"Eat Well For Less?" - thoughts?

Prinzessilein

Having just watched the second episode,.....


my first thought was 'why didn't they suggest a slowcooker for the over-stressed low-cooking-skilled Mum?'....The family seemed to enjoy meals like curry and chilli...which are just so easy to prepare and cook in the slowcooker, and before long she could get the prep done in about 10 minutes, switch on the cooker and then do nothing until it is time to cook some rice or potatoes just before dinner!


Then I would have liked to give her a simple cook book...plenty to choose from at the library until she decides on which would be best for her to buy....for her family I would suggest the Economy Gastronomy book...and maybe a good general book Good Housekeeping perhaps or Readers Digest Cookery Year....She seemed bright enough and willing to learn - why has she not considered teaching herself before?


As for pre-prepared veg...yes I have used them before! In my defence I have assorted disabilities and can no longer safely use sharp knives....generally speaking I use my handy electric chopper....and I have a Mum/Carer who is happy to come and do some chopping for me...but sometimes those bags ARE a Godsend! (I bake my own bread...but have Mum come round and slice it for me!)


And I agree with the comments about the demonization of sugar....sugar seems to be the 'big baddie' of the moment. But there are plenty of other things that a healthy diet would reduce too...salt, saturated fats, certain artificial colourings and flavourings....


Oh...and for a family that like their joghurt...why wasn't it suggested that they make their own?....I reckon that 5 or 10 minutes talk and demo is all that would be needed and the Mum could have a batch on the go...then add your own choice of fresh fruit, honey, nuts whatever (even a good quality jam for the children)...I have just made a batch, chilling in the fridge - tonight's dessert is pineapple and coconut joghurt *slurp*...I also strain joghurt and make my own 'Philly' cheese.

Goldiegirl

oops, thanks for that Jack:rotfl:


I'm able to make a lower sodium version of pizza. I make the dough in my breadmaker, using lo-salt, then top it with tinned tomatoes and things like peppers, mushrooms, sweetcorn, etc, with a tiny bit of cheese.


I imagine you are making your own pizzas too.


At 0.46g of salt per 200g portion of mince (Sainsbury's 5 % fat mince), I've yet to find a shop bought pizza which can match this. The random search I just did on a selection of pizzas revealed a salt content of between 1.22g to 2g per half a pizza

edinburghlad

the main shock for me was the £350+ spend per week for a family of 6, and they shop at waitrose!

Goldiegirl

jack_pott wrote: »

I eat 7.4 portions of fruit and veg a day, and my sugar intake is half the current recommendation.

A lot of people have been saying they don't eat fruit at all due to the sugar in it. I find it very sad that people are denying themselves of a huge selection of varied items, when they don't really need to

115K

I was laughing at the woman moaning about chopping carrots and how long it was taking.:rotfl: Ridiculous.

I thought that was interesting about the sugar in the pasta sauce. I often do make my own but I do like the Lloyd G ones so that made me think about buying ready made sauces.

What a gorgeous kitchen too.:)

[Deleted User]

I'd like to see them set themselves a more realistic challenge than saving on a budget of £18,000, it's patronising the viewers to think that they need advice on how to do that. They weren't overweight, so they must have been throwing away far more than they eat. Get Jack Monroe to present a series.

[Deleted User]

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I imagine you are making your own pizzas too.

At 0.46g of salt per 200g portion of mince (Sainsbury's 5 % fat mince), I've yet to find a shop bought pizza which can match this. The random search I just did on a selection of pizzas revealed a salt content of between 1.22g to 2g per half a pizza

No, I buy my pizzas. The quantity of food you need is measured in calories not grams, so you need to compare the salt in relation to the calories you're eating.

For example, by weight my pizzas are 0.6% salt, compared with 0.4% for the mince, however the pizza is 2.68g/1000kcal compared with 2.86g/1000kcal in the mince.

If the recommended intakes are 4g/day of salt, and 2500kcal/day, then a high salt food is anything with more than 4/2.5= 1.6g/1000kcal.

Goldiegirl

jack_pott wrote: »

No, I buy my pizzas. The quantity of food you need is measured in calories not grams, so you need to compare the salt in relation to the calories you're eating.

For example, by weight my pizzas are 0.6% salt, compared with 0.4% for the mince, however the pizza is 2.68g/1000kcal compared with 2.86g/1000kcal in the mince.

If the recommended intakes are 4g/day of salt, and 2500kcal/day, then a high salt food is anything with more than 4/2.5= 1.6g/1000kcal.

My main driver for food is the salt/sodium content, as the low sodium diet is what keeps me well.


I would find it much too restricting to have to count the value of everything that passes my lips, so I don't think in terms of calories as well as salt. The salt is the thing that I'm interested in,


Therefore, given a straight choice between mince and shop bought pizza, I would have to choose the mince every time.
With a 100g of mince at with a salt content of just 0.23g I could prepare myself a relatively low sodium meal, rather than a pizza which would be, in my terms, loaded with salt. As I need to keep my sodium levels steady throughout the day, it wouldn't be good to 'spike' the salt intake either.


The calorie intake is a low level concern for me. A low calorie food with a high salt content would be no good for me at all.


I'm careful to eat a balanced diet, and my weight is in proportion to my height, so I'm getting the nutrition I need without slavishly counting calories as well as sodium

[Deleted User]

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I don't think in terms of calories as well as salt. The salt is the thing that I'm interested in

My point is that your stomach thinks in terms of calories. If you eat something low in salt, but low in calories too, you will end up feeling correspondingly hungrier, and by the time you've eaten more to satisfy the hunger you've also eaten more salt.

It's quite easy to check, when you look at the label it will say something like "a portion contains 19% of your daily calorie requirement". If it says that same portion contains more than 19% of your salt requirement, then it's high salt. Quick and simple: just compare the two percentages and see which is the higher, no mental arithmetic required even.

merzal

Aside from the obvious shocks I couldnt believe the price of the shop bought Indian. They said they usual spend £22 on a takeaway and the shop bought one was £5.50 cheaper...making it £16.50-is that correct?! Thats only on one meal and they didnt seem to have that much!