NSK;The Tortoise and The Mad MARCH Hare!!!

mothernerd

Re:the link between poverty and obesity:-

In the early 1980's the Child Poverty Action Group published research showing that to get enough calories to live for a day from celery cost £28, from custard creams 28pence. This was part of a campaign to get the DHSS (Health separated out soon after) to specify how much of the benefit amount was for eg food so that this could be challenged for certain groups of people (pregnant women, people who needed to eat certain foods for medical reasons).

The price difference between some brands is due to the amount of sugar. Sugar is a cheap (and addictive,especially in association with salt) ingredient. Last years BBC2 series The Men Who Made us Fat showed how corn syrup (very sweet, very addictive) was introduced in the 1970's and is now in a huge range of foodstuffs.It also detailed the lengths major manufacturers went to in suppressing/discrediting any research suggesting that sugar made you fat. Credit to Kat for banning processed foods.

In industrial areas (Manchester was the first industrial area in Europe) we have lost our peasant cooking heritage. Six+ generations of both parents working long hours,often in hard occupations (I have a great-aunt who was a pit-brew lass - sorting coal at the surface) meant the 'pie-shops' were a necessity. Six generations on,when the industry goes,the cooking skills don't automatically return. One of the miner's wives (1984-5 strike) complained "People keep giving us sticks" (spaghetti in packets).

Beatrix Campbell (either in her book Wigan Pier Re-visited or in a Guardian article) criticised the Morning Star (Communist Party daily paper) for publishing a warming hotpot dish aimed at the striking miners - when costed out,the ingredients cost more than a chip shop meal for a family of 4). She compared them to the Victorian ladies who descended on the East End slums 'to teach poor mothers how to feed their children properly' - penny for penny the porridge/gruel on which the slum dwellers subsisted was the best thing they could do for their children.

Some of us learn to cook. My mother has only learnt since we all left home,but still relies heavily on jar sauces,whilst I am a make it from scratch person (hay fever, dermatitis and react to additives). However when I had no money and my children were small, I became very cautious - first and foremost you want to give your children something you know they are going to eat. When they start school,they can get picked on for eating different foods to other children (homogenity rules).
Little treats if the have to have something really boring - I once divided the cake decorations (little jelly diamonds etc) between mine as I didn't have any sweets and hadn't any money to buy any.

School cooking lessons are hopeless. Mine each did a year-first year high school and they nearly crippled me -the teacher couldn't cook anything that didn't need meat,cheese and at least 3 peppers/aubergines/courgettes. I would have expected enough meals for a week from that lot. (I also remember back to being 11 and our French teacher trying to explain what an aubergine was - they used to have them in Lennons SM occasionally-as none of us had ever seen one.)

So grateful that now I don't have small children depending on me to feed them and I never had to resort to giving them weetab*x with water - I fed the youngest myself and used the diluted (free) milk powder for the others,at one stage.

Sorry, I'm on my soap box again,thank you for listening. Am I getting to that really old stage where you ramble on for hours? Please tell me if I am boring.

MrsGSR

mooomin wrote: »

Poverty and obesity are definitely linked. Unhealthy processed food seems cheap (although I'm sure most of us know how to make healthy food cheaply!) and for people who have never been shown how to cook decent food it's easy to buy a pizza for £1 as their dinner rather than knocking up a healthy home-cooked meal.

Good point. I didn't even consider that I must admit. I'm sure food banks don't have particularly unhealthy foods though?

MrsGSR

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

Oooooh you need to keep us posted on how this goes! Your organisation skills will come in handy for getting out as many orders as possible (minus the library book mishap) and rake in some good money in the four days you have no DD...... tell us what you have to do to sign up etc... I am intruged. Are you going to dress 1950's everytime you deliver an order in a red jacket..??

I used to be an Avon lady. Did it for around 18 months. I assure you I never dressed in a read jacket or said "Avon calling"
The avon thread on up your income is an ace resource.

stewby

I always give the food banks tins of soup and tins of fruit (in juice). I treat a tin of soup as a meal on its own so it makes me happy to give people an actual meal. I did do supernoodles one month as they were on offer so I could give more. Again, I treat supernoodles as a meal on their own.

They probably aren't the healthiest thing to give but I like the idea of giving them actual meals than bits of meals if that makes sense.

dolly84

mothernerd - I think you have highlighted the fact that the problems we see now are not new we just hear more about them with 24 hour news.

I am a self taught cook, both my mum and dad are good cooks albeit plain food but they never taught me a single thing, I was never allowed to cook, bake, not even wash up or make my own bed - can you imagine. I am slowly but surely teaching my children everything I know - it may not be much but it will be a start.

I think if my children need to take that amount of ingredients into school for cookery lessons I will be in there like a shot suggesting I teach the blooming class - but I am a confrontational so and so:rotfl:

The postie brought me my Dr Oetker free pizza voucher won on facebook, the Halifax paid the £5 reward into my current account
(promptly transferred to my car expenses account) and last night I got my free pack of Tesco finest pasta - got to love a freebie.

Exercise has been done for the day, I have made a veggie curry using loads of parsnips along with carrot, potato, onion and left over coconut milk, work done for the day, just pancakes to make and ironing to do now.

