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Original poster

Eat Well For Less? BBC1

286 replies

LovelyFriend · 03/09/2015 20:19

They are looking at a family food spend.

Family of 5 is spending well over national average - about £220pw.

THey are being slated for buying "expensive" sliced cheese. I'm a pretty savy shopper and I will buy sliced cheese and grated cheese after working out that they usually DON'T cost more per kilo to buy than a block.

Also apparently Greg Wallace is going to argue that margarine is not an unhealthy choice compared to butter! WTF? Apparently as it has less sat fat it is "healthier".

Watching with interest.

OP posts:
fuzzpig · 18/09/2015 11:11

Just watching episode 3

fuzzpig · 18/09/2015 11:25

Oh my word that beef dish did look bloody gorgeous didn't it. We don't have a butchers near here and you can't get lots of different cuts in the supermarket

MackerelOfFact · 18/09/2015 11:26

I was shouting at the telly when they were making the casserole, it definitely wasn't gluten free with the flour and beer in it!

Bit miffed that they went on and on about flat iron steaks, they're my secret! Less than £3 for two in Waitrose and they're lean and tender and amazing.

I'm always amazed at how little veg people eat on this show. Cabbages, brocolli and aubergines are usually about 50p each. Loose carrots are about 7p each. Peppers are 3 for £1, a bag of frozen spinach is £1. Bulk things out with veg, it's healthier and cheaper!

fuzzpig · 18/09/2015 11:45

Yes I was wondering about that Mackerel - my DH is coeliac. They didn't actually say that any of them were coeliac though (unless I missed it), some people eat GF by choice so maybe it was that. Or they might've used GF flour and a GF beer (although DH uses cider in anything like that now)

I was shouting at it when they went on about the 'cranberry drink' errrm it's still not great to have that much juice, and water is pretty much free...

maybebabybee · 18/09/2015 11:45

Christ I hate this programme but I can't stop watching it.

Although I don't think I've seen a couple of the episodes people are talking about here - what is wrong with stock cubes?!

Also, I genuinely (don't shoot me!) prefer marge to butter. I can't stand the taste of butter :S I eat Bertolli spread usually...

myotherusernameisbetter · 18/09/2015 12:10

I use Kallo organic stockcubes - they are gluten free - probably full of salt etc but

Also mainly use olive oil type spread and cant be gassed fannying about with butter all the time - use butter for cooking though.

Original poster
LovelyFriend · 18/09/2015 12:41

I think the BBC are very reckless making programs like this - I'm usually a very strong supporter of the BBC/licence fee but the more I see utter crap like these shows and gurning Greg, the more I start to tut and cluck about the licence fee.

OP posts:
cruikshank · 18/09/2015 12:47

LovelyFriend, yes, it irritates me when the beeb uses its paternalistic status to tell us things that are just plain wrong. I didn't see all of it last night because I got so cross with it and the dc were like 'Mum, just switch over and stop shouting' but I noticed they were tutting at her buying expensive olive oil and decent tomatoes like she was some kind of fool, when actually cheap olive oil can ruin everything you have it in and tomatoes on the vine genuinely do taste better.

myotherusernameisbetter · 18/09/2015 13:01

yes I agree, there are some things that are genuinely better just as I am sure there are some things that it doesn't matter at all. i.e. Sainsbos tomato soup is much better than Heinz now.

Still not sure how she managed to get to that bill and then pretend that she thought it was £100 lower - if she is spending £300 plus a week she must know that yes?

I can see you not really being aware if you are spending about £140 and you think it's £120 as you've not factored in the odd takeaway and the nipping out for extra bread and milk etc. but really how on earth was she spending that much and seemingly unaware - I don't buy that!

I like nice food and can be a bit indulgent sometimes but even at Christmas I don't get near that bill.

myotherusernameisbetter · 18/09/2015 13:07

also had some pretty unhealthy stuff even by my crap food standards - they got through a lot of cheese and mayo and jam for a couple that were on the heavy side (not being judgmental, I am no slim jim myself but I know that all that stuff is not going to help)

And referring to how much money they would save by having that cottage pie every week is a bit batshit is it not? who wants to eat the same meal every week, summer and winter, regardless of how tasty it is?

emotionsecho · 18/09/2015 13:16

Yes, myother I was a bit Hmm about them not being aware how much they were spending, they have recently lost one wage and therefore know that their income is reduced and by how much yet were, apparently, blissfully unaware of the weekly or monthly amount spent on food.

