Only freedom will do

Watty1

That's the bit that surprised me. I find it hard to see how anyone can spend that much on cheap bread and squashes. Now, if they were buying unusual veggies, organic meat, speciality cheeses - yep - can see that - but on general junk ....eeek

edinburgher

I was just wondering how much of that was not necessarily on food, but on other liquid refreshment - beer, wine etc

Good point Arkers, I do not include spends on alcohol in our grocery budget as it is a treat, not an essential. We pay for beer or wine from our own pockets.

I was confused by the guy not noticing that his beer was non alcoholic. Maybe it was because he was a biggish chap, but I'd certainly cotton on pretty quick if my Friday evening beer wasn't giving me a mild fuzzy feeling

The sausages weren't a particularly nice brand as demonstrated by the show.

They looked truly vile. It was odd how the presenters were making the exact same comments that I had moments before. For example, I described the nasty sausages as 'paste fillled balloons'. Let's stop beating around the bush, they were Richmond sausages, weren't they?

Horrible crap puffed up with fillers, binders, connective tissue and anything else that falls into the grinder. Lidl manage to sell 80%+ pork sausages for less, people really should ignore the TV adverts with the gambolling children, country vistas etc.

I wouldn't feed them to my children. In fact, there's probably as much soylent green as pork in them

AlexLK

Sounds utterly disgusting, yet unfortunately the population buying vile, processed, expensive food seems to be acceptable in modern times. Not too long ago my son was invited to a birthday party at McDonalds, needless to say I declined their "kind" invitation.

edinburgher

I'm not going to be a total hypocrite - I do eat junk and processed food - but it's a 'treat' (I use that word loosely)/a convenient break from the norm. I still get flabbergasted that generations of British people seem to have been brainwashed into a position where they will defend to the metaphorical death their right to eat *nothing but* processed crap.

We were chatting about the crazy shopping bill from last night, so many brands on show, I could buy 1/2 a ton of flour for what they spend in one week :rotfl:

AlexLK

edinburgher wrote: »

I'm not going to be a total hypocrite - I do eat junk and processed food - but it's a 'treat' (I use that word loosely)/a convenient break from the norm. I still get flabbergasted that generations of British people seem to have been brainwashed into a position where they will defend to the metaphorical death their right to eat *nothing but* processed crap.

We were chatting about the crazy shopping bill from last night, so many brands on show, I could buy 1/2 a ton of flour for what they spend in one week :rotfl:

I, too, will confess to an odd takeaway. We do eat out a fair amount but not at the sort of place that serves processed rubbish.

Can't say I understand branded "food" though it is a pity locally produced food has also become a "brand" too.

edinburgher

Can't say I understand branded "food" though it is a pity locally produced food has also become a "brand" too.

Fair point, 'locally sourced' is now only a hop, skip and a jump away from fully fledged farmers market poncery

I can't argue with the sense behind the idea though.

Oddly enough, my FIL (a chef) is mad keen on the concept of locally sourced, he also seems to rate organic food highly (despite the lack of proven health benefits). I think these things must have their own trends. He doesn't give a hoot about free range produce and I doubt he could tell you what Fair Trade food is :think:

turtlemoose

Ed, ref your baby budgeting. Can I just point you in the direction of some info around car seats? It's *much* safer to keep your child rear facing as long as possible. Obviously as a newborn they rear face, but many seats in Mothercare/Halfords et al face forwards at quite a low weight/size. Rather than fork out for an infant carrier, then a group 1, then group 2 seat etc, it's more economical to get an extended rear facing (erf) seat that's suitable from birth.

A superb new isofix (I see that's what you want) seat has just been released in the UK, the Concord Reverso. At £290 it seem steep, but when you consider that (unless your child is a giant) this will last you until they are around 4, maybe longer, then it is a really great price, especially when it gives you that peace of mind for added safety.

http://www.preciouslittleone.com/product-information/159/37040/concord-reverso-i-size-car-seat-(stone-grey)/?gclid=CjwKEAiA9KymBRD6g6iOvv2joU0SJAB0vRQyccndLwbLXosOVDHbbvzyHJXXaH6RYZoeWJsd9OGLVRoC6J_w_wcB

for more info:

http://www.rearfacing.co.uk/index.php

edinburgher

Good golly, I had no idea, every seat I have ever seen has been front facing! :eek:

I can see why people get very confused by all of this... Thank you for the pointer, I see further research is required.

turtlemoose

For me, this video says it all really. It's only 38 seconds. A forward facing seat and a rear facing seat in the same crash test, with a small child size test dummy in each seat.

http://youtu.be/fKleExpDLDA

edinburgher

I'm a wuss, so I'm not going to read that, but I have read Which? Their comparison figures for KG of pressure applied have already shocked me. Mrs E is not so surprised, apparently she's already fully aware of the risks etc. and has planned them into our purchases. Still, neither of us had considered an extendable seat, so thank you for the tip :beer: (too early?)