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Telly addicts

EAT WELL FOR LESS - Tue 8pm

412 replies

Blondeshavemorefun · 07/09/2020 15:34

Just a reminder that this fab programme is back

That people who spend £100’s a week amazingly reduce their shopping bill 😂😂

Assuming new series. Hope it is

Greg and Chris help a mum And her two boys Ditch the micro meals

What fabulous meals will they cook

What will they swap

And will they have the usual - I don’t like that - and it’s their usual brand 😂😂😂😂

OP posts:
pinkbalconyrailing · 29/10/2020 21:19

@maverickallthetime

The mother did my head in! So rude when she did nothing. Also only 2 packed lunches rather than save money for the family? Should have been at least 3
I came to today's programme a bit late, but the mum said slmething about work lunches? maybe she can't take more than 2 a week as the expectations are that she eats with colleagues or clients.
Wafflehouse · 29/10/2020 21:19

I watch this with ds, even he was losing patience with the mum, he said her moaning about mixing the mince with her hands and saying it felt like a brain and the complaining about a packed lunch was childish. He’s 10.

I didn’t pay much attention this week because she annoyed me from the start with the laughing at all the money they were wasting. I know that was a genuine reaction but I wish they’d reshoot it when they do that, I find it infuriating and insensitive when it’s such an obscene amount of money on crap and some people might be watching it to genuinely find out how to cut their food bills out of necessity.

Btw, I don’t object to people spending lots of money on food if they can afford it, it’s not my business. I just don’t find the wastefulness of it funny on this particular programme designed to show people how to save money.

RaspberryCoulis · 29/10/2020 21:21

I've got a couple of the books from earlier series. They're great for when the kids want to make something as there's nothing too complicated.

Wolfcub · 29/10/2020 21:26

Pinkbalcony she wasn't having lunch with others she openly said she wanted to buy her lunches because she saw it as a treat for herself. Nothing wrong with that but they were also wondering how they would pay for eldest daughter going to university

Akire · 29/10/2020 21:28

I still find it amazing people struggle to chop an onion. Even if you never had to presumably you can chop cheese for a sandwich or cut toast, the skills are the same. Shame they did the oh look kids in the house, let’s make pizza for the millionth time.

£16k on food is hardy a challenge to reduce is it. The family could have easily got some those cook food box’s for variety and job done. But must be harder on a low income to have film crew in house I know I would hate it. So maybe it’s just the well off that don’t mind their home on TV!

MEgirl · 29/10/2020 21:31

Why are there never any sharp knives on this programme?

Greyingmumto3 · 29/10/2020 21:40

i usually love this programme but I barely watched tonight’s . I searched for this thread just to see if anyone else felt the same about the mother .
I found the hysterical laughing really off putting and if she found the amount she spent so funny why even go on the programme? There’s some great families on there but this one really missed with me .

Spreadingchestnut · 29/10/2020 21:43

I didn’t pay much attention this week because she annoyed me from the start with the laughing at all the money they were wasting. I know that was a genuine reaction but I wish they’d reshoot it when they do that, I find it infuriating and insensitive when it’s such an obscene amount of money on crap and some people might be watching it to genuinely find out how to cut their food bills out of necessity.

I admit that bit about the "brains" was annoying and laughing about the waste of money, but I never trust how these sort of programmes are edited. They always have an "angle".

Totally agree about not being able to chop an onion. An essential life skill!

TheFormerPorpentinaScamander · 29/10/2020 22:12

That spaghetti thing they cooked looked vile!.
Their yearly food spend is nearly my entire income Grin. I could save them a fortune!

jay55 · 29/10/2020 22:23

I bet this weeks mum did performance parenting when the kids were younger.

Graphista · 29/10/2020 22:34

Ok well for starters surveyors are on fairly decent wages but I don't know what their hours are like.

First of all I think she's a bit of a nerve moaning if she's NOT doing the shopping or the cooking - and yes I would and have said the same of men behaving the same!

I also think it's pretty poor parenting in a comfortable, well educated household that they have a 17 year old who can't cook! Frankly even the 12 year old should be able to do simple meals already.

£179!!! Fuck me!

The mother comes across like a whiny petulant teen!

"I'm not having a packed lunch" grow up!

There's a LOT of brands there

22 shops a week! That's 3 times a day!

The mum keeping laughing is annoying me, cos frankly both those parents should be ashamed that they've not been feeding their children properly and letting them develop really poor attitudes to food and bad habits - like chocolate cereal! And hardly ANY fruit and veg.

"The more you cook the quicker it gets" so true.

During lockdown I was baking again for the first time in years. This time without dd nosing in and I was amazed how quick it was to knock up a batch of fairy buns or a banana loaf.

