Economy Gastronomy - new budget cookery programme; BBC

LilacPixie

I find it difficult not to judge a family who seem pretty similar to my own size and age wise. I just find it shocking that a mother found it acceptable to feed her kids total rubbish without an attempt to really cook. 'Oh i made mac cheese once but it was too rich so i haven't bothered since'.

The family were obviously not uneducated and aparently not lacking the skills so my only theory is laziness.

I had a look on the ASDA website at the nutritional content of the mac cheese she was feeding her son 3 times a week and it does not make for good reading

I have a 12 month old and a 33 month old, work full time as does my hubby yet we still manage to have a balanced diet free of ready meals and for the most part take aways but we do have a monthly chinese. I just felt the program was making excuses for laziness, everyone of us is busy yet we still find/make time to cook. Neither of my kids have had a ready meal in their lives and if i gave them one they would probably ask when tea was coming.

redmel1621

I recorded this and watched it this morning, when I was up on my own with the baby, at 6am:) I really enjoyed it, and yes I know loads of us on here could do better BUT It is clearly aimed at families who aren't like us....Which is how I used to be:o
I hadn't heard of these chefs before, but really liked them both and I loved the 'good starting point is some oil and garlic' :rotfl: which is pretty much how most of my concoctions start:)

I did think it was a little bit staged and a little bit exaggerated...I mean how full were her cupboards:eek: I don't think mine have EVER been that full. But all to good effect and if it makes even half the viewers take a look at their own spending/eating habits then it has been a success:)

Pooky wrote: »

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 agree and the fact that she said at the beginning the amount they are saving is the same as her wage...well she now has the option of leaving work and spending more time at home with the kids and if she did this I bet she could shave another £30-£50pw off their food bill:D Of course she may love her job, and her time away from the mania of housework/kids etc. and not want to leave...but she now has the option:)



Tell ya what tho - Can't wait for next weeks show.....£17 000:eek::eek:

Mel x

Allegra

Can I be the devil's advocate here, then ?

See, I actually really enjoyed the programme. I felt it was really refreshing to see a family on a TV show that really did seem to genuinely want to change and improve their land their children's lives, rather than just being after some quick notoriety.

Yes, they spent a lot of money on rubbish - and yes, their reduced budget was still a lot. And yes, I am sure that we could halve that budget again without much sweat - but that doesn't make the initial reduction unsuccessful and worthless. What do we always say to new people joining the Grocery Challenge, for instance ? Start small. Make one change at a time, rather than go all out then run out of steam. Downshift one brand at a time, cut down the bill a tenner a week, that way you'll barely notice the changes and they are more likely to become second nature. Isn't that right ?

Furthermore, I didn't find her well-stocked storecupboard that unusual, regardless of the steady diet of ready meals. As I said already, the whole family impressed me as people who wanted to do the right thing, but life just got in the way and they got a bit lost. So they carried on buying stuff for all those lovely gourmet meals they were going to cook some day, and then they were too tired to do anything but speed-dial for a takeaway. Do we really think that there is no one on here that now spends their days religiously stretching their chicken and counting their lentils that hasn't done exactly that at some point in the past ?

As for tiredness and lack of time - judge ye not lest ye be judged, and all that jazz. I have one 12 year old, a supportive partner, have had to cut down from full-time to part-time at work recently, and I am still tired to the point of tears most nights. Not all kids are happy-go-lucky chappies that are seen and not heard. And, believe it or not, some kids have genuine reasons for being fussy little gits - and being a hard disciplinarian isn't always the answer. Personally, I'd far rather a child spitting food out at the table than a child clearing the plate then quitely going off to make themselves sick in the bathroom. And yep, these are the choices some of us face.

And as for £10/litre olive oil, lardons, butter, three kinds of vinegar and whatever else - well, that's the "gastronomy" bit, innit - the point of the programme wasn't to show one can live in a nutritionally sound way on 50p a day (except that one can't, not any longer, not even Weezl can do it anymore !) - the point was to show that one can eat nice food, with posh ingredients, and that will still cost far, far less than microwave meals and takeways.

Once that first, all-important step is made, then it's down to the people involved - and their individual circumstances - to find their own, personal balance between the economy and the gastronomy - and this balance will be different for each family, each individual. And just because someone's balance is different to ours it does not mean that we can't still learn from them.

