Jamie Oliver's ministry of food

[adelekeegan1]

Just watched it and I am so shocked.

I have always cooked (started at 8) and I just can't imagine not being able to cook anything at all.

I am not opposed to the odd takeaway, but I can, if required, knock out a very nutritious meal for a fraction of the price of a takeaway, and it doesn't take all night.

Are things so bad that there are people don't know how to get the most basic meal for their families ??????????

 

[lotus blossom]

i blame schools lol
when i was at school we learnt basic cookery ie cakes ie sponges, how to make a sauce, base of all sauces, then other stuff but basic cookery
when my daughter did cookery at school she learnt pizza toppings how to cook mince etc how to open a tin of fruit cocktail etc etc

does no one tech proper cooking anymore?
i was cooking full meals for four when i was 10 it had to be done or else my mum wouldnt have sat down until 8pm ( that was late in the olden days!)

i think this is such a shame, luckily ive taught my kids how to cook but i guess some just dont know how to cook to start with , especially the newer generation

 

[Bagpuss]

I think alot of the blame is time and busy mums....I know in the past my eldest has come into the kitchen and asked to help and i have said "maybe another day chick i have to get this done".... mums only have to say that few times and a child stops asking...something that Rob and I have changed and we do now encourage her to join in and she loves it. She makes the best scones i have ever tasted..:lol:

Life is always so busy now that we are always doing everything in a rush and its such a shame...finding and making that time to teach basic homecare like cooking, sewing, ironing etc is hard but i feel needs to be done. I would feel i had failed as a parent if my girls left home with no basic skills.

 

[Bev Rose]

Cooking? Do you mean like...heating up, as in packet stuff from asda? I do that all the time. Or it's chips & beans, sausages & frozen burgers, fish fingers or MacDonalds if I'm being posh! Yeah..right...not!

LOL! I blooming love cooking and I'm a bloody good cook. Even though I say it myself.

People are scared to invite me to dinner as I cook some really & I mean really good stuff. It does pee me off though. Just becasue I can cook, doesn't mean I'mabout to criticise what other people put infront of me. I guess I;ve made a rod for my own back. But It's only because I'm a foody.

Even my BBQ's are 'abnormal' as opposed to ther 'normal' peoples bbq's!

Sorry Adele, didn't watch the show, but will be. I like Jamie Oliver's twist on food normally & do have a few of his books.

 

[adelekeegan1]

I learned to do 'basic cooking' at home, by watching my Mum. When I did Domestic Science at school (for 'O' level - what you call GCSE) it taught all about nutrition, hygiene and organisation, though not really any more than I learned at home - I was lucky I suppose.

Over the years I have refined my skills and can cook the most complex things now but still return to my basic skills for a lot of 'mid week' meals.

I am absolutely staggered that a family had the salad/vegetable drawers filled with sweets

 

[izzidoll]

Much as I admire what Jamie Oliver is trying to do here, I just couldn't watch it.
I know I would be appalled and then angry at the basic lack of cooking skills, and the attitudes of some people on this subject.

Like you Adele I was taught to cook at an early age by my gran and my mother. At the age of 12 if not younger, I would be home from school (with my own key) and before my mother got home from work I would have the potatoes peeled or most of the preperation for the tea done, and my sister would have the table set.
For latchkey kids we haven't done so bad!!

I love to cook, therefore I am not really the target audience for this programme.
I hope it gets the message across, but somehow I still feel a bit pessimistic that people will learn how to cook, and pass it on. Sounds too much like hard work for some people IMHO.

 

[adelekeegan1]

What really shocked me was the complaint that they couldn't afford bus fares to go and shop and hadn't ever touched raw meat.

Many of these people were on benefits and obviously things are tight BUT most were wearing tatoos, enhancements and smoking.

Now I smoke and would never criticise anyone for their vices (god knows I've got a few) but how could you feed your children on cheesy ships and doner kebab and say you can't afford 'real food':irked:

 

[tog]

The trouble is people are so lazy and want quick meals NOW NOW NOW! without putting in any effort, even though a takeaway/ready meal costs more. But it's typical of the way we live now. I'm surprised at the number of people who will queue up on a sunday to PAY to have their car washed instead of doing it themselves and saving the money. Maybe the credit crunch we are now living through will change all that and make us think about spending a little more time on things instead of cash. And I mean a LITTLE time. . it doesn't take very long to prepare a simple balanced meal from scratch if you are organised.

