"Eat Well For Less?" - thoughts?

FZwanab

catkins wrote: »

Also made me laugh that she thought she was a connoisseur of baked beans but couldn't taste the difference between Heinz and Asda! Asda baked beans I think are disgusting. I have tried all brands and, for me, only Heinz taste decent. Sainsbury's ones are ok in a chilli but not on their own

this is a cheap enough comparison for anyone to do, buy one tin of all brands to compare and taste. When taste comparison has been done you can add the beans to a big batch of soup or chilli, beans can be rinsed to take away sauce if u want it in a chilli etc.

redmel1621

I caught up with episode 3 yesterday.

I did find this couple a bit 'wet behind the ears' but not in a nasty way, I just thought they came across as a bit dopey. I just couldn't imagine throwing all that food away, especially the frozen stuff!

There were some amusing moments in this episode (as with previous ones) Firstly the beans, she seemed rather alarmed and embarrassed that she couldn't tell if they were swapped. Secondly the bread, they were adamant it was swapped as it was so bland and dry lol. Thirdly I found it highly amusing that the dad fried up the onions, added garlic and chilli, a tin of tomatoes and then an expensive jar of 'sauce' haha... He truly didn't realise that he had made his own sauce already

I will continue to watch as I generally find it inoffensive and amusing. There is usually a little nugget of information in each show that interests me. The orange juice was extremely interesting in the first show and I might give the cornflake coated chicken nuggets a try some time. My kids love nuggets but we never have them as I don't like the thought of cheap ones and I can't afford the expensive, better quality, ones.

[Deleted User]

redmel1621 wrote: »

I caught up with episode 3 yesterday.

I did find this couple a bit 'wet behind the ears' but not in a nasty way, I just thought they came across as a bit dopey. I just couldn't imagine throwing all that food away, especially the frozen stuff!

There were some amusing moments in this episode (as with previous ones) Firstly the beans, she seemed rather alarmed and embarrassed that she couldn't tell if they were swapped. Secondly the bread, they were adamant it was swapped as it was so bland and dry lol. Thirdly I found it highly amusing that the dad fried up the onions, added garlic and chilli, a tin of tomatoes and then an expensive jar of 'sauce' haha... He truly didn't realise that he had made his own sauce already

I will continue to watch as I generally find it inoffensive and amusing. There is usually a little nugget of information in each show that interests me. The orange juice was extremely interesting in the first show and I might give the cornflake coated chicken nuggets a try some time. My kids love nuggets but we never have them as I don't like the thought of cheap ones and I can't afford the expensive, better quality, ones.

Episode 3 was the last episode.

Cornucopia

I've seen all three episodes, and although it's a jolly little programme, I don't think the contestants come across all that well.

Nice enough people, but finding out that there are cheaper versions of standard products is not exactly rocket science. Aldi/Lidl shopping would be £20-30 per person, depending on the amount of luxuries.

I'm also slightly concerned at the portion sizes suggested by some of the meals (though there may be some editing issues). In the first programme, the Dad served two small children 4 large sausages, each. This would be a large amount of calories, and an excessive amount of fat and salt for children that young.

In episode 3, the adults were shown making their own Indian takeaway. They had 3 or 4 main dishes, starters, naans and rice between 2 of them.

In all the episodes, dishes were shown with what looked like 750-1000g of minced beef for families of 4.


Overall, the programme left me wondering if someone at the BBC came up with the idea to make plain packaging (which they would have to do anyway) a virtue?

As for cheap-tasting beans - that must be a First World problem. (I was impressed that the students nailed the taste-test, though).

sassysar

I thought the family this week were lovely and just uneducated - willing to learn though. Just need to teach them how to get to florida on £400 plus clubcard points now

catkins

Goldiegirl wrote: »

But nobody is born knowing those skills, they have to learn from somewhere. If they want to do it on a TV show then that's their choice.

If the show gives a few people (participants and viewers alike) a few ideas on how so make a few savings, then surely it can't be a bad thing?