Re food tech lessons they're often really crap! I remember on a food poverty thread a teacher came on and explained the problem was caused by (I'm prob massively oversimplifying) the lessons being moved from being under one school dept when it used to be home ec (and actually useful) as that dept went due to cuts and food tech is designed and implemented by teachers in the dept that covers things like technical drawing!

My dd spent 2 years designing a fucking sandwich without there ever being so much as an actual slice of bread in sight! She produced a beautifully drawn image of the theoretical sandwich though 

However, I really don't get the feeling this is a time OR cash OR educationally poor family - so what's their excuse for TWO kids that can't recognise fairly ordinary fruit and veg let alone cook them?

@Sheknowsaboutme How did you find them?

Re helping poorer families - they wouldn't be able to change much for those families cos through necessity they already KNOW to shop, cook and eat on a budget generally speaking (despite claims by some on the fsm threads! )

@Akire You're probably right re poorer families homes being too small to film in as well

What the hell was that spaghetti dish?! Some sort of cross between a spaghetti and tomato sauce and an omelette?!

@Wafflehouse I too found it offensive the way she was laughing off the obscene amount of money they were spending on food. And crap food at that!

presumably you can chop cheese for a sandwich or cut toast not this family they bought sliced and grated cheese as well as normal blocks which I suspect are mostly used by the dad

Despite being veggie many years I have NEVER made a Dahl! That looked so simple and easy I had no idea and I have most of the ingredients in I think just need coconut milk? Or cream? My concern with that is using the whole tin up in a day or 2 as it's only me here. Can Tinned ingredient Dahl be batch cooked and frozen?

Cereal bars are shockingly unhealthy and I really feel strongly about those and energy drinks that:

1 The advertising needs to NOT be allowed to even allude to them being healthy

2 certain of the energy drinks need banned as they contain ingredients that are banned in many other countries that are plain dangerous to hearts!

3 this one applies to all sugary foods really and to nutrition info - I'd have the number of spoonfuls rather than grams as I think people can relate to that more easily. I'd do the same with fat and salt too.

That's a VERY thin pizza base and really it's better to part cook the base first before topping I find.

Loving the zero waste restaurant absolutely EVERYTHING from scratch!

LOVE Broccoli stalk the best bit! Really tasty

I bet this weeks mum did performance parenting when the kids were younger.

Omg yes!

TheFormerPorpentinaScamander · 29/10/2020 22:42

I've been saying for years that broccoli stalks are the best bit. Should have opened a restaurant and made my fortune from them!

Graphista · 29/10/2020 22:43

Short essay this week Grin

Next weeks family sound weegie and they have the same suite as me!

Could be fun.

If they are weegie I can understand the takeaway thing as there are so many and they are cheap and very good quality there.

jay55 · 29/10/2020 22:45

The main thing I don't understand this week, is teasing the dad for shopping and cooking. And why couldn't they just say, dad has the shorter commute so it makes sense for our family, mum does other chores. Or whatever the reality is.

They are acting like shopping and cooking are the only way to contribute to family life.

At grandmas on a Sunday it was a treat to be given the cauli stumps while waiting for dinner. I'm not so keen on broccoli ones.

NancysDream · 29/10/2020 22:47

@TheFormerPorpentinaScamander

It is more than my families entire income, and we manage our 5 a day almost every day! I would love to save some money, but not learning anything this series! They pick the extremes, and I used to love Hala El-Shafie, I'm not finding the nutritional part as interesting. It's become a bit of a parody of itself really. Too extreme like all these series seem to be, as they can't rally help most families just the ones who are making obvious big mistakes

Spreadingchestnut · 30/10/2020 01:29

@TheFormerPorpentinaScamander

I've been saying for years that broccoli stalks are the best bit. Should have opened a restaurant and made my fortune from them!
GrinGrin. Very true. Not sure I envy the very repetitive graft involved. I chop a lot of veg and it can get very tedious and quite time consuming. I've invested in a food processor but somehow the veg don't taste the same as when they are chopped by hand and I've no idea why, or maybe it's just my imagination, who knows?

I thought that restaurant was interesting. I hate food waste so I admire the thinking behind it. And fair enough for professional chefs to be putting in that level of work and and saving waste. Do working parents have that amount of time available though?

pinkbalconyrailing · 30/10/2020 06:18

this one applies to all sugary foods really and to nutrition info - I'd have the number of spoonfuls rather than grams as I think people can relate to that more easily. I'd do the same with fat and salt too.

but the sugar/salt/fat contents is displayed on food packaging in grams. makes sense to me.
spoons could be used in addition

lynsey91 · 30/10/2020 11:20

How the hell can you shop 22 times in ONE week? Me and DH hate food shopping so only do a proper shop about every 2 months and shop for fresh fruit and veg roughly every 10 days

The amount of money they spent was obscene. Over £300 a week is ridiculous.

