Who watched Jamie Oliver's budget meal show last night?

Solstice_3

Chi-me wrote: »

How did your supper turn out last night? Fancy something spicy myself now

It was delicious thanks I got a bit behind with starting so ended up skipping the oven bit so it wasn't a biriyani, I served it as cooked rice with the lamb sauce like a normal curry, with a small side of sag aloo (I just used up my potatoes so didn't make a mains portion). I'm not sure how brown rice would work in this recipe anyway. I have enough leftover brown rice (I overcooked!) to have egg fried rice for lunch I'll be using both recipes again for sure.

maman

I tend to agree that not everyone has the time to find YS and be really frugal but there are a few basic tips that would help hugely. When I worked long hours found a meal plan and shopping list saved me loads of time. There's nothing very efficient about wandering around a SM just putting stuff in the trolley then wondering every night if you've got the ingredients for a meal.


Reading your post lostinrates, I remembered those magazine articles that used to give a week's meals and a (costed) shopping list for a family. You do see menus and sometimes lists these days but rarely prices probably as they keep changing!


I'd agree that maybe a couple of chipolatas aren't enough for the average appetite but we only have two sausages (not chipolatas though) each for similar meals. What we do is have heaps of veg (generally fried onions, carrots, cabbage and peas) with mash and gravy. I think I must be getting hungry.;)

Eyeore

I watched and agree with many points, pro and con. There is only me and OH but he is a big portions chap and so if I served him two sausages he would ask what he was having for main course :rotfl:

I think it is all about balance and what works for you, at the present time, because as we all know cash flow and or trouble comes and goes and you have to adjust accordingly. I have managed to cut our food budget by probably half since reading these boards and watching OS style programmes so am very happy to be able to read or watch and learn.:)

Eyeore

sorry also meant to add that by learning you can then hopefully adjust the ingredients to suit your budget at the time x

honeythewitch

lostinrates wrote: »

I didn't see it, but the test would be not cutting it to the bone I think, but reducing average spend and, crucially, wastage. With lots of amazing average spends published ATM...15k for average weddings, and the average family spending TWO months income on a holiday each year! Then its average families needing to maximise average spends, who have no recourse to measures like food banks, and usually least time for those like me stuck at home for the longer way round things. When I worked I managed to cook from scratch with no problem, But I had different standbys, and expelling more energy then, different food needs.


I think jackieo's posts are always valid but she says it her self, she is cooking from a generation with different expectations, and perhaps not feeding someone with the same calorific requirement. DH for example, simply wouldn't get enough food value from two chipolatas, not do some people in long working hours and family lives have time to YS hunt, and do some of the OS things that so many of us consider the rhythm and routine of our days and weeks.

As a no children household, I'm certainly prepared to go with out a normal healthy choice, or normal meals, if I had children there is No doubt in my mind some of the OS meals people cook I would do what I could to avoid. As a household where health often impacts on diet and what is served I know when I resort to the shorter cuts of cooking ( more meat proteins, less planning use of leftovers more planning for 'the next couple of days not longterm'. Our spends go up. Significantly.

My pot of paprika? Over the years? Less than many spend on chips or chocolate I would guess. Yes, you can cook with out it, and its mates. No doubt what so ever. But if you do whether you still find you food a nicer choice than cheap, low quality junk, whether you become a grudging thrifty cook of fuel or an alchemist of taste and health nobody guesses is thrifty......I dunno.

Its hard to say without having watched, and while I am no great JO fan, I do find some of his recipes very good and there is no doubt they are reaching a demographic. Some of his flavours are far too heavy for me. But subtly pulled back, I find the taste, the health, the beauty, the balance can be put there.

my frustration with OS sometimes is that in pursuit of thrift we can lose the wood for the trees.

Oh, and for the person who mentioned he never measures, I don mt often. I can 'eyeball' most measurements. When I use a measure its often because its the cleanest way to do it

The reason Jamie Oliver never measures is because for butter and oil he would have to use buckets and trowels instead of measuring spoons. :rotfl:

tessie_bear

i used to think the 2 f$t ladies were terrible for using cream and butter in massive quantities...loved their programmes though....never moticed it with jo but will look now...the salt seemed to be flowing

AnnieO1234

First of all I dislike JO. I just can't get to grips with his attitude, style etc. But I did watch the programme with some interest, I don't think there was anything particularly "new" or "exciting" in what he was doing. I liked the look of the lamb salad however.

It was refreshing to hear a tv chef talk about using frozen spinach for example. I learned something new in the idea of freezing ginger.

I just had to comment to remind other posters that part of Jack Monroe's ethos was/is to buy a spice (or other ingredient) a week. It doesn't have to blow the budget in any way, shape or form. The use of such things turns a bland, basic meal into something much more complex and special. Again, it doesn't have to cost loads and I think maybe that was part of the point in the show.

A lot of people unfortunately (generation x) don't think they can cook, and certainly don't think they can cook exceptional recipes like they'd get when eating out, so they overspend on take out, prepped food etc. Shows like this one hopefully encourage them to actually try to cook and certainly not to throw away leftovers but rather to take inspiration and use them up.

Just my two pence.

Xx

paulsad

Can't stand tv chefs especially when they go on missions to help all us "poor folk".

lostinrates

maman wrote: »

I tend to agree that not everyone has the time to find YS and be really frugal but there are a few basic tips that would help hugely. When I worked long hours found a meal plan and shopping list saved me loads of time. There's nothing very efficient about wandering around a SM just putting stuff in the trolley then wondering every night if you've got the ingredients for a meal.


Reading your post lostinrates, I remembered those magazine articles that used to give a week's meals and a (costed) shopping list for a family. You do see menus and sometimes lists these days but rarely prices probably as they keep changing!


I'd agree that maybe a couple of chipolatas aren't enough for the average appetite but we only have two sausages (not chipolatas though) each for similar meals. What we do is have heaps of veg (generally fried onions, carrots, cabbage and peas) with mash and gravy. I think I must be getting hungry.;)

I am afraid I'm not familiar with those magazines. . In fact I was just saying to DH I miss the only cookery magazine I got fairly regularly and would like to get another one for a while.

I think filling up on veg is a very valuable lesson. One that's lost all too often in eating fads and also a loss of the taste for beautiful simply cooked vegetables, and the knowledge of how to cook vegetables more excitingly but simply. We eat a lot of veg, but I find sometimes amoung my less adventurous British friends, those who call them selfs food interested but I would consider baking interested are often obviously a bit nervous of some of our meals in a way our continental, American and further afield fiends just aren't.


Two sausages is fine, too much for me, but I have very singular dietary restrictions. DH would be satiated on a sedentary day but not after a physically demanding one. He is not an ounce over weight. ATM I know this better than usual because he lost a lot of weight through work related stress some time ago.

honeythewitch

paulsad wrote: »

Can't stand tv chefs especially when they go on missions to help all us "poor folk".

At least it is a change from the shows that start off with "take a bit of old leftover fillet steak you were going to throw out"