Cost of Food & Obesity Amongst Poorer People

anniecave

The main issue is that it takes planning (buying the correct foods) and the knowledge and skill that is cooking to put a decent meal together.

I can cook myself lots of healthy meals as long as I've got the ingredients to hand.

If you don't plan and buy the ingredients in advance, then you'll think "oh I'll just go to the nearest shop and buy a pizza" or even more expensive, order a takeaway or delivered meal.

I live in shared house, and the guy who's just moved out was the classic. Occasionally he bought proper food, but then often it would go off before he got around to deciding to cook it. He didn't understand how to freeze meat into portions and defrost as necessary. I explained to him a couple of times, but he still didn't seem to get it! Sometimes he would go out and buy pizza or a microwave meal. More often he ordered delivery pizza as he simply couldn't be bothered to go out and buy even something simple to cook and either couldn't be bothered to cook or lacked inspiration to cook with what he had in!

adouglasmhor

I was watching Kilroy one time when I was home on leave, a woman was explaining how she got 3 meals out of a chicken for her and her daughter (roast, then a curry or fricasse dish then soup using the carcass for stock), a scouse git in sunglasses, leather bomber, nice jeans and dripping in cheap gold jewellery went straight on the offensive, saying oh but you're a gourmet chef, I haven't got time etc. I can't learn that stuff at my age (the doley twonk had all day to get his fake tanned mutton backside to the library and get a book out), he obviously thought cooking was for mugs (like the ethnics in the take away) not him.

gallygirl

To be honest though, who hasn't looked at the before table on 'You Are What You Eat' or 'Fat Families' and thought 'phwoar, I could handle that' . Or is that just me .

There are distinct groups of people who would find it hard to eat healthily - e.g. single mums or diabled folk living on benefits in flats on council estates with no nearby supermarkets. I can afford to eat healthy and well - I can drive round to various supermarkets and markets to get good deals, when chldren were young I would buy a sack of spuds etc. But if your food budget is £10-15 for the week you can't afford to spend 1/2 of that on potatoes, and then try to get upstairs and find somewhere to store. Same with genuine good offers or supermarket glitches - you can't afford to take advantage of them (if you have the internet to find out about them in the 1st place). Same with companies like Approved Foods - massive tins of tomatoes etc very cheap, also packet rice & cous cous (not that healthy but better than egg fried!) but not much good if you can't afford the minimum order etc.

On the other hand, with widespread internet access on phones even if not PC's there is no excuse for not knowing how to eat healthily. Google 'cheap, healthy meals' and get over 3 million to choose from (not sure I agree with the BBC's definition which seems to be £2 a head :eek:). You don't need detailed scientific knowledge to cook their suggestions.

~Chameleon~

gallygirl wrote: »

To be honest though, who hasn't looked at the before table on 'You Are What You Eat' or 'Fat Families' and thought 'phwoar, I could handle that' . Or is that just me .

Just you!!! Makes me go _pale_

There are distinct groups of people who would find it hard to eat healthily - e.g. single mums or diabled folk living on benefits

Stereotypical claptrap!! I've been both a single parent and I'm also disabled yet I'm perfectly capable of eating healthy food. Don't judge people by your own standards.

bossymoo

Indeed! I am a single mum (and btw not all single mums are "on benefits" ) and I cook for my children, we don't do takeaway here!

chewmylegoff

gallygirl wrote: »

On the other hand, with widespread internet access on phones even if not PC's there is no excuse for not knowing how to eat healthily. Google 'cheap, healthy meals' and get over 3 million to choose from (not sure I agree with the BBC's definition which seems to be £2 a head :eek:). You don't need detailed scientific knowledge to cook their suggestions.

the trouble is that the internet is full of complete and utter drivel (you only need to read my posting history to see that), and unless you know what you are reading is drivel, you can't tell that it is not. thus if you type cheap healthy meals into google, and you don't already actually have rudimentary understanding of what is healthy, you'll end up stuffing yourself with pasta and thinking you're doing rather well.

breadlinebetty

adouglasmhor wrote: »

But if you constantly eat less you will also burn less. This has been known for years.

