Eat Well For Less Series 3

catkins

luxor4t wrote: »

I could spend £300 a week - I'd be living in a tent in the sand dunes quite soon though !

What on food? Admittedly me and OH are vegetarian but even if I had £300 a week to spend on food I just would not be able to. Nor £200.

JIL wrote: »

This weeks 70 packets of Crisps had my chin on the floor.

Although the couple seemed nice enough the woman really annoyed me. A cup of tea and some biscuits for breakfast, 7o bags of crisps a week, loads of cola drink. Has she ever heard of healthy food?

Also giving her eldest son money so he can eat out every night (junk needless to say) shocked me and giving the other children a microwave meal almost every evening (each child getting a different meal!).

I can't help wondering though how much this programme is staged. They always get people who don't seem to have a clue how much they are spending on food. Now I couldn't tell you to the nearest penny but I have a good idea what I spend a month.

Also mum said she thought she did about 5 top up shops a week and yet they said she had done 12. How can you forget going to the local shop 12 times in 1 week?

It makes the people come across as pretty stupid to be honest. Also how come they can never tell whether a swopped food is their liked food or not? I am fairly certain I could tell with most of the things I like. I would certainly know if baked beans were Heinz or not as I have tried them all and think they are all disgusting apart from Heinz

Wednesday2000

I know, who has tea and biscuits for breakfast? Totally weird.:D

I think the presenter is definitely gurning less, he maybe reads this thread on MSE.:p

GlasweJen

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

I know, who has tea and biscuits for breakfast? Totally weird.:D

I think the presenter is definitely gurning less, he maybe reads this thread on MSE.:p

Me! I can't eat anything else in the morning but I certainly don't eat 70 bags of crisps in a week, I probably have one bag a month!

I do know people who genuinely don't have a clue about food spending. I mentioned a previous episode of this programme (maybe a Christmas special) in conversation at work, how could anyone turn their nose up at salmon trimmings and then proceed to cut up a nice bit of smoked salmon to chuck on scrambled egg? One of the nurses said "oh, is that what the little packets were, I thought those were for pets". Pets! Who gives their pet a pack of salmon on a regular basis? Our dogs lucky if she gets a scrap.

Wednesday2000

GlasweJen wrote: »

Me! I can't eat anything else in the morning but I certainly don't eat 70 bags of crisps in a week, I probably have one bag a month!

But wasn't she saying that she fed that to her kids for breakfast too?

PasturesNew

I love crisps ... love them. But, I also don't want to be the size of a planet.

I actively and deliberately say "no" to crisps almost every time I go shopping; I deliberately and knowingly "treat" myself to a 6-pack about 3x a year (certainly one 6-pack at Xmas).

So I love crisps and COULD eat 70 packets a week .... but I know that's just wrong, it's piggy, it's ridiculous, it's OTT. It'd need to be STOPPED. Everybody knows when they're eating/drinking too much of one item .... and they need to have that conversation with themselves and then try to stop, slow down, pace themselves, set "mini challenges" where you don't buy them today, but wait 24 hours for a "gap".

There has to be some point at which you say "Too much..... stop it". Even if she reined it in to one 12-pack/week that'd be a good start.

maman

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

But wasn't she saying that she fed that to her kids for breakfast too?

Yes, I think that was everyone's breakfast.


I think it was the unhealthy eating that got to me rather than the total waste of money. They were a family of 6 so I'd expect a relatively high bill but there seemed very little 'proper food' in there except for the chicken and then they threw out leftovers:eek:.


I think there were some issues there that I picked up reading between the lines. They'd recently all moved in together so maybe she was trying to please everyone by keeping that ridiculous snack cupboard and allowing the older boy to go out every night and eat at the kebab van or wherever with his mates. She said she felt a bit intimidated by the new husband being a good cook but as he worked long hours it was left to her to feed the family most of the time. She didn't want to cause potential tantrums amongst the children by insisting on a single meal or anything healthy. He was biting his tongue as a new husband as he wanted it to work although he was unhappy at working all hours (got the feeing she worked part time in a food van) as he provided most of the money that was wasted.

PasturesNew

maman wrote: »

.... he provided most of the money that was wasted.

That's always who I feel sorry/embarrassed for - the poor sucker working to pay for waste.

I'd rather spend 2 hours with the person of my dreams and eat beans on toast .... than have an expensive food item without them as they were working to pay for it.

It's like a triple whammy of mean.

ash28

catkins wrote: »

Also how come they can never tell whether a swopped food is their liked food or not? I am fairly certain I could tell with most of the things I like. I would certainly know if baked beans were Heinz or not as I have tried them all and think they are all disgusting apart from Heinz

This is a form of blind tasting, a well researched method used by food manufacturers and brands, it rules out any form of bias.

Brand influence and marketing play a huge part in peoples buying habits, as does brand loyalty, branding to all intents and purposes turns what is a commodity into something much more valuable to a manufacturer and increases profits.

For instance the cola the family were given was the cola they always bought but perhaps because of the labelling they assumed it was a cheaper alternative and thought it was awful....the message there is why buy the premium brand if you can't tell what you're drinking.

The same with the dad's beer, he was convinced it was the same beer he alway bought but it was a cheaper alternative....so why buy the brand if the cheaper alternative is the same.

However, the family knew the ketchup wasn't their normal ketchup and the mum knew her wine had been changed (last week the woman thought her wine had been changed but it hadn't) and she knew her coffee had been changed.

A blind taste test for cola was carried out with the disabled athletes. And although Pepsi came out first, Lidl was second and Coke (the market leader and most expensive) about third if I remember.

suki1964

I swapped to lidis about a month ago and you really can't tell the difference in a blind test. At 57p for 2 litres it's saving me a fortune

Gigervamp

I'm just watching the second episode. 10 minutes in and she's already getting on my nerves. Those poor kids are growing up with bad eating habits that will affect them into adulthood.

I feel sorry for the bloke.