Eat Well for Less

I watched ‘Eat well for less’ last night. Leaving aside the grammar issue, and the fact that I don’t usually watch ‘reality TV’ because the directors always portray the people as thick as planks and thus hateful or snobby know-alls and thus hateful, here are my thoughts.

Pizzettas, ham and peach, made by DD from scratch (including base)

The Scott family was (of course) shown as lazy and stupid in turns, the mother shopping and buying not only almost every meal ‘ready made and oven-cookable’ but worse, she bought food ready sliced, diced and grated. When shown a cheese grater she either had never used one or pretended she hadn’t. (useful advice, buy a modern cheese grater like this one, and cut the cheese into manageable chunks before grating)  She saw slicing a potato as a challenge worth celebration and placing a slice of (pre cut) fruit loaf into a toaster as ‘preparation’.

But I think much of that was rubbish. She microwaved ready made pancakes (!) but didn’t moan that that was preparation for example. I think her ‘lazy stupidity’ was enhanced for the camera and mightily played up by the director. If you haven’t watched it you can probably catch it here.

I don’t believe the mum in this episode was really lazy either. Her children and her house were spotless and the children well behaved and polite, that doesn’t happen by chance, and both parents worked too. I think she didn’t know how to cook, and laughed it off as she was embarrassed.They were a really nice family, and despite the initial desire to slap Kate I did warm to her, her husband and their three children.

I was more interested in what Gregg Wallace didn’t say or show the family. The meals they were shown how to cook were all variations on what they were eating already so not especially healthy, mainly just cheaper and nicer. That makes sense though as you need to change eating habits gradually, there is no point in saying ‘bin the chips, eat quinoa’ that just won’t work. But I do wish he’d talked more about nutritional balance, vegetables, starches, fats etc and which foods contained which things.

There was also much talk of saving money on the food bill, but no discussion as to the fuel bill. Would 45 minutes for cheap potato chips in the oven impact more than the original plan of oven chips that take 15 minutes for example? The same for the pizzas shown later. I don’t know the answer, maybe it would make little impact but I would have liked it to have been considered.

Biscuits made at home

Gregg did briefly mention using a butcher but only to buy the ham, there was no discussion of independent butchers – ours is often cheaper than the supermarket, the meat comes with little packaging and best of all – no sell by dates! – something the mum on the show was shown as being terrified of. (see my take on that here) Not only can local butchers be cheaper, but even if the meat is slightly more expensive it can be better value, the chops we buy there shrink much less in cooking than the ones we buy at the supermarket and taste better too.

Oddly there seemed to be no discussion of buying fruit or veg at a greengrocer’s (very odd as Chris Bavin is a greengrocer). We use a local one when we can, all the food is, again, packaging free, and has no use by dates, it’s a lesson in what fruit and veg should look like. Also fruit and veg bought in season can still be cheaper than trying to stick to the same fruit and vegetables all year round, a local farm shop can be cheaper for the vegetables that are in season if you are lucky enough to have a farm nearby.

Some ideas for recipes in using things that are about to go out of date would have been good too – the old stand-by of banana cake for example for those suddenly black bananas, the idea that you can cook and freeze a meal or blanche and freeze vegetables.

The oven where the magic happens

Gregg briefly mentioned freezing sandwiches, though didn’t discuss the best fillings for freezing, and the suggestion seemed to just be laughed off) for reference, ham, cheese and tuna mayonnaise all freeze well (Though DD says to remind you that on a cold day they may not thaw by lunchtime if taken out of the freezer at breakfast time – I think I’ve lost mummy points!) Adding salad to a sandwich though makes it a soggy mess, so leave the lettuce, tomato and cucumber to add separately to the lunch box!

One thing the mum, Kate, said at the end was that she planned cooking on Sunday and freezing meals for the week. Good on her! And I admired their proposal for meal planning. I think she could also save money, have fun and improve her kitchen skills by baking biscuits with the children, perfect for lunch boxes and a great winter afternoon pastime.

I won’t be watching the programme again, I don’t feel I learned any thing, the presenters took a long time to really say nothing much as the advice on butter vs margarine wasn’t even particularly current. (new research which looked at 50 studies involving more than one million people found there was no evidence that saturated fat was bad for health. ) But for anyone that is out there thinking the a Findus Crispy Pancake is the height of sophistication and that a poached egg on toast is a ‘meal that need a lot of cooking’ then I think this show could help them to branch out a little.