Gigervamp

redmel1621 wrote: »

I agree and the fact that she said at the beginning the amount they are saving is the same as her wage...well she now has the option of leaving work and spending more time at home with the kids and if she did this I bet she could shave another £30-£50pw off their food bill:D Of course she may love her job, and her time away from the mania of housework/kids etc. and not want to leave...but she now has the option:)

They did mention at the start of the show that she's going to be losing her job soon, so I suspect that the budget to save how much she earned was deliberate.

FZwanab

I just wanted to say that I loved the programme. I didn't think I'd enjoy it at all.

I can completely understand how that lady could have been tired, 2 year old twins!!! thats hard work, all those nappy changes and they could be up during the night. One terrible 2 year old is difficult enough, running around after them all the time. Never mind also working too. Also, there are certain meals my 9 year old will not eat too, especially curries, so I really don't want to make mealtimes a battle ground and I'd just make beans on toast or scrambled egg on toast instead. That way hubbie is happy he is getting his ruby and child is happy = happy mummy. Other nights like for a big stew or fish dinner there is no choice in the matter, I know its not spicy and I say it will help make them big and strong so they eat it. Even some adults won't eat curries like some elderly people so no good forcing it, mealtimes should be happy and as stress free as possible.

Regarding the chilli sauce, I think that would have blown my head off, never mind kids. I use half a teaspoon of chilli powder, cumin and some cocoa powder and its yum. Putting in the mushrooms was good to bulk it out too. I also liked the way they divided that mince mixture to use 3 different meals.

For a different cheese sauce I boil up milk with an onion studed with cloves, then discard the onion and use the infused milk to make the roux, it makes a difference. Also I hate mustard and would have been sick with the amount put into that sauce, half a teaspoon of very light dijon max would have done me.

I didn't like the look of that hotdog hotpot, hot dogs seem so processed.

The beer batter looked good, I'll have to check out how that is made. We have some beer left over from a party that could be used for this as we don't drink much and I end up pouring it down the drain as it gets out of date. Also could you use anything else except the wine for the chilli and the gravy?, as I'd hate to open a bottle just for cooking with.

Overall I thought it was good and gave me more incentive to use up whats left in my fridge and check what I've got before doing the shopping this week.

redmel1621

Gigervamp wrote: »

They did mention at the start of the show that she's going to be losing her job soon, so I suspect that the budget to save how much she earned was deliberate.

Ah, yes they did...I had forgotten that:D
Well that is excellent then as the family now need not despair at the loss of income...

Mel x

Reverbe

kittie wrote: »

It looks interesting. Difference to curry sauce and chips and crisp sarnies is that they will be making sure that all the nutrition is there to keep people healthy

Kittie if that was a reference to my post/ I mentioned rice not chips. I dont eat junk food and havent had chips for about 7 years.

beckstrous

I am glad that a lot of people enjoyed the show. I really like Allegra and her style of cooking/presentation. Paul came across well too. They seemed like down-to-earth, nice people.
The family seemed like a nice bunch as well, with the right intentions, but as someone else said, they had just got a bit lost. It's very easy to judge them quickly for all those ready meals, and I certainly wouldn't feed our kids (when we have them!) that, but I don't feel that is fair. The dad said at the start of the show something like "I think it's good for them...isn't it?". I think they just genuinely didn't realise!
Re: the comments on oil - yes, £10 is a lot but really good olive oil for dressings etc you do not need a lot of. I think Allegra was trying to show them how to do good, tasty food, what sort of ingredients to use etc. This is kind of what the Leon cookbook is all about, really - encouraging the use of real and wholesome ingredients, just a balanced and sensible approach to eating.
I didn't fancy the sausage hotpot much but the other stuff looked nice and I liked how it was good basic family cooking. The bran muffins were such a good idea. They looked so easy.
Next week will be interesting.

cw18

competitionscafe wrote: »

For farm shops try putting you postcode into the search box at bigbarn.co.uk

The closest it gives me (2 miles each way) is really a meat supermarket - and although I have a friend uses it regularly I'm no more impressed with their quality (or prices) than the supermarkets. Not worth the cost of using the car to get there IMHO.

Next one out is just over 2.5 miles each way - and again meat only.

Closest for vegetables and eggs is 4 miles each way.

Gigervamp

That £10 for olive oil was per litre of extra virgin. You wouldn't buy a whole litre of it. I get a 100ml bottle of Tesco's own brand which costs £1, so it's not really expensive.