The True Cost of Cheap Food?

Kentishmaid_2

Essex-girl wrote: »

I missed the programme sadly.

I dont buy value meat but one thing occured to me - my Nans generation used to eat every bit of meat of an animal so there was no waste - Hugh Fernley Wittinstal (sp) advocates this as well - my Nan loved Brawn which I assumed was full of the rather unpleasant bits. So my point is, if there is chopped up unmentionables in pies/sausages etc - is that wrong?

Sorry but brawn isn't unmentionable bits, it's made from pig's head and there isn't much grissle left and ends up in disolved the jelly. I doubt if your Granny would have used grissle/cnnective tissue as butchers dispose of it and the rest of the family would complain if they had chewy bits in there meal. The only part of a pig you can't use is it's squeak!

Kentishmaid

grimerking

Kentishmaid wrote: »

Sorry but brawn isn't unmentionable bits, it's made from pig's head and there isn't much grissle left and ends up in disolved the jelly.

Good quality sausages use the fat from pig cheeks. The fat is really soft and full of flavour.

one of my friends is convinced .... that the only reason OH and myself aren't constantly battling food poisoning is because we've become immune to it.

I think this is actually a problem for some people. They view home-cooked food as 'suspect' and 'icky'. You actually have to get your hands dirty making it, therefore it isn't 'clean food'. Whereas, you can just take a chicken burger out of a brightly coloured packet/plastic wrapping and put it under the grill - no mess, no touching raw meat. I can see why it is seductive for people, but our schools really should be teaching kids these basic life skills.

I personally think the problems started with Women's Lib. People questioned why only the girls should learn how to cook. This was seen as sexist and preparing women for a life of subservience. Rather than changing the system so that boys also learned to cook, they foolishly abolished all cookery classes. Now we have whole generations of people in the UK who can't cook at all.

Things have to change.

studentgirl_2

Beki said

i was totally shocked that the lady who was buying all the butcher meat, veg from greengrocer etc found it difficult to stick under budget in her first week! i was thinking "i could do 3 or 4 weeks shop on £95 from the butcher/greengrocers!"

I dont know how this can be done. If I go to the butcher it cost about £45.00 to feed my family. Fruit and veg about £20.00 for a week and I cant do it any cheeper.

Also how do we know that butchers are not up to the same tricks as the supermarket with the water and goo.

All of this did get me thinking again about how some of us manage our budgets, myself and some of my mates are the first to cut back on food if were skint, But wont cut back in other ways eg mobile phone/sky ect.

I would like to eat better and this reminded me of this, im going to look for an online butcher to mave a monthly meat box. (anyone know a good one ) Not sure about veg as the market is good.

grimerking

StudentGirl,

I generally spend about £25-£30 a week on food/household. I don't really think I can cut it much further without cutting quality. I don't have a car, so am stuck with the supermarkets and local markets/butchers. I think £65 a week sounds about right for a family of four if you're cooking from scratch and eating good quality food.

competitionscafe

grimerking wrote: »

Good quality sausages use the fat from pig cheeks. The fat is really soft and full of flavour.

Waitrose sell these now. Am tempted to try them.
"The move has been welcomed by food experts, many of whom reckon pigs trotters and bath chaps – the traditional term for the cheek of a pig – are some of the best cuts of meat available.
Xanthe Clay, Daily Telegraph food writer, said: "Hooray. They are fantastic.
"Pigs' cheeks are so much more delicious that a pork chop. It has none of that dryness and blandness that you sometimes get with a chop. It has this gelatinous quality and is absolutely lovely braised."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3041958/Credit-crunch-sees-Bath-chaps-ox-cheek-and-pigs-trotters-return.html


I don't usually buy meat from supermarkets but last night I picked up a 6 bone loin of free range British pork chops (1.4kg) for £1.99. (Reduced to clear from meat counter half an hour before closing):D Has now been divided into 4 big thick pork chops on the bone and each end into another 2 extra thick pork chops on the bone / mini roasting joints for one. All gone in the freezer. So that's the meat ingredient for 6 main meals at just 33p per portion - I love Waitrose reductions.

Justamum

Catwoman_Kent wrote: »

That's me off cereal now - I'll stick to toasting my homemade bread!

On the farming programme on Radio 4 at the weekend they said that about 10% of all British flour has rat poo and hair in it! :eek: Can't really win can we?

grimerking

Justamum wrote: »

On the farming programme on Radio 4 at the weekend they said that about 10% of all British flour has rat poo and hair in it! :eek: Can't really win can we?

Why do they even tell us things like that? There is nothing we can do as consumers. What do they expect us to do, stop eating bread?

Farway

Justamum wrote: »

On the farming programme on Radio 4 at the weekend they said that about 10% of all British flour has rat poo and hair in it! :eek: Can't really win can we?

I would think this is true of all cereals & rice, regardless of origin

It may come in fancy packets, but it was grown & harvested with soil & vermin all round

maltesers_2

On the programme it said some shops inject dextrose into chicken breasts. Did they mention which shops or does anyone know. I assume that they would have to list it in ingredients wouldn't they?

A_fiend_for_life

maltesers wrote: »

On the programme it said some shops inject dextrose into chicken breasts. Did they mention which shops or does anyone know. I assume that they would have to list it in ingredients wouldn't they?

This is something that bugs me. If farmers added water to milk they would be prosecuted and quite possibly receive a custodial sentence.

If the ingredients are not listed it would have a value for carbohydrates on the nutritional information.