Eat for £12 a week?

Gingham_Ribbon

Penny, your home sounds wonderful!

I agree about the 'healthy eating' message in schools. DH is only 3 and a half and they have done some work on this in preschool. Some of it is definitely misleading when you cook from scratch. (Like pizzas and burgers not being good for you. Our pizzas are topped with lots of veg and our burgers are made from pulses, carrots and sweetcorn.) And I remember a friend having trouble with her little boy refusing to eat white bread because it 'wasn't good for him'. Too much fibre is not good for young children.

lil_me

:mad: Trust me I ended up telling a school nurse what I thought of their teaching in pre school, my son after being shown an apple and pear to colour in to say they damage their teeth refused to eat it again :mad: he's 8 now and hasn't touched an apple or pear since he was 3!!!

The focus on healthy food in our school has been increased lately, 'Healthy Schools Status'. Well I kicked up a stink with that aswell :rolleyes: what they were encouraging/discouraging etc. My son always announces proudly that most of his packed lunch is homemade. When asked did Mam make the Ham too 'No the pig did' Well they will learn not to ask stupid questions. :rotfl:

Hardup_Hester

I have a work colleague who is obsessive about healthy eating who always berates the rest of us about what we have for lunch, yet every day she brings 1 slice of linseed bread made into a sandwich & the sandwich is always filled with beetroot, she also brings an eggcup full of sprouted seeds & 6 grapes, I can't believe such monotony is healthy, but she disapproves of me having leftovers for lunch as she believes any food not consumed instantly is automatically invaded by thousands of bugs & will give me food poisoning.
Hester

newster

I think the thing that "bugs" me about the healthy food issue (and I'm very interested in nutrition and stuff) Is, why is the food considered healthy so expensive? If the people in charge of food regulations etc are so concerned with our health and what we eat, why do they charge so much for good healthy food ?

We personally cannot afford to buy all of what is considered healthy. Our fruit and veg bill is usually over £10, which takes a chunk out of the budget each week, so I do have to buy cheaper in order to feed the crew. If the cheaper food isn't supposed to be good for us, why is it being sold, is there some kind of genocide thing going on??? (Let's get rid of the poorer end of society, and feed them rubbish??? lol) Or perhaps, maybe, all this "healthy" thing is part of getting as much money from people as they can?? With cancer and so forth so prevailent in these days, are we being scaremongered into parting with our money etc???

I was thinking about my school dinners when I was at primary school back in the 1960s. We had meat pie, mash potato and veg. Meat balls and rice. (liver sometimes yuk) all the meals were basic, but filling, and perhaps outside of what would have been called healthy eating. Our pudding was always something with custard lol. But we never felt hungry during the afternoon, or feel we had to raid the larder when we got home. There were no hang ups on whether the food was healthy. It was assumed it was. And we ENJOYED it.

Which is what it's all about. Food is to be enjoyed. Not fretted over. I enjoy cooking for my lot, and I enjoy seeing them enjoy what I've cooked them. They eat sensibly, and I think that that is because they enjoy what they have. Yes they have days when they'll buy themselves a bag of chips, but they are occasional days, very few and far between.

If we serve up a good balanced meal we are cooking a "healthy" dinner. It's no wonder the young ladies leaving school these days don't like cooking. It must seem like a maze to them. In our HE lessons at school, we didn't have the food pyramid to go by then. We were taught to build meals using an energy food, protein food and I think the third was a building food logic. (long time ago now lol) So we were taught to cook that a meal could be like so. A portion of meat or fish or pie, some mash potato or boiled potato or roast potato and then some veg.

Sausages and fish fingers and frozen peas were considered conveinent foods back then, and yes mum cooked us those. Beefburgers I can remember being in the shops when I was about 10 I think. Pasta was unheard of lol. My dad looks at pasta as if it was some alien invading the plate lol. I can still remember a basic weeks menu my mum would do for us. It went like this...

