Jamie Oliver; Ministry of Food

arkonite_babe

10past6 wrote: »

This is going to be a difficult one to call, I don't wish to be offensive, but considering she was on benefits she certainly had a better home than us, mostly top of the range items, my partner and I are on a very tight fixed income as my signature shows, it annoys me when we are struggling to make ends meet, yet some people on benefit seem to be doing better than us.


Sorry for the rant.

My hubby and I ask this all the time when we look at people where we live

shazrobo

i was really shocked watching the programme, i didnt know cooking lessons had stopped in soem schools.
i left school in 1987, and got o level cookery, we did all sorts, liver and onions, fish pie, spag bol etc, before then i learnt to bake at home with my mum.
my twin sons aged 13 also have cookery lessons in there schools, and besides junk, like pizza, and buns, they have also made curries, shepherds pies, even chilli yesterday, so if some schools still do it, why dont they all?
i am also a single mum on benefits right now, and there is no way we can afford takeaways like they did, we buy them about 3 or 4 times a year max.
i also suffer from really bad depression and anxiety, and not always up to cooking a 'proper' dinner, those days, we have jacket spud and beans, or pasta, which is so easy, and healthier than takeaways, there really is no excuse, and for the mums that were smoking instead of buying proper food for there kids, they have got there priorities wrong.
when my sons are hungry and i too tired to cook right away wen they get in from school, they help themselves from our overstocked fruit bowl,
love the os thread by the way even tho i dont post often, and started making my own bread, after joining this site, as that was the only thing i never learned, love my panasonic bread maker lol

arkonite_babe

redcherry_girl wrote: »

I don't know how many other people have commented on this but I noticed a few mentioned they were surprised that people didn't know how to cook because they should've been taught in school.

I'm 23, started secondary school in 1996 and finished in 2001. During Food Technology lessons (as they were then known, we only had them from year 7-9) not much would actually occur. I don't remember being taught how to cook anything nutritionally sound. We made things like flapjacks, scones or apple crumble. Generally sweet things. Or junk food like pizza. It was seen, by the whole class, as an opportunity to muck around and not do any work.

I can completely understand why these young mums (my age or younger) don't know how to cook. If their mum didn't teach them, and they didn't learn at school how are they meant to know? I learnt how to cook not by my mum teaching me (she refused to as she was worried I'd make a mess of the kitchen) but by me watching her cook nearly every evening.

In my case I have a 15 yo who REFUSES to learn to cook. In her words "I will live on pot noodle, chinese and toast" I have offered on many occasions to teach her to cook as a valuable skill. She doesn't want to know, so what can I do???

My 10yo on the other hand is in the kitchen headlong when she can and I am also in the process of teaching my 25 yo brother how to cook beyond beans and toast.

DawnW

arkonite_babe wrote: »

In my case I have a 15 yo who REFUSES to learn to cook. In her words "I will live on pot noodle, chinese and toast" I have offered on many occasions to teach her to cook as a valuable skill. She doesn't want to know, so what can I do???

That is just being a 15 year old.:eek: Chances are she or he will grow out of it:D

Mine did!! If it wasn't that it would be something else, probably worse :eek:

[Deleted User]

Well I still set the table to eat at, and I live alone. I have always sat at the table to eat my food . I also have a clean table cloth usually 2-3 times a week. No matter what we had to eat when I was a child we were never allowed to have food on a tray on our laps. My Mum would have been horrified. But then I am quite old-fashioned I suppose as I still use a napkin and a proper tea pot for tea and a cup ,saucer and plate as well.
I expect my grandchildren to behave in my house in the same way and they do. No walking around with food in their hands in my house.

maman

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

I also thought meatballs was a bit of a waste to learn, surely spag bol would be better, can be stretched further to cover more than one meal, and can easily be turned into chilli or the base for a shepherds pie. A much better rec. I also thought the salmon/tuna thing was a bit daft considering they are on a budget.
The original ministry of food was not just about cooking it involved budgeting and stretching your food resources. Hope this is addressed in later episodes.

ali x

A friend suggested that this programme was one long ad for Sainsbury's. Meatballs was his first 'feed your family for less than a fiver' recipes. Perhaps it'll be tabouleh and chicken next (saw that on an ad tonight).

maman

Totally agree about sitting at the table.

I think my problem about food on trays is that it, almost always, is while watching television. We need to communicate to preserve family life. The children on JO programme looked thrilled to be sitting at the table sharing a social occasion with adults.

Hardup_Hester

I watched the programme & signed up to the website, I can cook & was keen to teach others, I approached 6 work colleagues who I know can't cook, 4 of them are always bemoaning their lack of money. I offered to teach them & also explained that they would only have to buy the main ingredient of each meal & that I would provide everything else. All refused & came up with a variety of excuses.
Hester

mioliere

At least you tried, Hester! When food gets even pricier they'll be begging for your help!

I quite agree about sitting at the table to eat. When my two were children it was the best part of the day, when we would catch up with each other; I really miss it now and love it when they bring their families round for dinner and the talking is non-stop! For a start, surely eating on the floor would give you indigestion and, however clean you are, it's not the most hygienic place to eat food!

I think JO's heart is in the right place and he's only trying to teach what should already have been learned in the home or at school. When I was at school, cookery were lessons were just that - cookery. Nowadays, it seems to be all about designing food and the so-called technological side to it. I also think there are far too many fast-food and take-away 'restaurants' around. There are so many, you could probably have a take-away every day without repeating one meal in a week!

catkins

It wasn't so much the children sitting on the floor to eat (although I don't feel that is good for every meal) but the fact that I read that they had to use their hands because there was no cutlery in the house!!

As I say, I did not watch the programme, so that may not be true but if it is - well. How can you not have any cutlery? How can they eat all meals with their hands? I even eat burgers and pizza with a knife and fork (all my friends laugh at me)!!!