NinjaSavingKat

MrsGSR wrote: »

I used to be an Avon lady. Did it for around 18 months. I assure you I never dressed in a read jacket or said "Avon calling"
The avon thread on up your income is an ace resource.

Completey ruined this for me now.....:p:p:p

NinjaSavingKat

Hmmmm interesting points arise today!!!

MotherNerd I like your posts. That book you mentioned is on my Kindle wishlist and the George Orwell one awaiting it's drop to "free" otherwise I am going to hunt it down at my library! Unfortunately they don't reserve items for free.

I like the term "peasant" cooking. It's denotes to me getting back to basics and not being too fancy. Our bodies might thank us for it.

Being a vegetarian household in Northern Ireland when I was young meant there was nothing "pre-packaged" that I can remember. pasta sauce was always home made, pasta and rice was always brown, lentils on rice with home made sauce on top ( Yummy! ) had a sprinkle of cheese to make things more bearable for us fussy kiddies although we now both love it....

Soup was home made and a staple in the house. Mummy always had home made bread on the go which was eaten pretty fast I must admit. My dad was and still is self-employed. For a long time we lived on one income and my Mum only said recently, which I had never really thought about, was that week-to-week she never knew how much money my Dad would bring home. She had to adapt to whatever budget was available. I am very lucky with knowing I have a certain amount each week / month etc...

Lentils were and still are a staple in my diet and when I go home. A treat was shop bought, tinned tomatoe soup. Which I loved. Mummy used to put brown lentils in it to fill me up knowing full well I would be hungry again within an hour.

We had lunches made for us every day from the beginning of primary school right through to A-levels. Yup thats right ... I didn't make them for myself once. I am incredibly proud of the dedication my Mother showed us when we were little and as we got older ( even now ) and she did teach me to cook, to use a good base to soups (onions, celery and carrots make everything tasty ) and to use up everything...

So with that I am going to turn my sorry wilted carrots, shrivelled beets, lonely sweet potatoes and meagre looking broccoli and make a feast tonight to last the next two days. I have cans of kidney beans for jack's carrot and cumin burgers, two pittas to stuff them into, an avo for relish with some toms.... sorted.... :T:T:T

Sorry that's my rant..... time to make do and mend eh? I prefer this though to frivolity. I know I can live despite minimals moneies spent on noms.

Siousxie - you are not forcing anyone into anything. You don't want to spend your hard earned cash supporting a very cruel and unneccessary industry ( sorry another vegan here folks ) so you buy what you want to buy. People might notice, they might not. Lactose intolerant folk will appreciate it .. you just don't know who you are going to help!

Dolly84 - well done you for teaching your littles to look after themselves. It's vital that we do this for them and teach them along the way of how much things cost....

Would be interesting to test them though - anyone who has kids - to a challenge of wits. £5 to feed a family of 4 or there abouts. Bring them to the supermarket, walk with them, talk about prices and portion control and see what they can do..... Would anyone do this with their littles?

Stewby I am going to ignore that comment about supernoodles being a meal on their own! :p:p Albeit I am partial to a can of tinned spaghetti on toast when I am feeling really naughty... with cayenne pepper on top of course...

Chickadee there are a few veggies / vegans here so any questions please ask about your meat-free journey!

I am certainly not peddling my belief stream by the way.. I have never eaten meat thats all.. and only went vegan last year....

Anyway enough from me.... looks to be dry outside so I won't turn up at home drenched like yesterday....

NinjaSavingKat

Just found this by Jack.... http://www.change.org/endhungerbudget

Am away home so I will give you all a break from my witterings until tomorrow morning...

Good Night all!

SiannieLaz

Hey All,
Avon lady came a calling today and I'm all signed up, just waiting for the email of my territory, NSK - I'm afraid I look more like this


than the traditional avon lady! Sorry to burst your bubble! I have checked out the Avon thread and have already started putting my paperwork together. The 4 days I am DD free are spent wiping bottoms at my local cottage hospital so she will be accompanying me on my delivery round!
Paid my library fee and didn't take any more books out, the temptation to read rather than do something constructive is too strong otherwise, plus I already have two large bookcases bursting with books I'm happy to ready again.
Popped into my local B*dgens to get some milk, and stupidly filled up the basket with carp I didn't need thankfully, when I got to the checkout I'd forgotten my purse so had to put everything back and just get the milk with the change I had!
My twopence worth on the food debate, I wasn't taught to cook by my mum, and my parents had regular takeaways, but I soon taught myself as I moved out when I was 16 so had to learn to cook pretty sharpish. Although I love a bit of junk food, I have always cooked from scratch and used the freezer, that way I can spend one day cooking then not have to bother for a fortnight! I do the same with DD and freeze the usuals (spag bol, fish pie's, etc) as well as roast dinner portions. I also make my own fish fingers, chicken nuggets and chips so she gets 'junk food' that way. I definitely think sensible cooking should be taught in schools, not just cakes which was all I learned.
Anyhoo, off to pack up my brochures and do some decluttering xx night all

SiannieLaz

My pic didn't come up above (it was les dawson in drag!)
And forgot my totals
2/15 SFD's
£7.48/£100 groceries incl cat food
2/18 LTW
0/£40 petrol
0/30 donations/declutter
ta ta