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Original poster

Economy Gastronomy

117 replies

conniedescending · 12/08/2009 21:01

Anyone just watched that utter wankage?

Their budget came down to £210 a fricken week AFTER the economy drive

thought this would be useful to me but seems I'm doing ok on my £200 a month

OP posts:
wrinklytum · 12/08/2009 21:08

Blardy hell!Didn't see it but I'm with you.If £210pw is economy (How big was the family?)then I am astounded!

merryberry · 12/08/2009 21:10

last week they were trailed aspending 17k a year on food. i haven't watched it this week, on the grounds of that being obscene.

princessmel · 12/08/2009 21:14

OMG

I have recorded it.

Maybe I wont bother watching it.

Heated · 12/08/2009 21:17

Down to £210 a week, plus their income has dropped by 80% and they're having to sell the house - that's still a massive amount on food.

Was hoping to get some good recipes - the beef pasta one looked ok, but they've only shown 1 out of the 3 or 4 recipes they were going to get out of it.

Meglet · 12/08/2009 21:17

I watched a few miutes of it and saw the size (and glossy-ness) of the kitchen and got annoyed.

Can't stand flash chefs who tell us to have good store cupboard of basics so we can just 'rustle' up a dish without going to the supermarket. So people like me who have kitchens like shoeboxes and a couple of cupboards are stuffed. (I'm having a 'i hate my house' day ).

Original poster
conniedescending · 12/08/2009 21:18

obscene is the right word

They were a family of 5 who had been spending £330 a week on food. So on the economy drive they had £210 for the week and woo hooo managed to do it

I'd eat like a king for that!!!!

really resent these middle class lets budget because its fashionable programmes - I thought it was going to be cooking lovely food for the least amount possible...v disappointed.

OP posts:
Alibabaandthe40nappies · 12/08/2009 21:31

I was disappointed too - there was no real information about how to meal plan, and there were lots of different storecupboard ingredients which would need a £200 pound shop upfront.

Heated · 12/08/2009 21:39

here are the recipes but there's little economy imo

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 12/08/2009 21:43

Dear God - the people next week spend £21K a year on food!! And they throw away £7k worth!

Very disappointing BBC - this could have been informative and really interesting to families struggling to keep their food budgets down.

Meglet · 12/08/2009 21:45

pah! The veggie options are all sodding biscuits.

I'd like to see a TV chef meal plan, shop and cook in my kitchen for my family on a much smaller budget than that.

FfreckleFface · 12/08/2009 22:39

The family were v annoying, but I do love Allegra McEvedy. She is always so smiley and earnest about food.

I am going to make Bloke watch it on the iplayer when he gets back, next time he moans about my Waitrose trolley dashes stocking up on essentials.

Heated · 12/08/2009 22:57

She's a bit Jamie Oliver, no? Or maybe it's only me who thinks so.

merryberry · 13/08/2009 10:01

said that to dh: she's jamie oliver with amazing boobs isn't she? and he can't watch program now

dweezle · 13/08/2009 10:01

Another one of those programmes from the school of stating the bleeding obvious. Think Jamie's Ministry of Food was better, and recognised that there are many people who have £210 per month to feed a family of 5, not per week.

They need to get themselves over to the Old Style boards on MSE!

ShauntheSheep · 13/08/2009 10:15

Dp and I turned off in disgust. £210 a week to feed 5 is not economy by any stretch. Ridiculous programme. Ecomony is feeding 5 on £50...Now theres a challenge for them

GrendelsMum · 13/08/2009 12:23

I think that's unfair to the programme, which DH and I really enjoyed.

This week, I think the whole point was that they were eating really gorgeous, posh food by the end, and yes, it was still rather extravagant many people's standards, but it cost much less than the mysterious looking crap they'd been eating before. She looked much less stressed, and they seemed to be having a good time.

I don't think it's people that are already shopping on £50 a week that need programmes to tell them how to do it, because they/ we can manage fine, or are looking at the Old Style boards on MSE - it's people like my in laws who have no idea how much they're spending / think it's normal / don't know how to do anything else that need a programme like this.

Um - also I suspect that they still have a pretty good income by most people's standards, as my DH thinks he knows where she works. She's still earning - they just don't have his vast salary.

I thought their kitchen was stunning - but have you noticed that the less people cook, the more random appliances they get talked into having? My in-laws again...

OhYouBadBadKitten · 13/08/2009 12:28

What is MSE?

sugarpop · 13/08/2009 12:41

Nope afraid I wasn't too impresses by it!

The beef daube that was the base recipe would have worked just as well as a huge beef stew forgoing the expense of the wine.

Or even better using a lot of the ideas that Rose Prince advocates.

Yes they ate well, it was nice that they were encouraged to eat together as a family, but this was a family really struggling with money. They could have done so much more for them.

I mean Macadamia nut cookies!? Hardly an economy baking recipe!

The amount of bought fresh herbs used was huge, why didn't they encourage them to grow some herb plants in a nice window box tat could be reused again and again for one outlay? Middle class TV gone mad!

SlartyBartFast · 13/08/2009 12:50

i was looking forward to this and was aghast at the amount they initially spent! £330 per week
reduced to £220 .. that was including lunches and stuff.
it wasnt my cup of tea and wasnt applicable to my budget, and my dc's would nto have liked mushrooms and mussels, or what not.
it was disappointing and not what i thought it was going to be,
and her being a guardian writer as well

and i was cookign chicken and rice last night gave up and had beans on toast

merryberry · 13/08/2009 12:56

money saving expert i think

OhYouBadBadKitten · 13/08/2009 14:23

Ahhhh - that makes sense - thanks merryberry

HolidaysQueen · 13/08/2009 14:37

My DH will be so pleased that he isn't the only thinking she is Jamie in disguise. I didn't really get it when he was banging on about it.

Bloody ridiculous recipes. Chargrilled artichokes in the macaroni cheese last week - what's wrong with a few mushrooms and a bit of old courgette lurking at the back of the fridge?

And the worst bit was, it all made me feel smug about my £75 per week for family of 3 (well 2 + toddler), even though I know that I could actually cut back on that a bit without us losing out. When actually what it should have been doing was encouraging me to think more frugally and be more creative with leftovers etc.

talbot · 13/08/2009 14:49

I thought it was rubbish althoguh I agree that I really like Allegra M. We spend £150 a week for a family of five. I only shop at Watrose and specialist butchers/ fishmongers and cook everything from scratch and that also includes pakced lunches for 4 of us.

I prefer my method of planning which is to cook up massive quantities of bolognese sauce, fish pie/ chicken pie base or whatever, freeze it in tupperware and use as required.

vonsudenfedhatespauldacre · 13/08/2009 14:50

I've been thinking about this all over lunchtime, and realised that the problem is the title really, isn't it. If it was called Save Money Waste Less, you couldn't really fault it. But it isn't really Economy Gastronomy if you're spending £210 a week.

It's still absurd though, I am a Giant Food Ponce, and still spend under half that.

sarah293 · 13/08/2009 14:54

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