Sundays. roast roast potatoes veg.
Mondays. Cold meat from the roast bubble and squeak from the left over cabbage (mum cooked extra cabbage ready to do the squeak the next day) and baked beans
Tuesday. fish fingers chips and peas
Wednesday. stew
Thursday. Stew
Friday. Sausages mash and beans or toad in the hole mash and veg.
Saturdays. dad insisted mum have a day off so we had fish and chips from the local chippy

Never felt we ate un healthily, although "experts" would probably say we did. I was not an overweight child, and I never felt hungry. I only suffered with extra weight after I started having children, getting lazy and relying on shop bought stuff instead of doing my own stuff. Now I have shed the extra weight and rely on my cooking instead of the supermarkets :-)

I've rabbited on a bit here lol.

Penelope_Penguin

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

Penny, your home sounds wonderful!

I agree about the 'healthy eating' message in schools. DH is only 3 and a half and they have done some work on this in preschool. Some of it is definitely misleading when you cook from scratch. (Like pizzas and burgers not being good for you. Our pizzas are topped with lots of veg and our burgers are made from pulses, carrots and sweetcorn.) And I remember a friend having trouble with her little boy refusing to eat white bread because it 'wasn't good for him'. Too much fibre is not good for young children.

Thanks, Gingham :j

In addition to your comment about bread, my health visitor told me that white bread has more calcium in it (to improve the *whiteness*) which is also good for small children.

Penny. x

mrsmortenharket

I read an article a few years ago where 'middle class' children (it may have been in the guardian, lol!) were suffering from being underweight cos the parents fed them all wholemeal products but as they were so young they got full too quickly.

As my kids have a healthy diet provided by me, they do have white pasta & white rice. The bread is generally wholemeal unless I buy an white unsliced loaf on the weekend.

I agree with teaching children about healthy eating but in blo0dy moderation. Most of us are intelligent to know not to feed our kids cr*p everyday. Some kids take the message far too seriously & are ending up with eating disorders at a young age.

I notice the 'stirrer' on this thread has not been back. Pity, cos I wanted some of his/her recipes.

Lisa

samsampotts

I have had a quick read through this thread this morning and I hope you don't mind if I put my two pennys worth in !

I am a personal fitness trainer and currently training in Nutritional therapy. I believe that everything is fine in moderation, I never tell people they can't eat cake, biscuits, sweets, takeaway, alcohol (the list goes on), what's the point of being healthy if you're miserable? There really is something good in pretty much any food you can think of anf fats and sugars are an important part of the diet, its all about eating the right amount, thats all! And sometimes, if my OH and I have been away to the caravan for the weekend and had a long drive home we do (shock horror) grab a takeaway for dinner. So what? That happens maybe once every two months. In my experience, denying yourself certain foods makes you crave them and binge on them at a later date. Have a little of what you like on a (not too) regular basis and you can't really go wrong. Take regular exercise if you are able, don't buy things you don't need, enjoy your family and make the most of your free time - that's my recipe for a long and healthy life for you and your wallet.:D

llol_slim

well, i have to say, i am very impressed and (more so) embarrassed... This is going to come as a shocker to you lot..
My girlfriend and I live with my parents (i am 23 and hayley 21) we spend .. around £250 in tescos a month i am SO embarrased and now motivated.
that is of course toileteries and things as well but mainly food.
I love cooking and do as much as I can, but reading this has given me loads of ideas, so hopefully I can drop how much we spend.
so just wanted to say thank you

thriftlady_2

mrsmortenharket wrote: »

I read an article a few years ago where 'middle class' children (it may have been in the guardian, lol!) were suffering from being underweight cos the parents fed them all wholemeal products but as they were so young they got full too quickly.

It's called 'muesli malnutrition'

I been reading this woman's book http://www.ninaplanck.com/

It's full of radical and challenging ideas and pretty compelling.

elona

Thriftlady

The book looks fascinating and I love the use of the term "real food".

The trouble with food facism is they never use common sense and keep changing the rules.

Rather like a tax official they assume that you are wrong before investigating the actual situation.