We as a country accept the crap they put in our food and its a disgrace

[kopchoir]

I think im going to start buying local produce for meat fruit and veg did anyone see dispatches regarding cheap foods and the more expensive ranges. Even the expensive range of foods the amount of crap they put in our foods these days is appaling no wonder we are getting fat it really disturbed me and how much money they make by adding rubbish into the food to make the weight up was shocking anyone else watch it
bring back the local butchers and greengrocers

[sniffer66]

http://www.donaldrussell.com

cannot recommend them highly enough if you dont have a decent local butcher. And its veg from the local farmers markets for us

[Ned Senior]

there's a local butcher Deli who has a shop near me.. my mommy used to work there part time and got to see that it is all local apart from the odd scottish beef joint he gets in whole half animals and cuts the pieces or makes stir fry mixes (with sauce) burgers etc etc
I buy all my meat there and local bread
Sadly use sainsbury for veg or tesco for fruit but after reading this hell I'll find a local produce veg store too
as it is some guy has opened a small shop to try and get on in life I am all for that and would like to think I help them along

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by sniffer66

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cannot recommend them highly enough if you dont have a decent local butcher.

The program (and this thread) was about budget processed food so I don't think your link is very appropriate.

I've never eaten much processed food at the best of times but I've always had a quick look at the labels to see the content.

Unfortunately I missed the first two thirds of the program but the major point in the last third wasn't so much how little "content" there was inside the pie or sausage but how much more they could include for the additional cost of a penny or less.

The two couples featured made some quite amazing savings by changing what they ate and where they bought it from.

The main reason why the supermarkets have got away with it for so long is that us Brits are less interested in what we eat than most other countries and we will happily shove anything in our mouths as long as it's cheap and quick to make.

My sister lives in a suberb of Sydney and in their local shiopping centre the butcher, greengrocer, baker and various delis are busy whilst the supermarket at the end has meat and veg counters that look very quiet as people only buy non food stuff there. That shopping centre would soon go bust in Britain as people here seem to prefer tasteless cardboard to real food

[eric pisch]

Originally Posted by Ian J

The program (and this thread) was about budget processed food so I don't think your link is very appropriate.

I've never eaten much processed food at the best of times but I've always had a quick look at the labels to see the content.

Unfortunately I missed the first two thirds of the program but the major point in the last third wasn't so much how little "content" there was inside the pie or sausage but how much more they could include for the additional cost of a penny or less.

The two couples featured made some quite amazing savings by changing what they ate and where they bought it from.

The main reason why the supermarkets have got away with it for so long is that us Brits are less interested in what we eat than most other countries and we will happily shove anything in our mouths as long as it's cheap and quick to make.

My sister lives in a suberb of Sydney and in their local shiopping centre the butcher, greengrocer, baker and various delis are busy whilst the supermarket at the end has meat and veg counters that look very quiet as people only buy non food stuff there. That shopping centre would soon go bust in Britain as people here seem to prefer tasteless cardboard to real food

a lot of this comes down to the life style of many brits:

The cost of living here is very high so for lower income family's value lines are essential

Alot of people here work stupidly long hours which means when you get home you are knackered which makes instant effort free food very attractive. My sister and brother in law live in the states and 99% of the time people there will not work past 5, going home and eating with the family is seen as important.

There does seam to be a large cooking skills gap when it comes to certain social groups in the country. I talk to our trainees about it and honestly 95% could not cook toast or an egg. If they cant microwave it there stuffed. Most of them don't even have a clue how food is produced. And people expect them to eat healthily

[RMCF]

The program didn't really tell us what we already know - these types of programmes have been on a lot over recent years.

As for missing the 1st half, don't worry it was a rather repetitive formula used. He took one meat, did a lot of measurements, concluded that it could be made better for a few pence, produced a better xxx, let the public taste it, and conclusion. Then did the same again with a different meat, then again. It was, like many shows these days, a 20min piece dragged out to an hour.

As for bringing back the local grocer and butcher - they are still out there. Thing is people these days want convenience, and that's why they buy everything at Tesco's or Asda.

But the thing that always shocked me was how the local butcher is able to sell you meat cheaper than a massive chain. Surely if he can buy good quality meat in small quantities then the likes of Tesco could sell you the same or better quality meat for the same or less?

As for the Brits eating anything, unfortunately the main requirement for many now is price. Thousands will buy the whole Tesco chicken for £5 because its £5. The quality of it doesn't matter really, or the fact that it was forced to mature 3 times faster than normal. To buy a free range, organically rared chicken may cost £15, but how are struggling families meant to afford that?

[RMCF]

Going slightly off tangent, the guy who hosted that Dispatches last night (can't remember his name, but big shot food critic) introduced Heston Blumenthal as a "good friend" last night in the show.

Yet the night before on TV Heston was in a show called "Big Chef Takes on Little Chef", where he had to try to turn around the failing Little Chef menu and business. As a finale, this big shot food critic was among a group of hard to please critics who came to give the Little Chef experiment his opinion. It was bummed up on the show just how the opinion of these people would make or break the idea.

Well I would be fairly confident of a decent review if I was bringing "a good friend" in to review my work !! Who's to say he wasn't "good friends" with all the panel who came to review his experiment?

TV is all make believe isn't it?

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by RMCF

As for the Brits eating anything, unfortunately the main requirement for many now is price. Thousands will buy the whole Tesco chicken for £5 because its £5. The quality of it doesn't matter really, or the fact that it was forced to mature 3 times faster than normal. To buy a free range, organically rared chicken may cost £15, but how are struggling families meant to afford that?