 

[adelekeegan1]

The trouble is people are so lazy and want quick meals NOW NOW NOW! without putting in any effort, even though a takeaway/ready meal costs more. But it's typical of the way we live now. I'm surprised at the number of people who will queue up on a sunday to PAY to have their car washed instead of doing it themselves and saving the money. Maybe the credit crunch we are now living through will change all that and make us think about spending a little more time on things instead of cash. And I mean a LITTLE time. . it doesn't take very long to prepare a simple balanced meal from scratch if you are organised.

I suppose the point is, you have to know how to !

 

[tog]

I suppose the point is, you have to know how to !

You can't walk around sainsburys these days without bumping into free recipe cards on display, or open a magazine like TV Quick or Hello, they always have recipe pages . . or how about doing something radical like asking people, eg work colleagues or friends. So I don't know if that is really an excuse. Btw, look at all those cookery programmes that are on daytime tv too.

 

[adelekeegan1]

I agree, but if those people don't really shop, they don't see the recipe cards and if they did they wouldn't understand the terms - one person had no idea what 'simmer' meant.

 

[tog]

oh dear - sounds like there really is no hope then . . don't expect they'd bother to look it up in the dictionary either to find out.
Let's leave it up to Jamie on tuesday nights to tell them instead.

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

i blame schools lol
when i was at school we learnt basic cookery ie cakes ie sponges, how to make a sauce, base of all sauces, then other stuff but basic cookery
when my daughter did cookery at school she learnt pizza toppings how to cook mince etc how to open a tin of fruit cocktail etc etc

does no one tech proper cooking anymore?
i was cooking full meals for four when i was 10 it had to be done or else my mum wouldnt have sat down until 8pm ( that was late in the olden days!)

i think this is such a shame, luckily ive taught my kids how to cook but i guess some just dont know how to cook to start with , especially the newer generation

I was also taught to cook from scratch at school and I think it is so important. My eldest 14 yr daughter has just started her GCSE food technology and has already produced an apple pie, quiche and tomato and carrot soup ...... all delicious with not an e number in site! The really important thing is that she is so proud of herself for achieving this and I think this is key to encouraging youngsters to cook.

I am absolutely staggered that a family had the salad/vegetable drawers filled with sweets

I saw this too Adele and was speechless .

 

[bubbabinks]

Between my mum and school I didn't do to badly.
I have a GCSE in Food and Nutrition, which taught me preparation, hygiene and the actual cooking along with other info about protein, amino acids etc....:lol:

From a young age I got to help cook, bake cakes, make bread, decorate cakes - yum yum!:lol:
I can remember the first meal I cooked from scratch was sweet and sour stir-fry pork and I was about 11.
At about that age mum was working in London and I would come home and get tea started so that when she walked in the door she didn't have to worry about it.

My children are only 3 and 5 but they get involved, we make pizzas from scratch, bread, cottage pies, fish pies all sorts and they are involved in the whole process even if it's only watching when it comes to the chopping!

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

What really shocked me was the complaint that they couldn't afford bus fares to go and shop and hadn't ever touched raw meat.

Many of these people were on benefits and obviously things are tight BUT most were wearing tatoos, enhancements and smoking.

Now I smoke and would never criticise anyone for their vices (god knows I've got a few) but how could you feed your children on cheesy ships and doner kebab and say you can't afford 'real food':irked:

If these parents can afford take aways every night, then they can bl**dy well afford fresh ingredients for a wholesome meal! I also noticed the large wide screen TV's .

I make no bones about saying that, as a tax payer, I abhor the fact that I contribute to their benefits for them to spend their money on luxuries and takeaways!

 

[oey]

I watch this too last night and was totally amazed about the total lack of food skills some of them had. I do feel it is a cumulation of different factors that lead to this: as a few of you have said, not covered in schools, not done at home when they were children etc etc.

However, I wasnt interested at home economic stuff at school as I was more interested in learning work based skills: maths, office skills, etc so I learned no cooking at school at all. Neither did I learn much in the way off cooking skills at home either as my mum didnt do alot of home cooking and what was done at home my sister always showed more of an interest in than me so I let her get more involved that I ever did. However, what I did learn at home though was the basics like how to make toast, boil an egg, etc - some of those on the show last night didnt even know how to do those basics!

It was only when I got my own home that I wanted to learn how to cook and not to just live on microwave meals. Now, I class myself as a very good cook (hopefully my husband agrees too!) and very, very rarely will we even have meals that are processed. Most of these skills I had to learn because I wanted too and found the different ways of learning: tv cooking programmes, recipe books, food magazines, free shop recipes etc. There has been times when money has been tight for us, but I always found it cheeper to cook a meal than it was to buy a processed one or a take away! (i.e. - a jacket potato with many numerous fillings is a really cheap meal).

