Strictly Cheese Sandwiches

Might you not be buying the bread and spread anyway? Usual staples.

Germanshepherdsmum

Might you not be buying the bread and spread anyway? Usual staples.

Mum made open cheese bread/toasts. She didn't use anything except cheese, on a thick slice of bread - and toasted it all over.

I thought that ^ was what we were posting about this whole time.

My husband and I preferred hummous on toast and our children prefer peanut butter with some jam. No dairy spreads.

Not if you do not have the money.

What are you going to eat if you can’t afford to buy bread MOnica? I don’t believe anyone can’t afford own brand bread and spread.
Indeed Norah, if making cheese on toast I don’t butter the bread. However we will now be told the fuel to make the toast is unaffordable.

M0nica

None of the items you mention, Norah, are being sold in our village Co-op, nor to the best of my knowledge in the Co-op in my local town.

The Co-op in the town is a town centre Co-op. The other town centre supermarket is Waitrose and there is a Tesco right on the outskirts of the town, which can only be accessed by car or bus. The clientele at the Co-op are mainly the old and poor living in the numerous alms houses and housing association properties in and around the town centre. I go to it as the post office is there, and I shop for a friend and Waitrose does not stock te read she likes but the Co-op does.

As you say, I merely know what people on a strict vegan budget eat. and, with due respect, the vast majority of the population have different eating patterns to you, not better, not worse, but different.

Interesting.

I make hummous at least weekly, have never purchased, however I see it in the shops all the time. As well as peanut butter, dry beans, pulses, lentils, nuts, tofu - all staples.

I realize many people are not vegan or vegetarian - but I do know many people eat vegan staples like hummous - or it wouldn't be sold in pots in shops. Same to lentils/ pulses and tofu.

Sad people don't attempt vegan food - typically reasonable staples.

If at the end of the week/month there isn't enough left of your wages/benefits to pay the bills and buy food you have to make a choice. It isn't a choice anyone should have to make. It is much harder now because if you have very little to spend on food you can't go to the big supermarket, which is probably a bus ride away, so you go to the local shop which has little choice and charges more.
Years ago when people were paid weekly they would run up bills at the corner shop and pay it off each week. They could also go in there with very little money and ask for 1 slice of bacon or two eggs. That's all gone and those who can't cope find it so much harder.

M0nica

Not if you do not have the money.

Interesting. A small budget does not include bread flour?

What is in a small weekly shop and what is the price/person?

Store bread is "price of a large wholemeal loaf of bread at £1.30"

Germanshepherdsmum

What are you going to eat if you can’t afford to buy bread MOnica? I don’t believe anyone can’t afford own brand bread and spread.
Indeed Norah, if making cheese on toast I don’t butter the bread. However we will now be told the fuel to make the toast is unaffordable.

Own brand bread and spread is rarely available in local newsagents who will add 5 or 10p to prices in order to make a profit.

IMO, to eat a decent nutritious vegan diet you need to be a bit of a foodie and have the dedication and time to plan and make meals. I know of only two life-long vegans and they are of Indian origin so they have the knowledge and skills that comes with that background.

For poor people buying pots of hummus, guacamole or Linda McCartney sausages isn't an option and the average poor working person wouldn't have the time or inclination to be preparing pulses, lentils, tofu etc, into tasty nutritious meals that the whole family would eat.

Germanshepherdsmum

What are you going to eat if you can’t afford to buy bread MOnica? I don’t believe anyone can’t afford own brand bread and spread.
Indeed Norah, if making cheese on toast I don’t butter the bread. However we will now be told the fuel to make the toast is unaffordable.

Isn't that the point of this thread GSM? What, indeed, can you eat if you can't afford bread? Ann Widdecombe thinks people shouldn't eat it, if they can't afford it, so what should they eat?

You might not believe it, but there really are people who have no money left after they've paid their rent, council tax and utility bills - all of which have legal consequences if not paid.

I agree with you Riverwalk. Vegans need an understanding of protein sources which meat/fish/dairy eaters don't need.

Oreo

Do they?
Thanks for explaining foodstuffs but really think you have no idea what most people eat who are on budgets ( or off them)😂

I am rather surprised at your lack of knowledge. Maybe you're not a foodie?

Perhaps you don't read the Guardian either? For some while they have running articles with recipes for cooking meals costing £1 per head. Tom Kerridge has given 2 recipes using chicken.

