6000 meals under 50p in 2010; feeding your family on a low budget

Kellylea

I love this thread and Nickys new thread and it's such a shame that it got a bit off track and tarnished.

I agree with nightsong that polishbig should leave this thread alone if they don't agree with OP challenge not comment on every menu or diary entry thats put and discourage what these people are doing. And if they do feel they have to antagonise on this thread then they should be reported.

I don't eat 5 a day but I do cook from scratch and eat a healthy vaired diet as does my toddler, he is a healthy strong and very clever boy. We have fish once a week, red meat chicken and lots of pulses etc in our diet. I don't feel the need to count 5 different fruit and veg into each day we just simply eat it as it will suit our needs for example one day we might have fruit for breakfast, veg soup for dinner and a meat and veg tea which would be well over 5 but the next day simply have hm bread toasted for breakfast with free range poached egg, jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn for lunch and chicken pasta for tea. I don't worry myself thinking oh god I had one portion of veg today.

All the best with your challenge I'll be following along.

x x x

rachbc

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Why introduce such things to her diet in the first place, especially if you're doing a really good job of feeding fruit and vegetables throughout the week? They say that if you never eat such foods, then you can't 'miss' them and thus you'll pick the healthy option as it's what you're used to.

The fact that her "nanny" (whatever that is) can't cook should be no reason to prevent it - in fact, it's often relatives who ruin a child through feeding foods that the child isn't eating at home.

To use your words 'rubbish' I was not allowed any sweets etc in childhood and love them as much (probably more) than most people once I was able to exercise choice.

And 'nanny' is a fairly common colloquialism for a grandparent.

misscousinitt

Just came across this thread today and can I say WELL DONE to the OP for setting the challenge.

It is a pity that alot of this thread has been tarnished by nasties.

It is possible to eat healthily for very little money; especially if you have your own chickens and you grow your own. Have people lost sight that the target is not 100% of meals to be under 50p; but 90%!! And ultimately the goal is to keep within the Grocery Budget....

I applaud people who set these challenges and the resulting threads usually throw up some great ideas that people can incorporate into their lives and make a difference to their budget.

And as far as being healthy can I just say this...everything in moderation...everyone deserves a treat from time to time. As my Nan used to say, "A little bit of what you fancy does you good", and she lived to 91!!!!

I look forward to following this thread. Good Luck with your journey.

;-)

catspaw

Good luck with your challenge, I will be subscribing.

Would like to join but think maybe £1 would be better from my side.....I'lwtach for a while and then see if I could do it!

BexInLondon

I did a course in community food education a couple of years back (and yes, the advice does change all the time). Aside from the actual nutrition info, the main thing I took away was that you have to proceed VERY carefully in trying to change people's food habits. Occasionally, when I was talking to a parent with big health problems of their own and obese children I'd speak really plainly about the dangers of this but this was made easier by the fact that they were sat in the same room as me, and they knew me already and knew I was on their side. There's a real temptation to snipe at people you don't know online as it makes you feel a bit better about yourself for 30 seconds but it's counter-productive and makes you a worse person, I feel.

All that is to say that I think it's unlikely that people are going to eat more healthily because someone tells them off online. The different variations on lentil soup are probably the posts that will have the most health-promoting effects on here! Suggestions always work better than nags (ask my OH)! Funnily enough, lentil soup was what we always used to teach people on the healthy eating course to make, and I've bumped into people years later who still make it.

I might try to make millions from a book about Lentil Soup!

ALIBOBSY

pretz wrote: »

alibobsy i know its not much fun but its much better than it was at one stage she refused to eat for days as everything was "dirty" we had no idea where she got this from as had eaten anything in her grasps till she was about 2 and even now things are dirty but docs say its just a phase and she will grow out of it, she does eat a very restricted diet but it is now full of fruit and veg and she does only get that meal list once a week when she goes to nannys so its never going to hurt lol

I know a strapping 10 year old who wouldn't eat anything, but baked beans for the first 4 years (and not much of them). His mum was at her wits end and couldn't understand it as his sister (18 months younger) would eat anything. They even were referred to the hospital who threatened to force feed him (not helpful :mad:).
He did grow out of it and eats just about anything now.

My cousins little boy (well he is 20 now lol) would only eat fish fingers or nuggets with mash (never chips) for about 3 years and again he grew out of it. So you will get there in the end. Good luck.

ali x

ALIBOBSY

On the subject of lentil soup I used to do a weightwatchers version that was a curry or spicy version anyone know a simular recipe?

ali x

phizzimum

BexInLondon wrote: »

The different variations on lentil soup are probably the posts that will have the most health-promoting effects on here! Suggestions always work better than nags

couldn't agree more! let's hope we get some good recipes and inspiration on this thread. I was thinking back to Weezl's 50p thread (now that was 50p a day not a meal) A challenge like that came up with some really outstanding recipes and gave rise to lots of discussion about seasonal eating and foraging etc.

PolishBigSpender

BexInLondon wrote: »

I might try to make millions from a book about Lentil Soup!

Interestingly, lentils are very expensive in Poland, which is strange when so many raw ingredients are ridiculously cheap (thank you, EU subsidies to our farmers!).

But I'd buy your book - I absolutely adore lentil soup and all the variations you can make with it.

The point I'm trying to make is that you can indeed eat healthily and cheaply. If someone can knock up a healthy meal for 20 pence, excellent! But it's not excellent if it's an unhealthy, unbalanced diet. I think it's fair that I can comment on the health values of the meals - and now that Nikki has explained herself much better, I'm going to read it with interest.

The thing that people seem to have forgotten here is that price isn't everything.

zippychick

I have just read this whole debacle from start to finish. Good luck to Nicki and Mark.

I'm off to find the paracetamol for my newly developed headache.