Vocal Voices

As irritating as I find Mr Oliver (I would dearly love to slap him around the face with a wet fish) I am really enjoying this programme and I think I would cook most of the meals that he has shown.

I have just watched yesterdays programme - I would definitely cook the slow roasted ham hocks, the butternut and spinach bake thing, the lettuce and peas, the salad stir fry, the garlic beans, the steak and the fish balls. So everything then!

The book man came round to work last week and his book is included in the pile. I think it is £10. I shall spend my lunch break tomorrow looking through it and may put in an order.

Because you know, I really, really need another cook book in the house.

I may have to wrap it up for myself and leave it as an anonymous present under the xmas tree and I pretend the tag must have fallen off and I don't know who bought it.

They are good programmes, and some good ideas. My concern is that there are families who just can't fork out £10 in one go for a side of salmon and things like that. I know he turns it into 2 or 3 meals, but it's the initial fork-out that would be difficult for a lot of people.

Also, he has a good well-stocked store cupboard with all the spices and things that he needs. Many families haven't got all that in stock and couldn't afford to buy it all in one go.

I agree Rodo, although I do think that many of the families that say they can't afford to buy the £10 worth of salmon think nothing of spending more than that on a kebab meal for all the family!

I remember a few years ago there was a fabulous programme on called Economy Gastronomy where Paul and Allegra (can't for the life of me remember their surnames and I am too lazy to get off my bum and go look at the book) spent a couple of weeks with families who said they couldn't afford/have the time to cook.

One family, who couldn't afford to cook for their family of 5 (can't remember how old the children were but they had twins who hadn't started school and one slightly older). The older child had a kebab at least 4 times a week (eaten on the floor, out of the kebab paper) and the adults had loads of take aways.

They have been quite good. I watched last night's this afternoon too, without realising I haven't seen last week's yet.
Obviously I know how to cook but nearly always will find at least one idea from Jamie. This time it's those beans

We're having steak and chips tonight, mushrooms and tomatoes. I like peas, but because Bb doesn't, we haven't got any, so I'll do the beans as he did .
The steaks were my own economy - Sainsburys last week, the meat counter. Just 2 sirloins left, reduced from £23 kg to £3
That's how people could use his ideas too, if they see eg a big piece of salmon reduced.

It was Allegra McEvedy wasn't it Debih, and Paul something yes. They were good too, it was a similar theme with a master recipe then the leftovers I remember some of those families too

So many young women these days don't know how to shop and cook economically. Nothing, but nothing gets wasted in our house. We are in the happy position of being able to afford to go out to eat on a fairly regular basis, but the rest of the time I cook with an eye to economy.

I love making my food go as far as possible - I think I would still do it even if I were rolling in money. Only I'd be stretching out my caviar rather than my mince!

The girls are learning too. Whilst I was doing the veg for dinner tonight, S was picking the chicken carcus clean for me. They fight over who will pick the carcus clean!!!

Carcus and skin in a bag to go in the freezer to wait for another carcus to join it so I can make soup/stock. Chicken will do us for at least two meals - the plan is to have chicken slop tomorrow night and then I will probably make a chicken casserole for Saturday night.

I don't blame them, it's such a satisfying job isn't it, picking the chicken

Oh me too, it's far too ingrained to stop Yesterday I used up a little dish that had been in the fridge with some chopped onion in; there are muffin-tin (silicone) sized portions of pizza sauce in the freezer, little dollops of pureed garlic (when you buy a 3-pack it's often a bit dry before you get to the end so I do that with a whole head first).
There's an ice cream tub in there that has 'pizza bits' - 2 or 3 anchovy fillets, a few slices of pepperoni & chorizo, a slice or two of serrano ham; a very small piece of cooked lamb to be processed with spices...all basically 'free' as it's what other people would throw out as being too little to use

It's good housekeeping isn't it.

My friend and I were laughing the other day.

She gave me some cooking apples and I decided that I was going to make a chutney with them. So my obsession with never throwing anything away resulted in my spending a fortune on stuff for a chutney - all for the sake of half a dozen free cooking apples!!!

I do not get the premise of showing people how to make poncy meals for less - esp when they're not cheap by any means.

The big problem with UK diets is that we eat too much processed pap....... and it is mighty expensive. Why not show people how to make decent copies of processed spagbol, chilli con carne, cottage pie, sweet and sour, curry, pizza, lasagne, steak and kidney, casseroles and so on.

These are the things are what we eat mostly, and they are so simple and cheap to do at home.

Oh, hang on, it would not be "entertainment". Says it all really.