Tax the Fizz!

[Workingman]

Own brank cola, own brand chocolate, own brand crisps, budget pizzas, lasagne, ice creams. This is what is making the poor fat. It's cheap and it's a disaster. I noticed this a long time ago, when trying to diet away from home. Pretty much anything which is not good for you is cheap, anything which IS good for you tends to be expensive.

I absolutely agree! I could feed my family for about £30-£40 per week I reckon if all we ate was the above, plus cheap own brand white bread and butter. Most of the BOGOFs tend to be on 'junk' although I have noticed that improving lately As it is I spend over £100pw on good meat, fresh veg, juices, yoghurts, seeded breads, good cheese, nice wine.................I'm lucky to be able to afford it, and also to have the ability if we fell on harder times to cook most things from scratch, so I could feed us well for rather less

The bottom line is that to feed a family cheaply and healthily takes effort (to source the best deals) and skill (to know how to cook it) and many people are unable or unwilling to use either

Not surprisingly I disagree with Suff and Kaz, and now Cromwell. I do not think that £30 - £40 would keep a family "full". They would have to top-up... with even more expensive fast food.

Cheap junk or fast food does not exist. It is junk all right, but it is anything but cheap - that's the urban myth.

If a person stays away from packets and tins and the freezer cabinets, and goes for fresh, they can, with only basic cooking skills, feed a family for a fraction of the cost of processed glop. It is not that hard or time consuming.

[Suff]

If a person stays away from packets and tins and the freezer cabinets, and goes for fresh, they can, with only basic cooking skills, feed a family for a fraction of the cost of processed glop. It is not that hard or time consuming.

Honestly I reduced my food bill in Zurich from £60 a week, just for me, down to less than £20 a week by simply buying junk out of the freezers.

OK you don't feel full. But then there's a two litre bottle of fizz full of sugar to deal with that isn't there. Go to Lidl, get it for under a £1.

Kaz is at the upper end with £40. You can get 1.3kg of southern fried chicken bits and 4 pizza's for £12 out of the Asda online shopping. I didn't even have to go to Lidl or Aldi..... How about 2l of Asda shandy for £0.65??? This is just a sample. OK you can go to the veg counter, buy some large potatoes, bags of rice, loaves of cheap bread and you are cheaper. But the food is no better for you without a balance of meat and green vegetables. Start looking at the green veg costs or carrots and watch the price escalate. Why not buy a jar of 50p jam, that'll keep the kids happy......

It's a mess and it isn't going to get better by not recognising what the base issue is.

[Workingman]

I can and do buy minced beef at 830 gm per pack for £3.38. I get two or three onions for about 47p. Mushrooms, celery and carrots will cost me another £1.50... and I will not use them all. If I want kidney beans they are available for 29p a tin. Herbs and spices are for pennies.

So, for not much more than £5.75, I can produce six, seven or eight meals.... and I know exactly what is in them.

If I want a sarnie or a wrap I can make them for next to nothing. I can produce pizza at a minuscule fraction of the cost of shop bought versions. You want a curry or a stir fry, I'll do one for a few groats.

Fresh food, home cooked, is the cheapest food on the planet.

I could be obese if I wanted to be, by buying take-aways, but a bit of effort with my cooking stops me.

[Kaz]

Yes, because you are an able and inventive cook!! That's my whole point, most people on very low incomes either can't or won't take the bother!

I agree with Suff about the filling up on junk - it's easily done unfortunately

[Kaz]

The bottom line is that to feed a family cheaply and healthily takes effort (to source the best deals) and skill (to know how to cook it) and many people are unable or unwilling to use either

Yes - you remember the Karen Matthews case Kaz, the woman who kidnapped her own daughter? She was getting circa £340 pw in benefits, but never cooked for her children; everything was a takeaway.
Cheap processed food is often high in calories but low in nutrients.

Yes, shocking

[Workingman]

Yes, because you are an able and inventive cook!! That's my whole point, most people on very low incomes either can't or won't take the bother!

You could be right Kaz, but how hard is it to fry some mince and onions to make a base, and from that to make a Cottage pie, spagbol or C-con-C? What cooking skill is needed? Anyone can chop chicken into cubes and make a curry with a jar of paste. But if, as you say, they can't or won't bother, that's frightening.

I agree with Suff about the filling up on junk - it's easily done unfortunately

But why? It does not take any time to make a healthy sandwich or pasta tub at home. It defies logic tbh.

[Aggers]

I reckon one of the problems is that so many families today rarely eat together around a table at
the same time. That means that many of the traditional meals that we used to have are no longer
an option.In such conditions 'junk food is resorted to beause it fits the bill and simplifies catering.

[Suff]

But why? It does not take any time to make a healthy sandwich or pasta tub at home. It defies logic tbh.

Actually it does. It takes time to anticipate what is needed in fillings for the sandwiches. Whey you have younger children you need to make the sandwich whereas very young children can stick a small pizza in the microwave and serve themselves.

Coming back to the UK and watching the adverts, we are bombarded with adverts saying "why bother to cook, we'll do it all for you". Junk all the way.

Aggers is also right. One of the key things with French children is that the family sits down to eat. Children drink water and everybody knows that you don't eat between meals and you eat food, no matter what, at the table.

Where we are going is the American model of stuffing your face with easy access quick to produce junk whenever you want to. Worked well in terms of creating huge Americans.

That's ok if it is what you really want.