Eating Well V's Eating Cheaply??

CFC

EssexHebridean wrote: »

I don't think her opinion is what has upset people - it's the way in which she has put it across. I have to say that my first thought on reading the openoing post was that it was quite amazingly patronising....and ironic considering that it was posted by someone who, by their own admission, is eating a diet that is anything BUT nutritionally balanced in order to make her body do things it was never intended to do?! People have repeatedly asked her to give examples of costs against some sample meals she prepares, as inevitably they are curious as to how she is managing to feel her family good quality healthy food on the budget she's stated, however she's not done so, just repeated the same argument(s) over again. Not really any wonder that people are getting frustrated, is it!

Putting it across as 'well YOU show us yours so we can criticise you' (because that's the purpose of the 'post yours then', whether you all admit it or not) doesn't disguise it. Nor of course are you bashing because posting this below is all innocent and sweet, right?

posted by someone who, by their own admission, is eating a diet that is anything BUT nutritionally balanced in order to make her body do things it was never intended to do?!

Where do you see Leila criticising or judging individuals as individuals? Maybe she's trawled through a year of menu plans. She's at some pains to avoid naming names.

You're entitled to your opinion. So am I. Mine is that there's a bashing ethos here in this thread.

Julimk

I agree that I don’t think the OP was actually having a go at anyone. When you look at some of the meal plans it seems that some are putting getting the cost down at the expense of serving a well balanced meal with carbs, protein & veggies. I think for most of us that are Mummies we want to know that our LOs are eating well. And as I said before I am sure that most are doing the best they can within the constraints of their cooking ability, their budget, their knowledge etc.

And I agree that looking at just one meal a day doesn’t show you what the diet is as a whole. Dinner may be cheap, to keep overall costs down, but plenty of healthy stuff is eaten at other times.

The OP is feeding 4 for £50 a week & I am feeding 2 for around £25, so pretty much the same. With meat or fish for every dinner too. Personally I have been medically advised to have a high calcium diet, so I get through a lot of cheese etc. Individual nutritional requirements are another factor to take into account.

But this should raise some valid & helpful issues. Is it possible to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet on a low budget? (Seems definitely yes, from Weezl’s threads or going Indain, Italian etc peasant food, or even British if you research a bit). If so how? (see previous comments) At what point is anyone prepared to compromise eating healthily for eating cheaply? Does this need to be a compromise?

EssexHebridean

CFC wrote: »

Putting it across as 'well YOU show us yours so we can criticise you' (because that's the purpose of the 'post yours then', whether you all admit it or not) doesn't disguise it. Nor of course are you bashing because posting this below is all innocent and sweet, right?

posted by someone who, by their own admission, is eating a diet that is anything BUT nutritionally balanced in order to make her body do things it was never intended to do?!

Where do you see Leila criticising or judging individuals as individuals? Maybe she's trawled through a year of menu plans. She's at some pains to avoid naming names.

You're entitled to your opinion. So am I. Mine is that there's a bashing ethos here in this thread.

You said people were having a go, I tried to explain to you why - in my opinion - that might be. My comment highlighted by you wasn't intended to be either "a bashing" as you phrase it, or in any way "sweet and innocent". It was, however, factually correct.

There may well be others posting on the thread who do indeed want to see Leiela's meal plan and costs so that they can rip them apart. I'm not one of them and frankly I object to your implication - completely without any grounds - that I am. I'm curious to know how she's managing it - in fact, I'm curious to know if she actually IS managing it, or if she's just thinking she is....IYKWIM?

You make a big point of the fact that you're entitled to your opinion - well of course you are, and nowhere have I suggested otherwise (although again you try to imply that this is so) - however, the rest of us are also entitled to our opinions, Leiela included. If we all agreed, all of the time, the world would be a very dull place and this forum probably wouldn't exist.

bandraoi

freyasmum wrote: »

I LOVE beans on toast, would eat it every night if it were up to me.