My favourite cook book

I would suggest that ‘looking for cheaper versions of what you normally buy and trying them’ is a good idea, maybe one item a week from a supermarkets cheap basic range? After all, it might be OK and if not you can go back to your usual. We like basic pasta and rice for example but I prefer branded bagels and cream cheese. ‘Blind’ taste tests can be fun too, as the programme showed when they tasted the unmarked coffee…

And the simplest option of all? Buy a simple cookery book.

Did you watch the show? What did you think? And will it make you change your eating or shopping habits?

Compassion Fatigue - I'm guilty

BBC News - The direct mail that tugs the heartstrings http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33549655

This rant was brought about by a reminder via the BBC News site of the way charities target people.

I realise that charities need to be given money and time and often old clothes to work, and I know about the argument that the money spent on advertising and promotion is regained in donations but one thing that is annoying is that it's not fairly spread.
For example. I see an online request or a TV advert for a specific event (in the last year this has happened to me at least twice) I respond with a donation - usually using a website, my name and address and details are given. Over the next year I receive numerous 'news letters', 'updates', requests for more money, asks for direct debits, pens, coasters, in short I receive in 'junk' mail well over the value of the original donation I made. So while over all, the advertising is paid for by donations, I feel that mine is wasted and hasn't gone to the thing I intended at all.
And usually, unlike with an email, I don't have an easy opt out on the paper mail. There is no 'send the enclosed card back to stop future mail'. Last year after about the 7th mailshot I finally tracked down, via an online search, an email address and asked to be removed from the mailing list. So far I have had no more mail from that charity.

Christmas is also a high pressure time for charities with certain charities insisting on sending 'gifts' of pens, stickers, wrapping paper, cards etc and then asking for a donation. The idea here is presumably to make you feel so guilty at having received a gift that you donate more. It's horrible to add such pressure in a donation request in my opinion.

The people in the cases the BBC highlights feel pressured to give and I feel that too sometimes, though the final effect too much 'bumpf' through the post actually has, is to harden me to charity requests.
Because I do support several charities (on a regular basis) I now find it easier to disregard letters that fall on the mat begging me to stop child abuse, help battered woman and feed the starving elderly. I send these letters straight into the recycling. I am not proud or happy about this hard hearted attitude, I would like to be soft and kind and care lots but as the BBC has reported, it doesn't stop, it increases. Donate £5 and next you will be asked to donate £20 and then set up a direct debit and then a new, equally worthy cause will fall onto your mat.

I don't know the answer. For me it is picking a charity or two and setting up a regular donation. I do respond sometimes to world disasters but luckily my main charity is also a member of DEC so I don't get extra requests subsequently. Otherwise, for local charities I donate in cash only, so they don't have my details or know who I am. Perhaps charities could look at online and phone donations and ask at the time "Is this a one off donation or should we contact you in the future?" and make that a large and clear question, not a vague check box buried amongst the terms and conditions in a way large corporations would be proud of.  Don't even get me started on the 'chuggers'; the charity muggers that accost you on the street and try and guilt you into donating, showing you pictures of starving cats and beaten dogs.

Have I got 'compassion fatigue'? Is it possible that the constant attempts by so many charities to wear me down, to get me to part with money, has actually had the opposite effect? Maybe.

How do you cope? Do you give regularly? Not at all? Cash only? Or are you a sucker for a good cause and give as often as you can?

For information you might like Give as You Live - an online scheme (which costs you nothing) where you sign up and many online purchases cause charity donations to be given on your behalf, Amazon is part of their scheme for example.

The charities I support regularly are CMT UK (as I have Charcot-Marie-Tooth it's rather self serving of me) and World Vision - where I sponsor a child in Uganda.

Shark Week! Lets talk blood! - Pink Parcel Review

That time of the month, Aunt Flo from Redcar is visiting, the painters are in, you've fallen to the communists, it's the red tide, you're cursed, on the rag, on the blob, surfing the crimson wave...basically it's shark week...yes ladies let's talk periods! (but gentlemen, do not stop reading, you can score awesome caring points later in this post, from the lady in your life!)

Poor Mr TM lives in a house with two ladies. (I use the term loosely) there is me of course, but there is also the adorable DD and of course being female and living together we not only experience shark week we synchronise it!

All that baggage that Aunt Flo brings with her when she comes to visit! Having the painters in would be bad enough but there's the delightful hormone swings, the cramps, the the THE JUST FEELING BLOODY ANNOYED ABOUT EVERYTHING OK!?

So it was with delight that DD and I agreed to review the Pink Parcel and the Teen Parcel.

The idea is fairly simple, they choose nice things for you each month and send them to your house along with your chosen sanitary protection. Thus both delighting you and saving you the sudden rush to Tesco Express on a Friday night in your worst pants and a dressing gown, clutching a hot water bottle.

