Economy Gastronomy - new budget cookery programme; BBC

ANY_CHANCE

I totally agree with you hotcookie, not everyone finds it easy or knows how to plan meals and cook. :rolleyes:

Many people have the skills passed down through family but what if you hav'nt had that benefit? Or cooking for a big family comes as a shock? :eek:

Thats where brilliant sites like this and programmes like economy gastronomy help people out to learn these skills :T.......everything is easier when your taught how and get to put it into practice with help and support.:cool:

Bitsy_Beans

Floss wrote: »

I agree with HotCookie101, and also, you have to remember that allegedly the mum on last night's programme couldn't cook - faced with the thought of starting from scratch, with 2yr old twins and a "9yr old handful", even if she does work part time, being Wonderwoman in the kitchen can be a bit daunting for anyone.

She is of the generation not to have had Domestic Science or even proper cookery at school, so may never have learnt the basics that the majority of us know & use on a daily basis.

I think they did well - they started up a store cupboard from scratch and they were also using their leftovers from the "huge" dishes making them stretch for more than one meal.

But I am of that same generation. My Home Economics class consisted of making rock cakes and pizza but that's no excuse for not learning. I've had to get off my butt and learn myself, trial and error mostly.
Sure we might sound smug but then I don't think her excuse was ignorance I just think she was lazy But then I tend to find most of the people who participate in this kind of show are. There are many in the UK who don't have that luxury.

ANY_CHANCE

Bitsy_Beans wrote: »

But I am of that same generation. My Home Economics class consisted of making rock cakes and pizza but that's no excuse for not learning. I've had to get off my butt and learn myself, trial and error mostly.
Sure we might sound smug but then I don't think her excuse was ignorance I just think she was lazy But then I tend to find most of the people who participate in this kind of show are. There are many in the UK who don't have that luxury.

Its easy to judge people Bitsy Beans
Surely encouraging people to change would be more positive instead of focusing on the negative:rolleyes:

Bitsy_Beans

ANY_CHANCE wrote: »

Its easy to judge people Bitsy Beans
Surely encouraging people to change would be more positive instead of focusing on the negative:rolleyes:

Thats fine and that's what the programme is aimed at. However I think to assume most of the UK shops this way is a sweeping generalisation. I just don't find these sorts of programmes that realistic and always present worst case scenario. Why not make a prog using a family who've had their wages cut in half due to redundancy and learn to cook and use a shopping budget to reflect that. That to me would seem a more likely scenario for many familys in this current climate.

ifonlyitwaseasier

cw18 wrote: »

Am I the only saddo to have recorded the show?

I'm hoping that I may actual absorb some info about the meals they were cooking on a second watch -- my first (real-time) viewing was spent gasping at the comments, reactions and costs :rolleyes2

nope and i have it on series link.....

Quillion wrote: »

I too use olive oil for everything i need a new bottle as i dropped mine on the kitchen floor.
It fetches black grout up lovely !!

I have just seen this and i missed it wonder if there will be a repeat.

you can watch it on the iplayer Quillion, click here

i have olive oil, veg oil., balsamic & malt & white vinegars, and so many sauces and herbs (mainly hot sauce as hubby likes to try them all!!)

i think for people who don't follow OS ways then yes it is fab and it is a good idea, and i am impressed that the beeb are trying to show people you can live for less, but as an os'r (all be it one without her own kitchen at the mo!) i still find it incredible that people can spend that sort of money on food and it be all junk.

i'm looking forward to see how they cut next weeks down tho, that should be highly amusing!

ioiwe x

Pooky

I enjoyed it - we all did - DD's watched with us and both commented on how lovely it was that they made the effort to sit and eat together, something we do as much as possible.

It was perfectly pitched to the family concerned and those who eat so many ready meals/take aways because of the basic lack of understanding of cooking.

Yes we too sat that shouting "artichokes?????" Why not add some cauli or broccoli, something a little less daunting to start with....but that said she learnt how to cook it and recreated it at home - that will have given her confidence to try other things.

We all know most OS'ers could do it cheaper, with more veg, more variation etc but I think that was a perfect stepping stone for that family, to drop the budget so much and have given them something to work at, the rest will come with time.

I loved watching one of the twins reach over for a spoon full of food from his brothers plate

It's sad though that some people don't make the link between how much they need to earn to sustain a lifestyle and how much they could save by being a little bit more savvy. Saying you're too tired to cook from scratch because you've been at work half the day to earn the money to buy the ready meals because you're too tired to cook because you're eating meals of little nutritional value, because you're too tired to cook because you're working to pay for the ready meals.....................yadda yadda.....

I shall look forward to next weeks. I'm very interested to see how they spend £17k a year on food....I suspect a great deal of meals out are included there.

ANY_CHANCE

Bitsy_Beans wrote: »

Thats fine and that's what the programme is aimed at. However I think to assume most of the UK shops this way is a sweeping generalisation. I just don't find these sorts of programmes that realistic and always present worst case scenario. Why not make a prog using a family who've had their wages cut in half due to redundancy and learn to cook and use a shopping budget to reflect that. That to me would seem a more likely scenario for many familys in this current climate.

I agree their budget still seemed alot simply for food not including toiletries etc.
Im not sure next weeks will be that helpful watching someone having to cut their budget from 17,000 a year!!! ( although i will still watch)

I would be more interested in 60-80pw budget for a family

Bitsy_Beans

ANY_CHANCE wrote: »

I agree their budget still seemed alot simply for food not including toiletries etc.
Im not sure next weeks will be that helpful watching someone having to cut their budget from 17,000 a year!!! ( although i will still watch)

I would be more interested in 60-80pw budget for a family

I think £17K will have my jaw dropping and me shouting at the TV. I too would be more interested in £60-£80 a week for shopping as I think this is more likely for many families.

rosy

I enjoyed it, didn't learn much ( but didn't expect to, as has been said already, as it wasn't really aimed at OS old hands) - having said that I'm going to try a wee bit of nutmeg in my cheese sauce next time to see what difference it makes & I might have a go at keeping the cheese out of the fridge ( if only I had an old fashioned larder to put it in! ).

About the 9 year-old's manners/ whether the mum couldn't cook or couldn't be bothered to - I don't think any one of us is really in a position to judge - this is TV and will have been heavily edited. I'm sure the family will have been given a lot of guidance from the crew as to how to act etc & I'm not so sure that drawer would have been filled with a big pile of takeaway menus and one rolling pin before the filming started!

richardw

Here's the link to the recipes http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/food/recipes/queryengine?templatestyle=refine_by_1_gg&orig_kw=&config=db&scope=recipes&page=1&pagesize=15&attrib_26=keywords&oper_26=eq&val_26_1=&attrib_2=programme_name&oper_2=eq&val_2_1=Economy+Gastronomy&attrib_3=chef_name&oper_3=eq&val_3_1=&attrib_12=healthy&oper_12=eq&attrib_13=quick&oper_13=eq&attrib_10=vegetarian&oper_10=eq&submit.x=35&submit.y=10&submit=Search