Seems reasonable enough? But batten down the hatches, here come the OUTRAGED!
You have to tell Claire everything, she DEMANDS it!
Who eats three meals a day of noodles..?
Criticising his cooking now?
They are really frothing now.
I give up. If buying stuff off the reduced counter is 'theft', then come get me, coppers!
"Too many twitters make a twat", was the only memorable utterance of PM-disaster Cameron.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the originators of this ghastly system thought it would increase human knowledge, communicate useful facts and be beneficial - the HCF route.
But it's moronic users have made it LCD.
(Arithmetic terms: highest common factor & lowest common denominator)
Seems like you've stumbled across a small outbreak of barking insanity there. But Twatter, so to be expected.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it started as the internet equivalent of the SMS text facility it's mutated into the internet equivalent of graffiti scrawled on the inside of toilet doors.
Several points occur to me, and the first one is that the ingredients aren’t necessarily the main cost. They can be, but they don’t have to be. The original source demonstrates it.
ReplyDeleteThe second point is that while you may need to spend time in preparation, cooking and so on, the one thing that the unemployed have in abundance is time. Yep, they have the time to walk to the shop, to prepare food from raw ingredients and to cook. So, no petrol, no bus fares, just shanks’ pony.
I read an article in a student union magazine within the last year of someone who tried to live on £1 per day, and blew it because he wanted real Parmesan on his pasta. I tried costing things, and couldn’t get down to £1, but I could do it on £2 – although that assumed that I already had a stock of things like salt, pepper, cooking oil etc, so there is a very real point that starting out probably needs an initial investment.
Then, there is the issue of quantities. It’s cheaper to feed a lot of people per capita than 1 or 2, because then you do get the benefits of bulk buying. Plus, thinking ahead is important. My Italian chum’s wife always presents at least some of the leftovers from a previous meal as starters for the next, and while we may find grilled vegetables sott’olio a bit posey, leftover veg of just about any sort makes vegetable soup, and one never needs to throw away meat bones until they’ve been stripped of remaining meat in the soup pot.
Yes, there are fuel costs, but you reduce those by sensible cooking.
You aren’t going to have a very varied diet if you are poor, but you can have a nutritious one.
Does it sound like a smug observation that being poor isn't actually compulsory? My wife and I are reasonably well off but neither of us were born with a silver spoon. We both worked bloody hard for what we have and hell I've done some shitty jobs in the past.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the art of cooking cheaply, well I'm retiring soon so I will be time rich and, not exactly cash poor but poorer than I am now. We will have to see how well I manage.
I see Tesco have a whole chicken at £2.80 for delivery, which I imagine would give you a dinner, a lunch in sandwiches and a soup from the carcass if you tried hard enough.
ReplyDeleteRe the transport thing, a) there's a myriad more supermarkets now than there used to be, the Aldi/Lidl expansion has meant that in most urban areas you're never further than a mile or two from a supermarket, plus there's lots of other discount chains who sell food such as Home Bargains, B&M and Poundland (or whatever they're called nowadays) and b) home delivery from the the most established supermarket chains is ludicrously cheap if you pick the unwanted slots - I occasionally bulk buy stuff from Sainsburys when its on offer and can always get a £1 delivery fee slot - it'll be one of the late ones, they go til 11pm I think. OK you can't get the reduced price stuff online, but you can get your order delivered to your door for £1 which is within everyone's grasp. I have no experience of Tesco/Asda home delivery but I can't imagine they're more expensive than Sainsburys.
ReplyDeleteThinking back, my mum used to do nutrition on a budget all the time. My parents grew their own vegetables which must have helped. I do understand that not everyone has a garden of course.
ReplyDeleteSimple solution to avoid idiots is to delete Twitter from your phone or tablet.
ReplyDeleteWorked wonders for me.
""Too many twitters make a twat", was the only memorable utterance of PM-disaster Cameron."
ReplyDeleteAh, but when it works, it can be glorious!
"Although it started as the internet equivalent of the SMS text facility it's mutated into the internet equivalent of graffiti scrawled on the inside of toilet doors."
It's a tool, like any other. Misused, it's awful. Done right, it's sublime!
"...while you may need to spend time in preparation, cooking and so on, the one thing that the unemployed have in abundance is time...."
Ah, but surely that cuts into 'looking for work' time and...
Wait.
"Does it sound like a smug observation that being poor isn't actually compulsory? "
To the commenters raging at this chap, yes. But then, they are idiots. They make that clear every time they comment.
"I see Tesco have a whole chicken at £2.80 for delivery, which I imagine would give you a dinner, a lunch in sandwiches and a soup from the carcass if you tried hard enough."
ReplyDeleteIndeed!
"...home delivery from the the most established supermarket chains is ludicrously cheap if you pick the unwanted slots - I occasionally bulk buy stuff from Sainsburys when its on offer and can always get a £1 delivery fee slot..."
And these 'poor' households always have Internet. They need it. To run their Xbox & PS4!
" I do understand that not everyone has a garden of course."
You'd be surprised what you can grow on a balcony or windowsill...
"Simple solution to avoid idiots is to delete Twitter from your phone or tablet."
But then you miss the occasional nugget of pure gold...