Jamie's one pound meals

I think he appeals to younger people, especially young men who might want to cook which is excellent.

My son wouldn't have sat and watched Delia or even Mary (well, not when he was younger anyway!).
DGS likes him too and is becoming quite a proficient cook as a teenager.

I like him, it's a pity about his restaurants.

V3ra

Blondiescot what a lovely story about your mother-in-law helping the young mum learn how to cook for her family 😊

Thank you. I remember her telling me about it and how it made her realise that not everyone is lucky enough to learn how to cook from their own parents.

My son lives near him. He’s very popular locally, what you see is what you get apparently.

didn’t factor in the olive oil at all.

Our major problem is that we don't like chilli or coriander. But, I do like his recipes and try to adapt them.

Tuna in olive oil doesnt seem so readily available now.

Presumably sunflower oil might work in recipes too.

I thought I'd take a look ad the first thing I noticed was "Speedy sponge puddings"
Now all I can think of is treacle sponge with custard .......

Jamie Oliver does make nice, nourishing budget meals using down to earth ingredients. It's quite easy to change out his ingredients IMO. I'm an instinctive cook, always have been, I see the same in him - I like him.

Jamie also makes nice affordable vegan food. Beans, rice, nuts, tofu, chickpeas, and 100's of veg. All delicious, imo.

Callistemon21

I thought I'd take a look ad the first thing I noticed was "Speedy sponge puddings"
Now all I can think of is treacle sponge with custard .......

Oh don't! I'm trying to lose weight and that's my favourite pud!

I haven't eaten one for years Claretjan! ☹

The recipes are per portion, so will include multi deal offers and you having allthe seasonings in your cupboard
he is a patronising in the extreme

Urmstongran (09:13:52) - spot on (the rich telling the poor how to budget). It's a whole different world when that budgeting goes on for years - no fun at all.

I remember being pathetically strapped for cash, walking miles to the market after work (their closing time) to get cheap or free veggies - or anything - then back home to cook for us all. I sometimes phoned the bank every day, trying to stay within my overdraft, dividing what was left by the number of days until payday.

Cheap meals? Pasta, jacket spuds, beans on toast, eggs and chips, home made pizzas - always loads of frozen mixed veg (that huge bag from Iceland) - and endless apple crumble from the tree outside!

So what do you want him to do?

Make recipes that only the wealthy can afford, then he'll be accused of ignoring how many people have to live?
"Got above himself now he's made money, hasn't he!!"

Or genuinely try to help by suggesting some alternatives to beans on toast, egg and chips?

He can't win.

I always feel uncomfortable when wealthy people (or supermarkets) point out how us poor people can feed ourselves cheaply. Trying to make us happier with our lot?
I'm surprised to see you have put yourself in that category.

I think Jamie may be trying to devise recipes which can be made from ingredients people might get from a food bank.

Tins of tuna, pasta etc.

Why are people having a go at him when he’s trying to help? Patronising JJ? How so?

GSM I think he’s like marmite - love him or hate him😂

Germanshepherdsmum

Why are people having a go at him when he’s trying to help? Patronising JJ? How so?

I don't think he is, he could be a mild irritant to some old people, perhaps, with his bish bash bosh attititude but I think he's had a positive influence on younger people's attitudes to food.

He also tried to improve school meals and is now campaigning to expand the free school meals service, with which I agree.

I quoted the wrong post - I meant to quote 25Avalon's post saying he's marmite

No, I don't think he is.

Callistemon21

^I always feel uncomfortable when wealthy people (or supermarkets) point out how us poor people can feed ourselves cheaply. Trying to make us happier with our lot?^
I'm surprised to see you have put yourself in that category.

I think Jamie may be trying to devise recipes which can be made from ingredients people might get from a food bank.

Tins of tuna, pasta etc.

I think Jamie may be trying to devise recipes which can be made from ingredients people might get from a food bank.

I agree. Food banks in my area issue bags of absolute basic ingredients. If they're not what you're used to buying I think some ideas like Jamie provides could help a lot. I haven't seen the One pound meals program, but I'd be surprised if they couldn't help a lot of cash strapped families.

If you donate to your local food bank I know ours really appreciates donations of the small size Easter eggs (around £1.25-£1.50) to ensure the children get one egg at Easter.

I certainly don’t get “patronising” in Jamie Oliver’s manner or his recipes.
Nigella- whose recipes I have used very successfully- could be seen as very superior and much more patronising but to misquote Eleanor Roosevelt, nobody can make you feel patronised without your consent.

Callistemon21

Germanshepherdsmum

Why are people having a go at him when he’s trying to help? Patronising JJ? How so?

I don't think he is, he could be a mild irritant to some old people, perhaps, with his bish bash bosh attititude but I think he's had a positive influence on younger people's attitudes to food.

He also tried to improve school meals and is now campaigning to expand the free school meals service, with which I agree.

He also tried to improve school meals

... and was roundly condemned by some of the mothers of the children who, if I remember correctly, at one school, brought burgers and chips to their kids who'd refused to eat his "rubbish" meals.

I don't understand why anyone thinks he's patronising. He knows how to cook and wants others to attempt to learn f they don't have the skills. I guess it doesn't matter, if people don't like him, they'll find a reason to discredit him - whatever he does.

As you said earlier, he can't win.

I can always rememeber a programme he made around unemployed households in Bradford(?). He showed a group of mothers how to make a simple bolognaise sauce., that they could afford and a week later almost none of them had tried it, even though they enjoyed eating it when he made it.

It struck me that the problems within the community were such that showing people how to cook economically was irrelevant, a mere decoration and that what really needed to be addressed was the whole social dynamic of the community and if that could be changed, its members would not need to be shown how to cook they would be more likely to find out for themselves.

Wish Jamie would get involved with bringing back home economics.
There was a cookbook called NOSH our DGC used when students-I think they extended it to couples and families

I was at grammar school in the 60s. ‘Domestic science’ was done by those considered unsuitable to learn a second foreign language so its absence from the curriculum is nothing new. I believe it should be taught - it’s a valuable subject which I didn’t get to take.