The end of cheap food: tonight 8pm

[mapcr77]

But food assembly is now endorsed by Delia. Sad, isn't it?

[Flummery]

The people on here give me hope though. Some of us do care about our food.

[shirlthegirl43]

I got younger son (12) into trouble in his cookery lesson. He was supposed to take in loads of ingredients to make a dish that none of the family would eat. I put a note in his diary to say that he would be taught how to make mince and tatties that evening instead. He got a bad mark for not taking part in the school lesson!! Now, can anyone explain to me why I should buy ingredients (amounting to over a fiver) to make a meal that we could not and would never eat? As it is, Sam can cook a mean mince and tatties and I know he will never go hungry as with that he can make cottage pie or add various bits and bobs to make a decent pasta sauce. He loves helping me in the kitchen but hates school 'cookery' lessons.

[Novice Gardener]

I agree Shirl, my youngest two (12 & 13years) are quite capable of making themselves something to eat from scratch - they can both do a nice omlette & make a pasta sauce. Oscars last cooking "lesson" was "making" pasties - using pre-made pastry and a filling of cooked chicken and sweetcorn. No seasoning, tasted like vomit, got chucked in the bin as soon as Oscar wasn't looking. We had parent teacher consultations yesterday and I was looking forward to asking his Design Technology teacher if he would feed his family the sh*** he was teaching my lad to cook - unfortunately he didn't turn up!!

[Effigy]

My mother was never a 'Cordon Bleu' chef, but she did make fantastic meals. Nothing was wasted.
She showed me how to gut and clean fish, kill, pluck and clean any fowl, what were the cheaper cuts of meat and how to cook them.
Those skills have stayed with me, such that I do the majority of cooking in our house, as my wife maintains that the only reason we have a kitchen is because it came with the house!

I too am amazed over the processed and 'convenience' packet food that people buy, but also the fact that most of todays shoppers would be unable to distinguish one type of meat from another, if its wasnt labeled on the packet.

I make a rough menu for the month, then buy in bulk accordingly to save money. For example, I bought a half pig from the local butcher for £55, which will last us 2 months easily.

[Tracey]

I agree about the schools cookery lessons. I'm amazed tha my daughter has had 3 lessons making pastry products using shop bought pastry.

[areia]

the good ole days my moms grandad was a fisherman and always
came home with some fish, she remembers moaning one day "aw no not another lobster" they had an allotment and a few chickens, beef was bought probably 3 times a month, and you got everything weighed ie butter flour etc so you only bought what you needed, refridgeration was a problem to hense why people went out shopping everyday for there needs, but then they had a healthy diet and when my nan passed on we found the account books and everything was listed even the penny sweets bought, made for a very interesting read,
Its just the two of us now and although the food bill is cheaper i still feel i should revert back to the ole ways of planning, i hate waste, but i have noticed i dont cook "proper" food as much as i used to, (and i used to be a chef :S) luckly my son loves cooking and does a mean chicken kiev from scratch (hes only 9), and knows what veg is which, yes i do buy cheap chicken because it is all i can afford, i refuse to buy nuggets and such though, but doing a roast for 2 or one and a half, is a bit pointless, i love making quick meals and to me a quick meal is throwing onion garlic bacon mushrooms in a pan frying adding tomatoes and simmering and it all takes 20 mins max the time it takes to boil the pasta, ive looked at the meals for a fiver range in sainburys i must say im not overly impressed not one nice veggie dish and only one fish dish, still has burgers sauages etc. roll on harvest day

[areia]

heres another thought (ive started now sorry to butt in ) fine we all grow our foods can be expensive to start off with but if your in it for the long run yes its cheaper.
Pre packaged food tastes nasty bland and full of god knows what, butttttttttttt put in the microwave its done in 15 mins, thus saving on gas and electric for which as you know has gone up stupidly high this year, also bareing mind saving on any water you may use for cooking and extra washing up uh oh but its in a plastic tub more landfill, Treats, cakes for the kids shop bought full of E numbers to keep them going, make your own = quality time with your kids as well as learning, again another 3 quarters of an hour on your gas bill, chickens (might get a ribbing here i do love chickens btw ) people buy live ones for eggs and meat, = extra cost on vet fees checks, and not to mention the cost to build them a run ( unless your lucky enough to one cheap) seems cheaper to buy the budget ready ones.
Also the time, this is also a problem its seems to cost us to have time nowadays, parents working pay for childminder, tending your veg (fingers crossed they havent wilted or flooded out by the time your back from work ) animals need time, hell WE need time but no we have to work to keep the economy going round, we are not allowed now to really do what we want to do everybody in the family has to work now and people and things get left out because of trying to scrape together money to pay for the next blimin bill. fuel goes up everything goes up, it all seems no matter how we try to improve there is always a cost somewhere and basically it blimin sucks oooooooooooo rant over for now
and breathe ..........

[gemlady]

Watched the programme and sad to say I think that family was fairly typical of a section of our society today. When you consider the amount of room given over to fresh produce, as opposed to that given to processed food in the supermarkets then you can see that the balance is tipped towards processed. I think lots of people have become too far removed from the food chain and don't really know what fresh food is anymore, and furthermore haven't got a clue what it tastes like and what they are missing out on despite the endless cookery programmes on tv.

For those of you who like your curry, takeaways and Indian restaurants and didn't see the prog, one restauranteur was being charged twice the normal price for his rice and his supplier was rationed to a quarter of his normal stock by the wholesaler!

Will be seeing paddy fields springing up soon

[Tracey]

Bernie

What was the programme called and which channel was it on, so hopefully, I can listen again.

Tracey

[Arachne]

I'm boggling over "design technology" - that should be stuff like CAD, CGI, drawing boards and set-squares!

Bring back good-ol' Home Ec'!

[dexterdoglancashire]

Twas Home Economics when I was at school

Me too! I've actually got a BSc (Hons) degree in Home Economics! Bernie

[dexterdoglancashire]

Bernie

What was the programme called and which channel was it on, so hopefully, I can listen again.

Tracey

I used the title in the thread, it was on ITV at 8pm last night. Not sure if they reshow them on the ITV wotsit channels on sky - coz I don't have sky. Don't worry, you didnt miss much. Grapes on the Vine are much more intelligent regarding food and what we should eat - Ed Baines was talking basics. Bernie

[Tracey]

Just found it Tonight - ITV News

[Novice Gardener]

Thanks for the link Tracey, I'll watch it tomorrow.