So how do you account for the skeletal prisoners in the concentration camps in WW11?

And how do you account for anorexics looking like skeletons?

FACT is the body needs needs a certain amount of calories each day to just function. If, say, an average build woman was comatose in a hospital bed she'd still need approximately 2000 calories a day just to keep her functioning and from turning into skin and bone.

So that blows your argument right out the water....

breadlinebetty

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Eating too much, i.e. calories is a trait of the Western world.

Being rich doesn't make one any more wiser.

But you haven't explained why rich people tend to be slimmer than poor people?

breadlinebetty

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Mrs Loughton Monkey, sadly, keeps me on the straight & narrow by cooking "real" food most of the time. But when out without her, I often succumb to my own version of "5 a day".

Fish & Chips [Count 1 for the potatoes].
A few peas [Count 2]
Tomato Sauce [Count 3]
Slice of lemon [Count 4]
All washed down with a glass of wine [Count 5 for the fermented grapes].

Luckily I am nowhere near fat. I have an excellent diet for those who are grossly obese. "Eat Less".

Fish & Chips can be very good for you provided you incorporate the caloies into your daily allowance.:)

A lovely piece of fresh battered cod fied in sunflower oil, thick chunky chips and peas...there's nothing unhealthy about that. And tomato ketchup has cancer fighting antioxidants, so another good choice:) Vitamin C in the lemon and wine good for the old ticker........

A perfectly balanced diet - providing you don't eat it in addition to your other meals for that day. Some people buy chips, pizzas, kebabs, burgers as a snack between meals!!

breadlinebetty

gallygirl wrote: »

To be honest though, who hasn't looked at the before table on 'You Are What You Eat' or 'Fat Families' and thought 'phwoar, I could handle that' . Or is that just me .

There are distinct groups of people who would find it hard to eat healthily - e.g. single mums or diabled folk living on benefits in flats on council estates with no nearby supermarkets. I can afford to eat healthy and well - I can drive round to various supermarkets and markets to get good deals, when chldren were young I would buy a sack of spuds etc. But if your food budget is £10-15 for the week you can't afford to spend 1/2 of that on potatoes, and then try to get upstairs and find somewhere to store. Same with genuine good offers or supermarket glitches - you can't afford to take advantage of them (if you have the internet to find out about them in the 1st place). Same with companies like Approved Foods - massive tins of tomatoes etc very cheap, also packet rice & cous cous (not that healthy but better than egg fried!) but not much good if you can't afford the minimum order etc.

On the other hand, with widespread internet access on phones even if not PC's there is no excuse for not knowing how to eat healthily. Google 'cheap, healthy meals' and get over 3 million to choose from (not sure I agree with the BBC's definition which seems to be £2 a head :eek:). You don't need detailed scientific knowledge to cook their suggestions.

"To be honest though, who hasn't looked at the before table on 'You Are What You Eat' or 'Fat Families' and thought 'phwoar, I could handle that' . Or is that just me ."



I think that's just you

Sorry, but I enjoy my food too, and will sometimes tuck in to something that's fattening and/or unhealthy, but I wouldn't be tempted by most of the foods on those fat families tables. It's usually stuff like piles of crisps, biscuits, fizzy cola, frozen pizzas, frozen chips, frozen onion rings, frozen beefburgers/sausages, tinned spaghetti hoops, Bird's Angel Delight mix, doner kebabs, pie & chips from the local chippie with gravy, sweet & sour pork balls, egg fried rice, take-away curries, lager, deep fried chocolate bars, Pot Noodles in every flavour, buckets of KFC, and 14 bottles of Lambrusca!

:(:(


"But if your food budget is £10-15 for the week you can't afford to spend 1/2 of that on potatoes, and then try to get upstairs and find somewhere to store."

If you've only got a budget of £10-15 how can you afford takeaways?? Buying a sack of spuds would be cheaper and more healthier. Spuds, beans, cheese, eggs, mince, frozen veg......you can make some healthy dishes out of that lot.

I don't know how anyone manages on £15 a week for food, though - that sounds impossible to me.