I do feel for those people that struggle to afford the money and time to do things like have fresh meals but I am like Adele it doesnt have to cost much or use much time to boil an egg, boil some potatoes or chop and boil some carrots.

It all comes down to how much you want to do these things and how much of a priority they are. Some people (and it was visible on the show last night) have other addictions that they can always find the money for before they will think about the food that goes onto their table.

It is a difficult issue as I have never been in the situation that some people on the show were so I cannot criticise them personally as I havent been in their shoes, but there is so much more they can do if they want to.

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

It all comes down to how much you want to do these things and how much of a priority they are. Some people (and it was visible on the show last night) have other addictions that they can always find the money for before they will think about the food that goes onto their table.

It is a difficult issue as I have never been in the situation that some people on the show were so I cannot criticise them personally as I havent been in their shoes, but there is so much more they can do if they want to.

I agree Theresa, that it is a difficult issue and you have worded your post very well and sensitively :hug:. I have also been in a situation (not on benefits) but with barely 2 pennies to rub together and no car. My hubby was earning a meagre salary at the time and we could afford no luxuries. I walked everyday to the supermarket (to get out of the house and get exercise for myself and my toddler) and purchase simple food eg. fresh potatoes, veg, meat etc.....

I applaud what Jamie is trying to do. I think the guy deserves a knighthood from HM The Qeen. It is not difficult or time consuming or even expensive to put some chicken legs or pork chops into a roasting dish and throw them into a hot oven whilst chopping carrot and boiling some potatoes. Even throw the carrots in with the potatoes.

I agree that many people do need to be shown how to do this if they have never been taught, but Jamie was saddened by the mum who gave up after such a good start. I don't know how he is going to get around this but anything has got to be better than feeding your child takeaways every night.

 

[becki x]

I wanted to watch this,but didn't due to a lousy migrain :grr:

Anyway.i am from the generation where school taught pizza toppings,rubarb crumble and not much more.

My dad was the cook but by the time i was old enough they had parted and mum was far too busy to teach us.

I have had to cook using trial and error,only last friday i rang my sister in law to talk me through cooking a special meal for Lee's birthday.We have bought cook books but i often find them too "fancy" or icluding ingredients i will use once iykwim.

So allthough i do cook and compared to everyone else i know within 10 yrs either way,i cook from scratch the most,and we eat healthier . I get so bored with what i can actually do,Lee gets sick of sunday dinners (5 nights a week LOL).

We bought our house and it's a mess with only two rooms decorated,we can afford a take away maybe once a month,plus the chippy once a month,i simply don't understand how these people can firstly think it's cheaper and secondly feed themselves and their children like this,i know i'd be the size of a house :!:

 

[mercedes69]

I meant to watch this show and totally forgot it was on....

but I wanted to watch it because what got me riled just from the advertising of the show was the 'can a Southerner change a Northern towns eating habits' or something along those lines....
that really ticked me off.... Ooooerrrr us Northerners just don't know how to cook or eat properly so lets bring in a Southerner to teach us how...:irked:

Bad eating habits etc are a countrywide problem....heck probably a universal problem in the day and age of food...fast!!!!

I was taught young....plus I love my food so I damn well wanted to know how to cook....and I have taught mine from a very early age....
From about 3/4 years old they have made their own sandwiches and from about 6/7 years cooking properly....
so much so my 11 year old wants to be a chef.....
( my 17 year old can't cook but it isn't for the want of me trying....she is just too lazy to do it )

I think a lot of it has to start at school and in the home.....make Home Economics ( what is it called now? ) compulsory from the minute they start school....

Where on earth anyone thinks take-aways are cheaper beats me!....but when I go back to the UK I do enjoy the 'chippy'. Sometimes it is nice not to cook and fast food etc does have its place.....just occasionally....

Jamie Oliver bless his cotton socks is really trying to change the way we eat....and I hope he succeeds in what he is doing....

families that cook together and eat together....stay together!!! :lol:

 

[pazzy]

I don't make loads of cash and less so at the minute but with a little thought you can make loads of food from £50 of food from aldi. But it does take some thought.

I now have just made a lovely pan of vegetable soup (I add chicken strips for my son cos I don't eat meat) but it cost me next to nowt - in fact it was food I had in.

I remember a client of mine telling me when she was first married the interest rate went up to 17% (might have been 12% not sure someone correct me ) but she said they were absolutely skint and basically she bought a big bag of potatoes - and veg and made soups, casseroles, pies and that wasn't the war times this was the 80's.

Why there isn't free cookery courses at college I don't know.

I like what he's doing - even if it only changes a few people's mind then it really is worth doing.

And agree - I can't believe people can't cook - c'mon how hard is beans on toast?