Also how could mum and children not know what spring onions are? They also acted like ordinary fruit was rare and unusual

RaspberryCoulis · 30/10/2020 11:53

How the hell can you shop 22 times in ONE week?

it would have to be each parent popping in to get something once each, every day, and mum buying lunch every day.

I also think they are including "run out of milk so have to grab some from the petrol station" as grocery shops.

But yeah, excessive shopping, no lists, no meal plan, branded everything. The 12 year old - who shopped her parents to the show - was the most clued up out of the lot of them. I do wonder though if a lot of the dim-ness is played up for the camera.

ellenanora5 · 30/10/2020 12:02

This episode really annoyed me, firstly the Mum laughing at the amount they were spending, maybe it was a nervous laughter thing but it was very off putting.

Going to the supermarket to buy food, and while you are there announcing that you'll have to go for more chicken later in the day because that's not enough, seriously! use your common sense and just get another packet while you are there standing in front of it.

The Mum seemed to think that because the petrol station was "only up the road" then it didn't matter how often she went, unless the supermarket was a two hour round trip from their house (which I presume it wasn't) then fair enough.

I don't think they wanted to do the show at all and were just going along with it because the younger daughter applied for it.

That spaghetti dinner looked horrible, I remember seeing something similar on Diners Drive Ins and Dives.

I don't think they'll change much in the end, the Mum clearly hates cooking and shopping and the Dad looked like he rather be anywhere else than a kitchen ever again.

Graphista that's a good tip about part cooking the pizza base before the toppings go on, I was making mine too thick so the toppings wouldn't sink through but it took ages to cook the base and the toppings were over cooked, cheers for that Grin

Didkdt · 30/10/2020 13:20

I have a tiny smidge of understanding for the mum wanting to buy lunch, she seemed to work around the city centre and I remember when I did you were on an open plan floor no windows could be opened and if you didn’t step out to buy lunch you wouldn’t leave the floor some days, it was a way of getting space physically and metaphorically and fresh air. The salads were overpriced the breads over fancy but it was an experience I can relate to.

woodhill · 30/10/2020 15:55

Lovely house and kitchen, mum was a bit mean to the dad who did the cooking

JustDanceAddict · 30/10/2020 16:39

Agree w the cat only eating the jelly bits! Typical 😆
Also felt the dad’s heart wasn’t in it - very reluctant thumbs up and joining in at the end.
I can understand why you wouldn’t have cut an onion. My DS hates them - would never cut one 😆 he can cook other stuff but he’d never put an onion in voluntarily. Even I use the food processor so I can chop them very finely to disguise them!! He’ll tolerate a bit in cooking, but not much.

Fizbosshoes · 30/10/2020 18:18

Me and DD were quite Confused at the fact that the idea of a shopping list was quite radical to them!!
We have a list on the fridge or the side of the cupboard and everyone adds to it, throughout the week. (I dont drink tea or coffee so DD or DH would add those as I wouldnt neccessarily know when we had run out)
If DH or i go shopping and forget the list we WhatsApp it to each other.

Graphista · 30/10/2020 21:32

spoons could be used in addition

Yes that's a good idea

I also think they are including "run out of milk so have to grab some from the petrol station" as grocery shops. but that should be a rarity too. Most parents surely know roughly how much milk they get through each week and plan accordingly?

The petrol station would be a lot more expensive and I dread to think what the quality would be!!

@ellenanora5 you're welcome. Commercial ovens are much hotter than home ones so the base cooks quickly soon as it hits the hot surface really. But at home we have to adjust.

When I was raising dd and money was tight I'd often buy Budget pizzas rather than bases as it was cheaper! Then put additional toppings on dd used to love being able to choose her own.

These are usually part baked in the factories before the toppings put on to create a "seal" so the toppings don't sink in.

But even when I've made bases from scratch I've part cooked before putting toppings on. Usually if you make the base, pop in oven for just as long as it takes to chop up some toppings then out the oven, top, bit more cheese back in oven it's ready in 10/15 mins depending on size

@Didkdt But she could still go for a walk and get fresh air without buying something! Being veggie lunch options when at work for many years was pretty boring, there are only so many cheese or egg sandwiches or salads one person can eat! I much preferred making my own sandwiches using quorn deli slices, sandwich spread, nut butters etc or bringing in crackers or crisp breads (keep fine in a desk drawer or locker if necessary) and then bringing in individual portions of cheese (but nice cheese!), veggie pate etc to go on them, also crudités and dips, leftovers to heat and eat in winter etc

So many of the families don't use lists! Bonkers!

Especially as you can just have it on your phone! I've been doing that for years! Plus as a family to have an "add to" list you can use shared calendar apps and similar that's what I did when dd was still home.

My mum though - murder! Never uses a list and annoys herself with it! Grin

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