I was bought up in a different age before the advent of much of the processed food that is now available and we weren't exactly flush with funds but there was no expectation to eat meat every day and what meat that was bought went round much further.

The price difference between a free range chicken and a battery hen isn't as extreme as in your example but most people nowadays would roast the chicken, carve the breast off it and chuck the rest away whereas a large chicken would do us for two roastie type meals and I would then boil the bones and make some sort of mulligatawny soup out of the stock and remaining meat on the carcass which could well do for another two meals for the two of us so a single chicken could do us as the basis for four meals.

It's the same with other meats with a leg of lamb ending up in the stock pot too

[Ned Senior]

Well said that man!!
I am warming to you Sir

Originally Posted by Ian J

I was bought up in a different age before the advent of much of the processed food that is now available and we weren't exactly flush with funds but there was no expectation to eat meat every day and what meat that was bought went round much further.

The price difference between a free range chicken and a battery hen isn't as extreme as in your example but most people nowadays would roast the chicken, carve the breast off it and chuck the rest away whereas a large chicken would do us for two roastie type meals and I would then boil the bones and make some sort of mulligatawny soup out of the stock and remaining meat on the carcass which could well do for another two meals for the two of us so a single chicken could do us as the basis for four meals.

It's the same with other meats with a leg of lamb ending up in the stock pot too

[Jenn]

Originally Posted by Ian J

in their local shiopping centre the butcher, greengrocer, baker and various delis are busy

Now that's an idea, replace big supermarkets with shopping centres full of independent traders. Like a market but under a roof and with a big car park and possibly the usual clothing brands and supermarket for branded tins/jars and non food items.
That'd be ideal !

[indianwells]

I would rather have top quality chicken once a month rather than a £3 cheapo one every week, and as mentioned above, most people will throw a good amount of that in the bin. People obviously don't buy chicken thighs much, otherwise they wouldn't be so cheap but that's where all the flavour is, and for longer cooking, in a casserole for instance, they are perfect. I guess it's all down to education. Not so long ago I saw a news item following a low income family around a supermarket where the wife was moaning about her food bill and saying they could barely afford to eat. At the same time she was throwing tinned carrots, crisps, chocolate, bottles of coke, ready meals and all sorts of other rubbish into her trolley. Not her fault, she just didn't know I guess.

[Urien Rheged]

When we took our baby to our local community centre for a weigh in, we noticed they ran a fruit & vegetable scheme. You can get a vegetable bag, fruit bag, salad bag or potato bag. The potatoes are 90p for a 7 pound bag, the salad, fruit & veg bags are £1.50 for a half bag and £3.00 for a full bag. A full bag is a large plastic carrier bag. You never know what you are going to get, it's whatever is in season or available. We find a full bag of vegetables last us a week at least. The produce is all local.

I think this is a great idea. Worth asking at your community centre!

This is our local Butcher. They are fantastic and good value for money. Locally produced meat from Cumbrian farmers. Cumberland farmhouse sausage is 95% meat. No rubbish at all. Cumberland sausage from the supermarkets is very poor compared to the real thing. They don't taste like the real thing at all.
http://www.cranstons.net/

My other tip for saving money is buy 'brisket' when you do roast beef. Cook it in a pint of beef stock, 3 squirts of tomato puree & two bay leaves in a cast iron pot (like a le creuset) for 3 hours at 155 degees C. You can buy a piece of brisket for £3 odd and it will feed 4 of us! It is melt in your mouth tender and the gravy it makes is incredible.

[Stoatman]

I have seen that many times . People moaning how expensive food is while cramming expensive (relatively) rubbish into their trolleys.

Personally I see the food we eat into our own and kids bodies as one of the most important priorities in our house. I would rarther sacrifice most other things , for example :

Newish car
DVDs/CDs
Booze / Fags (I dont smoke personally though)
New TVs (etc)
Socialising
Online Browsing (Amazon is the worst - so eay to click buy!)
Knives ( A Personal thing)

A lot of people may have other priorities but I feel something that affects directly the health of my child (and me) should be top of the list.

As proven , better quality ingredients can be sourced for the same or less cost. I just think the excuses given are too quick to be spouted ie Too busy , cant cook etc.

Even if people have to go to the supermarket (dont most people) there are some easy choices regarding food to go in the trolley. Most seasonal veg is cheap , there are some excellent cheapers cuts of meat. Pasta , rice , potatoes , etc they are all cheap for the amount of meals you can prepare from them. If your packing your trolley full of processed rubbish then usually it is more expensive and alot worse for you.

[Hi-Def]

the big point is that you have to read the labels

if you are buying sausages then make sure the meat content is high - 85%+(your buying meat at the end of the day you dont want to end up with minced up connective tissue and rusk etc)

the program was interesting but not exactly scientific - they showed you the difference between the different supermarkets/brands but they did not once compare it with the contents of 'quality' local produce they were pushing to consumers. you have to think about that

EDIT: it was a brilliant program and great advert for your local fruit/veg producers and butchers etc and they must be pleased - we need to shop more in these and maybe it looks like we will be going back to the shop owners now all the big guys are closing down.

[IronGiant]

As some of you are aware I make my own sausages. When the El Cheapo sausages were first in the limelight a year or so ago I attempted to make my own sausage to a budget for a comparison. At the time of the test the cheapies weren't on the special cost cutting promotion and so were 7p each. I made a sausage which was 90% real pork and tasted quite acceptable, for an additional 3p. And that was buying the joint of meat from the same supermarket for processing into the sausages at home.

I haven't watched this program yet, but I recorded it to watch tonight.

Dave

Dave