Beans contain protein (amongst other goodies) and count as one of your five a day. The bread is high in carbohydrate, full of fibre and is an important part of a balanced diet.

May I ask, what exactly is the problem with it?

Omelette, well the eggs are obviously full of protein. Cheese has protein, calcium and folic acid, etc. Or you could have a vegetable omelette, etc, etc. It could be served with a side salad - people have already said they don't detail the veg they have when they write their plan.

To each their own, IMO, and if that includes beans on toast instead of an elaborate dinner sometimes then that's ok. Oh, and of course, on the days that you see a simple dinner, there could be a nutrition packed lunch planned. We just don't know.

Did I say they weren't nutritious? I eat each of those, and I will occasionally eat them for dinner, but they aren't a proper dinner, not by themselves as they are presented in the menu planners. They may be a proper lunch, they may be a good evening snack if you've eaten a main meal in the middle of the day, but they're not a proper dinner. Unless you're eating massive portions, you're not getting the calories usually associated with a main meal. I've just made a huge pot of mushroom soup, stuffed with vegetables, but no matter how much of it I eat, I still wouldn't call it dinner.

As I said, once a week, once every two weeks then fair enough, but twice a week and you would want to make sure you're making up for it elsewhere.

As for this "well they might be served with a side salad or any number of other extenuating factors". The meal planner thread is meant to illustrate what people are eating as an indication of what it costs. If people are serving side dishes, then these should be listed, otherwise the whole thing is misleading.

Penny-Pincher!!

bandraoi wrote: »

Other meal plans I've seen include things like egg and chips one night, followed by beans on toast the next.

Yes.....thats me! If you look at my last 2 years mealplans which are available, this is actually quite rare for us. What about the other days

I am in hospital having treatment Thursday & Friday and it makes me feel very sick, and I find this goes down easier and will be easy to prepare.

Penny-Pincher!!

bandraoi wrote: »

Did I say they weren't nutritious? I eat each of those, and I will occasionally eat them for dinner, but they aren't a proper dinner, not by themselves as they are presented in the menu planners. They may be a proper lunch, they may be a good evening snack if you've eaten a main meal in the middle of the day, but they're not a proper dinner. Unless you're eating massive portions, you're not getting the calories usually associated with a main meal. I've just made a huge pot of mushroom soup, stuffed with vegetables, but no matter how much of it I eat, I still wouldn't call it dinner.

As I said, once a week, once every two weeks then fair enough, but twice a week and you would want to make sure you're making up for it elsewhere.

As for this "well they might be served with a side salad or any number of other extenuating factors". The meal planner thread is meant to illustrate what people are eating as an indication of what it costs. If people are serving side dishes, then these should be listed, otherwise the whole thing is misleading.

As explained in my previous post!

If you think the whole mealplan thread is misleading....you are always welcome to contribute and maybe show us how it would work better

PP
xx

HeidiBoo_2

**deleted**

leiela

Blah ... im really sort of getting tired...i really really wasn't trying to upset people and it really did turn into something way way bigger than i planned.

Blah...

I've "rezzed" my blog ... i gave up because i got overwhelmed by it all i thing first time around i tried to go into TOO much detail which caused me some problems and made it unsustainable.. geting my hubby to tell me each and everytime he used something was next to impossible.

However ... i will be jotting down my spends from now on, and ploting out my "meals" along with a VERY VERY rough idea of the cost of each meal so if you wanna know how im doing it then feel free to take a look though it will take a few days for me to get anything in there worth reading haha.

http://eatingcleanonabudget.wordpress.com/

However by no means to i say my meals are perfect i'm WELL aware i eat to much protien to be EVER concidered ideal but i do think i "try" and give my family healthy food ... (im not a nutritionist and im sure a nutritionist would tear my familys diet to peices)

Yes sometimes even WE resort to "junk food". Junk occasionally serves an important part of everyones diet, wether it be nice to have a "mental break" from healthy eating, or just because money's tight at the end of the week.

