Downshifting bad for your health ?

competitionscafe

peasantboy wrote: »

The cheapest foods last longer and are the quickest to cook but at the same time are nutritionally empty.

Oats, wholegrains, beans, pulses are all cheap (especially if you don't buy them from the wholefoods section at a supermarket), not all are quick to cook but they are all good for you.

kalojac

I have done quite a lot of downshifting since joining this site last year and using mysupermarket.com to try and save a few pennies here and there, we have 3 boys (7, 5 & 3) and they're always hungry.

I buy all my meat (still) from our local butcher and would never compromise on this, my mother always used supermarket meat and its put me off for life! I buy our winter vegetables from our local farm shop (its only open Oct-Mar) and this is so much cheaper than the supermarket. I can get two bags of vegetables and a huge bag of potatoes (enough for 5-6 weeks) for around £9. When the vegetables get home and are washed up they are beautiful colours, big, and taste absolutely amazing. I feel hard done to when the summer months come, for the first few weeks I hardly taste a thing, until my taste buds re-adjust to the tasteless-ness of supermarket veg.

Coffee - Until last summer it was Nescafe with no compromise. I decided to try Tesco Classic Coffee in the summer it was 60p per 100g its since risen to 80p per 100g (unbelievable in around 7 months!:mad: ), but again my taste buds have re-adjusted and I choose this by choice now.

In my opinion most people are right, we need to look after our pockets and our health.

I save a lot of money buying from the butchers and the local farm shop, and this allows me to buy the best quality meat and veg around for my kids.

However, it is possible to downshift a bit and save some money on other items in the supermarket, you have to read the labels and make a decision for yourself, but I have downshifted on some products and do not think I have compromised my kids health doing it. I buy own brand "fruit shoots" for their snack, own brand weetabix (unless original is on offer), own brand coffee, own brand cheese, and most cleaning products are all own brand apart from Persil and Comfort - the only two that agree with my youngest DS's skin. I do also agree with one Poster in that we can all go a long way to learn to cook like Grannie she would've never compromised and bought processed foods.

BTW - Lidl's dishwasher tablets were awarded best product by Which last year and they are amazing £1.79 for 30 I think - I don't by anything else now! This is a big saving.

Sorry I've went on a bit:o

MrsE_2

kalojac wrote: »

BTW - Lidl's dishwasher tablets were awarded best product by Which last year and they are amazing £1.79 for 30 I think - I don't by anything else now! This is a big saving.

Sorry I've went on a bit:o

Wow, worth trying.

BEST or best for the money.

I use Quantum (now they are expensive:rolleyes: ) or Fairy.

I got 30 large free range eggs from the farm down the road on special offer for £4.50 on Friday (normally £6.25). The yolks are almost orange:D

MrsE_2

Princess_Coupon wrote: »

I agree one thing you can't downshift is coffee.
Does anyone buy the value coffee?

Nescafe is mid range (ish), I like the Cap Columbe, the more expensive ones.

DH said, stop buying that funny coffee & buy plain Nescafe.

So he doesn't like the expensive instant.

I prefer real coffee, Cape Columbia tastes more like real coffee.

I got a Tassimo, I love the Starbucks pods, but they are £2 for 8:eek:

DD loves the Milka, they are £3 for 8:eek:

spaceraiders

You know those vegetable food boxes that people have delivered each week? Does anyone know of any websites that list non-organic food boxes?

I like science and evidence and the organic food movement is based on neither. It's nice to want healthier food, but I don't want to contribute to organic as it just plays on people's fears and misunderstandings on health.

Money_saving_Martyn

deanos wrote: »

The latest buzz seems to be downshifting, yes you can save hundreds of pounds per year, but no one seems to mention the health implications.

I've noticed especially the cheaper cereals contain more salt and sugar compared to the branded items.

Does this apply across the board in value items ?

(In my personal experience) The "low" fat/salt/sugar products are generally more expensive. However, I notice that some of Tesco's value brands now have "new recipes" and some even less salt.

Some of Tesco's value drinks (squash, limonade, cola) have no (added?) sugar.

I'm not nutritionist, but we do still need certain amounts of salt, fat and sugar... like most things it's all about balance. Some value products do, however, have little difference in nutritional value to their doubled-price counter-parts.... and others are heart attacks in a tin! You just have to chose carefully..... (which is easier said than done!)

I hope my random thoughts were of some help!

Stay healthy :cool:

sweetstudent

I dont pretend to know everything, but some people are adverse to buying meat from a supermarket, however myself and my partner, (as she works all day saturday and i work long days) we buy all our meat from M&S or from Waitrose, are these meats better than purchasing from Asda et al. We buy our meats from from these two places as they appear to have a better quality of animal welfare.

We used to buy from a butcher, but we had a bad experience with some beef mince so we have not brough mince from there again, and because of my personal views, where the butcher has to have a clean shop and a well presented store face i will not go in.

As we are only a couple, we only buy Beef Mince, Steaks and chicken breasts (occassionally a whole bird but that is always from M&S))

Anyway sorry for rambeling, but is buying meat from the two places above, are the meats better than other supermarket meat and if not does anybody know of a good butcher in the WV post code - (we already go to Micheal Kirk for bacon and sausage).

Thanks

Fire_Fox

Money_saving_Martyn wrote: »

(In my personal experience) The "low" fat/salt/sugar products are generally more expensive. However, I notice that some of Tesco's value brands now have "new recipes" and some even less salt.

Some of Tesco's value drinks (squash, limonade, cola) have no (added?) sugar.

I'm not nutritionist, but we do still need certain amounts of salt, fat and sugar... like most things it's all about balance. Some value products do, however, have little difference in nutritional value to their doubled-price counter-parts.... and others are heart attacks in a tin! You just have to chose carefully..... (which is easier said than done!)

I hope my random thoughts were of some help!

Stay healthy :cool:

If we ate a balanced diet based around natural whole foods, we would get sufficient sodium from that which is naturally contained within. No need for any added salt whatsoever (athletes excepted). There is no Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for sugar - we just do not need any in our diets. It's fine to eat sugar within, say, fruit, but there is strong evidence that refined sugar contributes to inflammation within the body.

Fat ... yes we need some but we need essential fats, the kind that is found in oily fish, nuts, seeds, avocados. The only people that need to eat full fat animal products are healthy weight children and convalescents. The body struggles to process fats when they are not found in their natural form, as we need the right combination of nutrients for optimal function.

Lecture over!

aless02

peasantboy wrote: »

So it's called 'downshifting'.
I used to buy 6 large organic eggs. For the same price I can get 30 caged eggs. Practically every other meal I've had has been something with eggs. Poached, fried, scrambled, boiled, omelettes. If I keep going at this rate I'll be having egg shakes like Stallone in Rocky I.
Porridge oats. The plain supermarket branded ones are exactly the same as Mr Quakers!

Organic and free-range vs. caged eggs is a completely different debate. Free-range/barn eggs are not bought for HEALTH implications, but for animal welfare. That is a totally separate issue and not for 'health' thread, but an ethics thread (free-range, fairtrade, rainforest alliance, etc.)

davetrousers

kalojac wrote: »

Coffee - Until last summer it was Nescafe with no compromise.

I cannot understand why people perceive Nescafe to be good coffee (well it's down to how it is marketted). Any instant coffee is hugely inferior to proper coffee.

On a side note, why is instant coffee considered to be acceptable, when they tried to introduce instant tea it (pretty much) flopped?