Have you heard of Jack Monroe? She has been in and out of the media for the last few years talking about cooking on a low budget, aimed at those people with low incomes.

Chick peas are a source of protein and often used in diets for diabetics. They are also used in a lot of Italian dishes and they are cheap to buy. As Norah said they are used to make hummus and nearly everybody will have eaten that at least once in their lives.

MaizieD

Where do all the paper bags come from? They're not exactly common these days..

We get them in the veg departments of supermarkets here in France.

Riverwalk

IMO, to eat a decent nutritious vegan diet you need to be a bit of a foodie and have the dedication and time to plan and make meals. I know of only two life-long vegans and they are of Indian origin so they have the knowledge and skills that comes with that background.

For poor people buying pots of hummus, guacamole or Linda McCartney sausages isn't an option and the average poor working person wouldn't have the time or inclination to be preparing pulses, lentils, tofu etc, into tasty nutritious meals that the whole family would eat.

Don't ALL people "make and plan meals"?

Sorry to be dim, don't people decide what they're going to eat?

Get up, eat porridge and fruits, drink coffee. Go about day, eat lunch (today was lentil soup, bread, fruit). More of the day, make dinner (curry, bread, salad, fruit). Bake tomorrow bread.

I remember when I was discussing with my parents about leaving I gave a list of meals that could during 1 week, for a total of £1. I can't remember what was on it apart from liver. That was nearly 70 years ago!

An 80g portion of chick peas contains 13g of carbs and 6g of protein.

An 80g portion of roast chicken contains 0g of carbs and 24g of protein.

(Source: Carb and calorie counter - Diabetes UK)

In other words, the carb/protein ratio of chick peas is high.

An average human needs about 60g of protein a day, so to get that from chick peas would also require eating 130g of carbs, which is twice what I eat in a day. For diabetics who need to limit carbs, they're not an efficient way of consuming protein.

Norah I can't eat porridge. Even Zoe's Tim Spector has now confirmed that it spikes blood sugar levels for non-diabetics.

PPS. Lentils and bread are carb-heavy too - and fruit's main macro-ingredient is carbohydrate.

Riverwalk Why the reference to guacamole or Linda McCartney sausages? No one earlier in this thread has mentioned those items.

If you cook Indian food you would be using pulses and lentils. Not all lentils need to be soaked and the red ones make delicious soup.

The ingredients mentioned do not need a lot of preparation. They need to be soaked, perhaps whilst out at work. Cooking could be done in evening and, because they take some to cook they could be left until the next day for a variety of recipes.

Maybe that's why there's a high prevalence of diabetes in India and those with Indian ethnic origin.

Dinahmo

Oreo

Do they?
Thanks for explaining foodstuffs but really think you have no idea what most people eat who are on budgets ( or off them)😂

I am rather surprised at your lack of knowledge. Maybe you're not a foodie?

Perhaps you don't read the Guardian either? For some while they have running articles with recipes for cooking meals costing £1 per head. Tom Kerridge has given 2 recipes using chicken.

Have you heard of Jack Monroe? She has been in and out of the media for the last few years talking about cooking on a low budget, aimed at those people with low incomes.

Chick peas are a source of protein and often used in diets for diabetics. They are also used in a lot of Italian dishes and they are cheap to buy. As Norah said they are used to make hummus and nearly everybody will have eaten that at least once in their lives.

This ^^

The world's replete with "cook a meal for £1 or less" articles.

Anne Widdecombe was wrong. So, what do people eat?

Chick peas, pulses, lentils are not new or weird - mum cooked with all sort of protein. She added lentils in meat dishes decades ago.

Incidentally, diabetics are advised to limit pulses, lentils and fruit.

Growstuff I didn't say that they were used to provide the required amount of protein for one day.

Funny about porridge. I have a friend who is diabetic and makes her own muesli using oats.

Norah How many times does this need saying? Chick peas, pulses and lentils are not an efficient way of getting enough protein if people are limiting carbs.

It's because so much processed food has "fillers" made from grain that so many people in the UK, USA and other countries are overweight/obese.

Dinahmo

Growstuff I didn't say that they were used to provide the required amount of protein for one day.

Funny about porridge. I have a friend who is diabetic and makes her own muesli using oats.

Ask Tim Spector! Or look at my own blood glucose monitor if I ever eat porridge or muesli!

Good for your friend - but not for me or all the other T2 diabetics who avoid grains of any sort.