I never said nor did i ever to intend to make people think i was critisizing those who ate junk occasionally, i was more interested in those who chose to eat it most of the time in order to "save" money and why??

Blah anyhoo signing off what has become a thread i wished i'd never posted.

Penny-Pincher!!

HeidiBoo wrote: »

I'm not having a go at anyone here. But, with our current financial situation (OH just been made redundant and no benefits have been sorted yet) I aren't 'choosing' to shop and eat cheaply over our health, it's a case of eat the cheaper options or not eat at all.

Take our current income. I recieve £117.18p per week Maternity Allowance, as I have a 19 week old baby, plus £20 Child Benefit. That's £137.18 per week. My OH hadn't worked long enough to be eligable for any redundancy pay. Take from that £112.50 rent. That leaves me £24.26 per week. Take from that money for the electric meter....then shop with the remaining. I just thank God I stuck at breastfeeding, else I'd be screwed having to buy formula on top of it. I have quite a few tins etc in the pantry, which I'm trying to mix and match with 'better' ingredients, but, especially given my limited culinary skills it's proving a challenge.

This evenings meal was some form of meatballs (though they were anything but ball shaped!) made with a supermarkets basic mince. Some would argue it's 'processed crap' however all I could afford. From that mince I will also get a spag bol and either a shepherds pie or it'll be bunged in the slow cooker with gravy, veg etc. This evenings meatballs were served in a 'sauce' I made of liquidised tinned tomatoes, kidney beans and any veg I could lay my hands on, and pasta. I'll be pasta again tomorrow night, with a jar of sauce and some more cheapie mince. The only veg I have right now is either frozen or tinned, and aside from the mince I have frozen sausages, some fish fingers and possibly some beef burgers. I have just over £4 to last me until friday. I would LOVE for someone to be able to point me in the right direction lol.

If anyone was to see my meal plans for the week they'd be shocked, but as already pointed out, this may not be how people eat every week. I'm hoping I shall have a little assistance by next week, but if not then it'll be another week of 'crap'

I'd rather eat the 'crap' I can currently buy than the alternative....

I think you've done a great job. You have done the best you can with the money you have and you have provided balanced meals.

PP
xx

freyasmum

bandraoi wrote: »

Did I say they weren't nutritious? I eat each of those, and I will occasionally eat them for dinner, but they aren't a proper dinner, not by themselves as they are presented in the menu planners. They may be a proper lunch, they may be a good evening snack if you've eaten a main meal in the middle of the day, but they're not a proper dinner. Unless you're eating massive portions, you're not getting the calories usually associated with a main meal. I've just made a huge pot of mushroom soup, stuffed with vegetables, but no matter how much of it I eat, I still wouldn't call it dinner.

As I said, once a week, once every two weeks then fair enough, but twice a week and you would want to make sure you're making up for it elsewhere.

As for this "well they might be served with a side salad or any number of other extenuating factors". The meal planner thread is meant to illustrate what people are eating as an indication of what it costs. If people are serving side dishes, then these should be listed, otherwise the whole thing is misleading.

No need to bite my head off - not much nutrition in there, i'm afraid

People have already stated that they do not include all vegetables/side dishes when they type their plans. This may be because they buy reduced vegetables (no doubt that's also a fault, what with all those vitamins leeching out as they sit, decaying on the shelf) and so will not know what they're having until the day, or they may grow their own (fair enough, not so much at this time of year) and won't know what's ready to use until the day. Or maybe they just don't know what they fancy?

In any case, you do not know what they've had for other meals during the day, so how you can say they're all terribly unhealthy, I don't know.

People who do share their plans are not inviting all the armchair nutritionists to go over their diets with a fine toothcomb. IMO, they post so that they're able to keep to their plans, or to give others ideas and support.