People may not be born knowing skills but if you want to save money for a holiday you would look at where your money is going and what you can cut back on. If you are spending £300 or more a week on food then I would have thought it was pretty obvious you can cut down on that. Hardly rocket science!


As I said before, how on earth can you spend £300 plus EVERY week on food and not be buying best steak, caviar, champagne etc?

Cornucopia

I think what seemed to be happening in each episode was a kind of food snobbery in which they felt they deserved particular products, particular brands and a particular level of convenience.

In the third episode, I was quite surprised how little shopping the family actually got for £190 in Sainsbury's.

I don't believe that any reasonably well-informed adult could possibly not know what Aldi & Lidl are. However, I have heard many people voice the same set of objections to shopping there. Although those reasons may not be well-founded, negative perceptions can be difficult to overcome, especially if the brands concerned are not particularly compelling.

[Deleted User]

My brother lives in France and thinks its a hoot that folk in England turn their noses up at Aldi's or Lidls.They are the normal shops there.Where he lives is quite rural and he will drive his partner Sandra and himself into the nearest 'big' town of Ruffec once a month to get staples and essentials The nearest tiny supermarket is 9 miles from him and has very limited stocks anyway They do go to the farmers market there about once a fortnight and can buy veg that was pulled or picked the day beforeand at a fraction of the price I pay In season they can buy asparagas at 50p for a huge bunch ( I drool when he tells me this )But some things are more expensive ,clothes are not cheap and the charity shop doesn't seem to exist where he lives.The programme was really more of a light entertainment programme and I'm not too sure if folk learned a lot apart from how to dispose of a lot of money when you don't need to.Most of the people on here are far more money-savvy so this sort of programme would be wasted on them.
I'd like to see a cookery programme with Jack Monroe showing people how to feed yourself on buttons as she did when her shopping money was down to £10.00 per week for herself and her little boy.Now that would be worth watching

catkins

Cornucopia wrote: »

I think what seemed to be happening in each episode was a kind of food snobbery in which they felt they deserved particular products, particular brands and a particular level of convenience.

In the third episode, I was quite surprised how little shopping the family actually got for £190 in Sainsbury's.

I don't believe that any reasonably well-informed adult could possibly not know what Aldi & Lidl are. However, I have heard many people voice the same set of objections to shopping there. Although those reasons may not be well-founded, negative perceptions can be difficult to overcome, especially if the brands concerned are not particularly compelling.

I thought the family in the third programme spent over £300?


I do my main shop in Sainsbury and I don't find them expensive. This week my shop was £4 cheaper than it would have been in Asda (the shop almost everyone seems to think is cheap).


I do buy some things in Lidl - not keen on Aldi but I just can't buy all the items I want so only shop there occasionally.

Cornucopia

catkins wrote: »

I thought the family in the third programme spent over £300?

That was their weekly spend, but the single main shop in Sainsbury's was £190, IIRC.

I do my main shop in Sainsbury and I don't find them expensive. This week my shop was £4 cheaper than it would have been in Asda (the shop almost everyone seems to think is cheap).

Obviously, it depends on what you buy. The semi-official figures show that Sainsbury's is more expensive than Asda. Sainsbury's is certainly (in my experience and by the official figures) significantly more expensive than Aldi (some products getting on for double the Aldi price).

About a quarter of my weekly spend is from the chilled deli area, and I know that Aldi has a great deal of choice/quality there, as well as being cheaper than main supermarkets on pretty much every product.

Breakfast cereal is probably only 5% of my spend, so although Aldi are cheaper on virtually every product, this doesn't make a huge impact for me.

I'm buying meat at Morrisons at the moment, because of a combination of price and pack size at Aldi.

I do buy some things in Lidl - not keen on Aldi but I just can't buy all the items I want so only shop there occasionally.

This is one of the common objections, though I'm not sure how accurate it is. Unless you have a special/unusual diet, I wouldn't have thought shopping in Aldi was a problem.

But it's up to the individual. Maybe there is slightly more effort involved in splitting the shopping, but maybe there are significant savings to be had?