops.

We had meat every day, and it was usually red.

The only useful thing I learned in Home Ec was that putting mustard powder in cheese sauce intensifies the flavour of the cheese.

Not enough to base a culinary career on.

I did Home Economics GCSE. It was mostly useless stuff like Kitchen Planning - eg not putting fridge next to cooker etc. Pretty obvious stuff!

mustard powder sounds a bit exotic for my school cookery lessons. I think we had salt as a flavouring (for mince).

Salt?!?!??!

It doesn't bother me as I don't tend to buy it.

I might buy the odd bit of "rubbishy" food, but nothing major. Now DD is at school especially I am more relaxed. know she has now tried fizzy pop, and she has proper sweets (not just chocolate) in party bags and at friend's houses. But again, nothing that is a major problem as it is still infrequent. I know DD has eaten meals at friend's houses which is not what I would give her - but hey, it is not every day so she'll be fine.

I might be more concerned or worried if DD was a fussy eater or had some other food related issues, but she doesn't. She eats a balanced diet overall, and predominately good stuff.

I just don't worry about stuff like this. I just can't work myself up about it.