Cheapest Way to Five a Day.

alisong_2

What about tinned fruit, that counts and has all the vitamins etc? A large tin in Aldi is about50/60p, easily enough for 3 portions, of the value fruit in tescos is almost as good but even cheaper. Not sure of the current price but peaches used to only be 20/30p. My daughter loves a tin as a snack if she's hungry.

Bronnie

Frozen fruit can be a good option especially for berries which are expensive but very beneficial.

Sainsbury's Basics Berries Mix is £1 for 400g, so at 5 x 80g portions @ 20p each. They are quite tart, but can be added to cereals or mixed with yogurt and a bit of honey, used to enliven smoothies etc.

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/sainsburys-price-comparison/Frozen_Desserts_And_Fruit/Sainsburys_Basics_Red_Berry_Mix_400g.html

The frozen mango chunks are a bit more expensive, but just a few chunks brighten up a fruit salad or a fruity curry or rice salad and a bag can last for a while, economical if you're the sort who tends to leave fruit to wrinkle in the fruit bowl!

maman

attentionseeker1 wrote: »

Acc to the NHS link Valli posted, a smoothie can only count as two portions?

I think beans and juice are a good start though that I didn't know about- 1 portion from each is easy and then three from fresh maybe. The only prob is that the website said it needs to be 100% juice- does that mean not from concentrate? Concentrate is fine, it just means not those described as drinks/nectar rather than juice.

Also portion sizes are a good point- I would never have guessed that 2 broccoli spears or 1 tomato= 1 portion; I would have thought you would need to eat much more!

Have just printed a poster from NHS to inspire me to stick on the fridge, now just need to trawl Aldi/Lidl to get some bargain veg!

OP, it could get a bit boirng sticking to the cheapest but if you have time to shop around (Aldi/Lidl+Asda had some 29p veg this week) and plan your meals around what's available then it can be done.

Almo

I am often guilty of forgetting things like the humble onion. If you made a spag bol/lasagne with onion, carrot, celery, mushrooms and tomato you'd be most of the way there in just one meal. The veg don't have to be special/expensive ones. Or how about a chilli, with pretty much the same ingredients plus beans?

tru

The government might keep throwing around the whole 'five a day' thing, but does anyone know where it came from? I can't find any scientific papers on this. Same with 'eight glasses of water a day'.

Obviously, the more fruit and veg we eat, the better. I acually aim for 9 portions because it suits me, mr tru couldn't eat that many cos he'd spend all day on the loo I grow as much as possible and if you buy what's in season, it's miles cheaper.

Potatoes were classed as a veg until about 15 years ago, who suddenly changed it and why? They're veg as far as I'm concerned.

Aaaaaaaaaand, if all of this is so good for us, why are we getting fatter?

Almo

tru wrote: »

The government might keep throwing around the whole 'five a day' thing, but does anyone know where it came from? I can't find any scientific papers on this. Same with 'eight glasses of water a day'.

Obviously, the more fruit and veg we eat, the better. I acually aim for 9 portions because it suits me, mr tru couldn't eat that many cos he'd spend all day on the loo I grow as much as possible and if you buy what's in season, it's miles cheaper.

Potatoes were classed as a veg until about 15 years ago, who suddenly changed it and why? They're veg as far as I'm concerned.

Aaaaaaaaaand, if all of this is so good for us, why are we getting fatter?

I have read in several places that the eight glasses a day is a myth, and that it depends entirely on the individual. Of course, I can't find any proof for that either . I would hazard a guess that 'they' decided it was better to have a starting point/guideline and settled on some kind of average or minimum. With F&V I believe the 5 a day is the minimum you are supposed to have? In Australia we are told to have 5 veg and 2 fruit a day.

I guess we're getting fatter because portion sizes are getting bigger and bigger, and exercise is decreasing rapidly - both generally speaking of course, and not applicable to everyone. I know that personally speaking my exercise levels are very high, but my portion sizes are a little generous .

tru

Someone on another thread was saying they'd found some dinner plates that belonged to their gran, they're much smaller than the ones we buy today. Maybe if we all bought smaller, we could still fill our plates but be healthier

Where are we going wrong???? We have dishwashers, washing machines, microwaves, cars. All designed to save time, but we seem to have less spare time than ever for actually looking after ourselves :undecided

Doom_and_Gloom

Sweetcorn does count but your average potatoe does not as they contain to much carbohydrate. Sweet potatoes count however they are rather expencive.

Personally I don't know how people can't get to 5 a day to be honest. I've even managed to get my fiance to eat more fruit and vegetables and he very picky with food.

Half a carton/tin of tomatoes, an onion, a small courgette, peppers (frozen are usually cheaper) - for one portion that is about 64p you could serve this on a baked potato, with rice, with couscous etc. Healthy low fat meal with 4 different vegetables. You could even add garlic or spices if you want/like them.
You could have beans on toast for breakfast/lunch/tea etc. This with the above is 5 very easily and cheaply.

I find vegetables to be very cheap as are pulses.

Lentil soup can be packed with vegetables - tomatoes, onion, courgette, sweetcorn and lentils. You can blend the tomatoes, onion and courgette for the 'sauce' and leave the sweetcorn and lentils whole. It's a big portion but with rolls it will fill you up very well . Again very cheap. I don't spend more than £12.50 per week for myself on food. You will find that if you eat meat that that will be costing you a lot of money and that switching it for vegetables will help you lose weight and spend less on food. My partner eats less meat now. Problem with him though is he was underweight to start with :rotfl:, thankfully he hasn't lost any weight.

katholicos

attentionseeker1 wrote: »

:think:Acc to the NHS link Valli posted, a smoothie can only count as two portions?

I think beans and juice are a good start though that I didn't know about- 1 portion from each is easy and then three from fresh maybe. The only prob is that the website said it needs to be 100% juice- does that mean not from concentrate?

Also portion sizes are a good point- I would never have guessed that 2 broccoli spears or 1 tomato= 1 portion; I would have thought you would need to eat much more!

Have just printed a poster from NHS to inspire me to stick on the fridge, now just need to trawl Aldi/Lidl to get some bargain veg!

I understand. However, could you not feasably 'juice' all your fruits and veggies and drink them down? You don't need a juicer per se, a stick blender may serve just as well, and i've seen them for less than a fiver. Fruit makes a great sorbet also and is an easy way to consume fruit in the spring and summer months. Fruit can be added to pavlova and it still counts as fruit out of your 5 a day, even if it is on top of a rather large gooey meringue.....can you guess, these are just a few of the ways I eat 'healthily'

Penelope_Penguin

HariboJunkie wrote: »

However, current advice suggests that you should vary the five portions as much as possible to get the full benefit of the different nutrients that different fruits and veg offer.

Sorry, didn;t explain myself properly - how about 1 portion each of tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, grated carrot, chopped peppers. That's all salad, and all of your 5 :T

BTW, 5 a day is seen as the absolute minimum. 8 or 9 a day is what the Gove would prefer to recommend, but as we in the UK eat such a pitiful amount of F&V it was considered that this was a step too far :eek: