Jamie's one pound meals

It sounds like a case of
“I do not like thee, Doctor Fell
The reason why I cannot tell
But this I know and know full well
I do not like thee, Doctor Fell”

Spot on, Maw.

people didn't have bloody anything in their fridge or freezers.

That wasn't my recollection of lockdown.
Okay, a few things were in short supply but nothing in fridges and freezers???
Did I miss something?

I believe that all children should be taught cooking skills, no matter what their background. Doesn't matter whether it is the school, parents or some other agency, even Jamie. I would also add the concept of food miles , seasonal vegetables and reducing waste into those lessons. Its a life skill.
As a society we have lost any notion of seasonal vegetables and loose our cool when a government minister suggest eating turnips instead of imported tomatoes. In winter. A point that was badly made. But she did have a bit of a point.

This is off at a tangent but I remember a TV programme some years ago, one of the first where the presenters looked at what a family ate over a week and tried to show them how to cut their bills. One of the series remains in my mind. A couple, with a baby/toddler who had had a ready cooked roast chicken the previous day. The adults had carved one side of breast leaving both legs, wings and most of the breast meat on the other side intact. One of the couple decided to throw it away because they didn't know what to do with it. This couple were affluent and lived in a nice house but wanted to curb their food spending, yet were quite happy to throw an almost complete chicken into the bin.

Hands up anyone who could make that chicken cover several different meals and provide an excellent stock.

Calipso

^people didn't have bloody anything in their fridge or freezers.^

That wasn't my recollection of lockdown.
Okay, a few things were in short supply but nothing in fridges and freezers???
Did I miss something?

My recollection of lockdown was social media, including Gransnet, awash with recipe sharing, pictures of triumphs and failures and lots of advice.

More money was spent on food and drink than normal because there was damn all else to spend it on other than clothes and DIY.

An empty fridge was normally the result of failure to book a supermarket delivery or reluctance to stand in a queue. A lot of communities went to great lengths to ensure the elderly and infirm didn’t go without. 🤔

I'm one of the grammar school thickos who did Domestic Science at school. It wasn't anything to do with languages where I was but more to do with opting for the arts side and them trying to pretend we were doing some science. I'm a reasonable but chaotic cook and the timing involved completely destroyed me. We had to write out a timetable for every task, detailing all our actions. I was always three steps behind!
I quite like the Jamie programme, although I think he's irritating.

We had plenty of food during the lockdowns. Some things were in short supply but there was more than sufficient food available. There was no excuse for an empty fridge or freezer. As merlotgran says, there was great support for those unable to visit a supermarket or needing help to book a delivery.

Were you one of those people Germanshepherdsmum? Did you experience the help available?

I find Jamie irritating too, but some of his recipes are quite good. At least he doesn't use loads of silly ingredients and his stuff is quite easy to knock up.

No growstuff, I didn’t need help. Along with other villagers, I gave it. We are a small village of mainly retired people, some more able than others.

petunia This has been discussed on GN before and I disagree 100% about the importance of teaching cooking skills in schools.

It's much more important to teach children how to read (a recipe) and find their way to one of the umpteen sites on the web with recipes, weekly eating plans and videos of skills.

Most people need to face up to meal planning when they start a family. They'll all have different skills and experiences and I doubt very much if they'll remember much about making apple crumble when they were 11. Cooks like Delia, Jamie and Mary Berry (in her day) provide everything people need to know to cook reasonably well.

Callistemon21

vampirequeen

I can't stand the persona he projects in public. I have no idea if that's the real him.

I think any help in producing cheap healthy meals is welcome.

That said there should be no need, in a country as rich as ours, to teach this. All people should by right have a income that is sufficient to feed themselves and their families. It should also provide enough to heat their homes, clothe their bodies and put shoes/boots on their feet

I think the persona you thinks he projects in public is his natural, normal self.
No airs, graces and not at all patronising.
Just a bloke who likes cooking and wants others to share his enthusiasm.

We can't like everyone we come across, I suppose.

He lives locally and his wife used to go to the local gym. His parents ran a pub, until they retired a couple of years ago, and Jamie was sometimes there. I've seen him a couple of times and people who know him well say he is very much like the "public persona".

Callistemon21

Germanshepherdsmum

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.

Me neither but thank goodness I had to help my Mum sometimes (at least I knew how to make a basic white sauce by the time I was 10!!).

When friends and I were 16 we thought we'd join an evening cookery class as we'd not done domestic science at school but were told we couldn't enrol as the course was for married women.

My school didn't even offer DS, but my father ran a pub and I learnt from an early age how to cook Christmas dinner for 40 - five days running.

We had domestic science, and it was dreadful, Mrs Noble, used to waddle into the classroom, smoking a cigarette…
I remember making toffee and it wouldn’t even come out the tin had to throw that away with the toffee! (Have to say my cooking skills have not improved much in the 50 odd years since I left school!)..🤷‍♀️

I’m old (68) and I don’t find Jamie Oliver irritating or patronising. I think he genuinely tries to help people and like all of us (even those on here) sometimes he gets it wrong. People have me too ed that he doesn’t cost olive oil?! Really?! He’d be the first to say use whatever oil you’ve got, as he did during his lockdown series.

I was subjected to two years of DS at school. Nothing I learnt was half as useful as what I learned in the kitchen at home. I was encouraged to use a pressure cooker in my teens and still swear by mine after all these years. Sadly, many teenagers learn nothing at home except how to unwrap a ready meal and put it in the microwave. My DGD, when she was pre-teen, used to come to my house and take over the kitchen, after she had downloaded recipes from my computer. Now, a mum herself, she cooks delicious meals from scratch for my nine-month-old DGGD who loves her food and her mum equally!

We were lucky as we had an outstanding DS department and many of the girls (all girls school) chose that instead of language.

I learnt so very much, including nutrition (who knew that 2 segments of an orange gives you sufficient vit. C for one day) which has stayed with me throughout my life. So from budgeting, to cuts of meat to pastry making ( pate Sucree anyone?) to different methods of cake making to vegetable preparation - you name it we did it, even laundry from the temperatures for different materials to ironing!

Part of the DS department also brought in the local health visitor for a few months where we were taught parenting skills for new born - 1 year. So bathing baby ( specially weighted doll) how to hold a baby, cloth a baby, feed a baby, routine etc etc. That gave me enormous confidence when I had my first child. Dr. Spock provided the psychological and maturation help🙂

Mrs Yarnell (the DS tutor) was a dragon though and I always remember having to show her the baking tins we had cleaned and her highly polished nails pressing into and digging out the muck we had missed.

The downside of course is that I missed German.

growstuff

Callistemon21

Germanshepherdsmum

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.

Me neither but thank goodness I had to help my Mum sometimes (at least I knew how to make a basic white sauce by the time I was 10!!).

When friends and I were 16 we thought we'd join an evening cookery class as we'd not done domestic science at school but were told we couldn't enrol as the course was for married women.

My school didn't even offer DS, but my father ran a pub and I learnt from an early age how to cook Christmas dinner for 40 - five days running.

Oh growstuff I remember well the endless Christmas Lunches and Dinners in my parents pub/restaurant.

I was cooking our Sunday lunch in a professional kitchen on a massive industrial range from approximately 10 yrs old (Sunday was the only day no food was served, therefore no kitchen staff). I can remember the frustration when the locals wanted just one more drink, back in the days when Sunday opening times were 12 - 2pm and 7pm - 10.30pm.

I am in favour of anyone that teaches people to cook anything than rather buy ready processed meals. Nothing to do with politics just common sense but some grans insist on getting a political dig into every conversation!

Don’t like the way this thread has gone. Think I’ll switch off gransnet😢

I think Gloryanna makes a very strong point about people eating reasonably well and hence able to resist harder

I like Jamie and have some of his books. His approach to cooking is refreshing and straightforward. I even like his bubbly personality which tries to make the often onerous job of providing tasty (and reasonably priced, now!) meals fun. I prefer to watch him than the posturing of others and the simpering of a certain lady (not naming any names but she has a famous politician as her dad!) gets on my nerves completely!

There was an American politician some time ago who was having a go at the poor because he said they wasted money, and they could make food for cheap... and proceeded to 'prove it'. BUT this nasty sorry excuse for a man forgot several things - he used the kitchens of a public place to cook, and he cooked in bulk. Sop, people who are poor cannot afford to spend all their money on food, and they cannot buy in bulk and cook in bulk, and also they may not have a kitchen, or storage for the meals once they are cooked. Then there was Lady Jenkin who said that people use soup kitchens because they do not know how to cook. And does anyone remember this: www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/outrage-mps-lords-bin-26-27792491

He’s a great entertainer and his recipes are logical and a great reminder of being frugal. I like him and reminds me of my mothers cooking when each 1d (Penny) counted. We have always put bread crumbs in mince to make it go further also grated carrots for the came reason. We’d make croutons or grated bread in soup. I didn’t think this was unusual.

I think JO has made a healthy contribution to the UKs attitude towards food and food preparation - remember his effort at trying to improve school meals?

I like his books.

We have a politician called 30p Lee - reckons that is all the poor need to cook a meal