They bought enough food for a month every week and had enough in the house already to last a good few months and they didn't/couldn't see it? It was just fodder for the programme.

maybebabybee · 18/09/2015 13:26

No but seriously...what is wrong with stock cubes? Is it the salt? I just don't think you can make food taste nice without seasoning. Not saying you have to heap tablespoons of the stuff on but you do need a bit.

cruikshank · 18/09/2015 13:26

Well, yes, quite. I'm sure our weekly food budget would be very small if we ate lentils, rice and vegetables every night, but it's not a lot of fun, is it? Like you, I'm not really one for buying branded stuff just for the sake of it - soup is soup, beans are beans, fish fingers are fish fingers etc. but for some things it really is worth getting the better quality version. And in fact, as others have pointed out, getting the better quality version doesn't necessarily mean spending more money - eg the butter/margarine question. Why on earth fork out £2.50 for some horrible frankenfood when you can have the original natural item that costs 90p?

cruikshank · 18/09/2015 13:30

I don't know what's wrong with stock cubes either, maybebabybee. Of course, in an ideal world where I had time to boil up bones and veg and boquet garni or whatever for hours on end instead of mumsnetting I probably wouldn't use them but as it is it takes minutes to make from a cube so I'm going with that.

myotherusernameisbetter · 18/09/2015 13:37

Although I am not sure where you are all getting butter for 90p from, its a minimum of £1.20 round my way - but actually I do prefer olive spread for sandwiches etc - it's not like we go through gallons of the stuff though.

I am also not a subscriber to the feeding a family of 4 for £50 type of stuff because I don't need to. Not being smug, but I can afford to buy some ready meals etc, we both work and I really haven't the time nor energy to traipse about to 5 different shops to save a few quid. So I do understand that it isn't that difficult to cut back a bit and save money. I buy breakfast cereal and all sorts of stuff that are a big no no on here. However, in that couples position, £17k on food shopping!! I'd have had the sense to sort myself out without calling in the BBC. DH doesn't earn that amount after tax, so I can't imagine spending his entire salary on food for 4 people.

fuzzpig · 18/09/2015 13:45

I don't mind using stock cubes at all (or the marigold bouillon thing which is also GF). I'd like to try making my own chicken stock - and might try in the SC when we've cooked a whole chicken - but have very little freezer space so don't have room to store it as I prefer using the space for stuff like pasta sauce that I batch cook.

Stock powder is a good way for me to get a bit of salt - I'm supposed to increase my intake due to a medical issue, but I really struggle having been told for my entire adult life that salt is bad, and I don't like the taste of over-salted food. Stuff like tomato sauce and Bolognese and chili don't get any salt or stock added when I make them.

Artandco · 18/09/2015 13:45

My - Waitrose own butter is 95p or x3 for £2.75 atm. Surely most places are cheaper than that seeing as every here insists Waitrose is extortionately expensive

myotherusernameisbetter · 18/09/2015 13:56

Hmm - I don't buy it every week so thought I was misremembering so I've just checked sainbos on line - they do do butter for 85p but it's English Butter and I've never seen that stocked in our Scottish store Hmm - the next cheapest is the one I usually buy which is £1.60 which is their own organic butter. the rest in our store is all branded, I think the only cheaper one stocked is a local butter but as I am boycotting that dairy for other reasons, I never buy it. On the other hand, the Olive spread I buy is usually about a pound a tub.

ShadowLine · 18/09/2015 14:18

Tesco own brand butter is 88p.

myotherusernameisbetter · 18/09/2015 14:26

Our local Tesco is a horrible shop so I don't go there, I don't like Morrisons either, we have a waitrose but it's quite small and doesn't have everything - it also smells really strange (like burned coffee). Same goes for the M&S food (size, not smell), otherwise we have an Aldi and a Lidl, Farmfoods, Iceland etc - none of which you could do your weekly shop in. I tend to stick with sainsburys as I like a lot of their own brand stuff and it's a big airy store - obviously extortionate butter though!

Original poster
LovelyFriend · 18/09/2015 17:46

Why couldn't you do a weekly shop in Aldi or Lidl?

OP posts:
myotherusernameisbetter · 18/09/2015 18:15

Because they don't sell everything I want to buy :) That's unless I want mainly biscuits, beer and flipflops.

JustRosieHere · 20/09/2015 20:48

I put a whole block of butter in the butter dish and it's never gone off. We probably use a block over a week of two. My kitchen gets no sun though so it's generally cold. My eggs are out the fridge too.

I've done it where I've had to feed 4 of us for £50 and it is do able but now I can afford to splurge a bit but still my weekly shop comes to nowhere near the amounts these people are spending. The family this week could have saved loads by just cutting out the cranberry juice.

cheapskatemum · 20/09/2015 22:56

Grin at weekly shop of biscuits, beer and flip-flops in Lildi!

Anyone who saw series 1 agree with me that it's same old practices/bad habits they're targetting? Next week's is about a family (Mum, no doubt) guilty of cooking same meals, week in, week out, which is at least different from the usual: don't buy brands, grated cheese, expensive cuts of meat, too many snacks.

I made the microwave risotto as the thought of standing over the stove stirring in each ladleful of stock until it's absorbed does put me off making it usually. I used a Knorr stockpot rather than a stock cube and had to estimate quantities as I couldn't find the recipe online, so watched the demo on Catch Up. It was delicious, particularly the next day (yes, I saved the leftovers!).

lastqueenofscotland · 24/09/2015 20:13

These are already annoying me.