The website allows you to choose your sanitary protection choice from tampons and towels and make a choice within that about flow etc (sorry to be graphic chaps, bear with me) You set up your dates (which you can change at any time if Aunt Flo is late etc) and then you just wait for the goodies!

There are sweet things for that carb craving, fancy teas because , well we are British we do tea at times of national crisis so on a day we've fallen to the communists sounds like a good excuse! There are beauty things to make us feel lovely (we still are lovely obviously but we don't always feel it)

DD was very excited with them both, but being a fairly grown up 15 year old she was equally happy with the contents of the Pink Parcel as the teen one, though she has found use for the spot cream!(and eaten my chocolate!)

If I had one criticism  it's that they don't cater to hippy ladies like me that don't need disposable sanitary protection each month, maybe they could look at an extra option maybe with a pair of nice panties or something? Just an idea.
The boxes are beautifully designed and unpacking them is a fun joy - DD even squealed about the cute little tampon bag.

Your first Pink Parcel is £5.95 and after that they cost £9.99 a month, that includes postage. They are filled with really nice branded goodies and I would say that they are worth the money.

I would think that they would make a super gift to yourself to remind you each month to love yourself, make your visit from Mother Nature more of a celebration than a curse. They would also be a lovely present for your daughter to welcome her to the world of womanhood.

And now chaps - you still reading? Good -Here is where you gain maximum kudos, buy a subscription for the lady in your life, show her that you appreciate the discomfort of a period, that you know she has a hard time of it once a month, and that you want to let her know it's OK to treat herself. Make her feel special at a time when she doesn't feel very special at all.  And after shark week maybe she'll remember how nice you were....WHEN YOU ARE NOT ANNOYING THE CRAP OUT OF HER! sorry where was I ? Oh yes, so there we are, a gorgeous gift box to make surfing the crimson wave a little more lovely.

Pink Parcel is specifically looking to create more open conversations around periods, so that women and teens no longer feel embarrassed or afraid. They encourage women to join the conversation via Twitter using the hashtag #AMonthlyThing. Pink Parcel also hosts a blog on their website with tips and information to debunk period myths. Why not follow them on Twitter and Facebook?

Teen Parcel &  Pink Parcel on Twitter

Disclosure - I was sent one of each Teen and Pink Parcel for the purposes of the review

First World Problems

Jam on cream? Cream on jam? #firstworldproblems

It's a weird phrase and one that many dislike 'First world Problems' . It appears to have been created at first to poke fun at people that have it all but still manage to complain about it - to make them think about what they are saying and as a gentle prod to remind them that many people would be glad to be able to moan that their shower water was too hot, that the white wine ran out and you had to drink red etc...shades of Marie Antoinette and her (probably fake) announcement that if the peasants had no bread, they should eat cake.

It was then appropriated by people as a tag, at least on twitter, to show they knew, they knew they were being a a bit silly, that the complaint was at best petty, but they wanted to moan anyway. And why not. Saying you cannot have a problem because someone else has worse ones is as silly (in my eyes) as saying you can't be having a good life because other people have better ones!

So I had a little snigger at this tweet earlier

My bread is too tall for my toaster. #firstworldproblems
— Elizabeth (@Eliza_Do_Lots) January 26, 2015

It's a problem I'm very familiar with. I'm 49 and have used a lot of toasters and a lot of sliced bread in my life and I have NEVER found a toaster to toast the top 1cm of a slice. I'm with the tweeter above, why don't toaster manufacturers and bread makers go out for a beer and sort this out! Surely it can't be too complicated after all, as Spencer pointed out, the future is here!

Ermagerd! Just seen a man call someone USING HIS WATCH. IN IKEA. The future just arrived, and it's wearing A LOT of denim.
— Spencer (@ADadCalledSpen) January 26, 2015

Also today I was reading the BBC article, quoting bank Credit Suisse about where the 1% of the wealthiest people on earth live. It's based purely on assets and takes no account of cost of living or income, so it's a statistic rather than a useful fact but it's still interesting. The top 1% of the wealthiest own £530,000 or more each (and there  are 47 million of them, so I doubt they all play golf together)  the top 10% have £50,000 of assets and the top 50% only £2,400 in assets! Makes you think doesn't it.

But what of actual income vs cost of living? That would make more sense. So I had a hunt and found a site that would compare that with the rest of the world too. Another surprising statistic. A single mum with one child taking home £10,000 in the UK for example is in the top 18% of the world and earns 6.3 times the global average. Try it for yourself and see what you think.

I'm pretty sure that we are all richer than we think and the #firstworldproblems tag is no bad thing as a reminder sometimes. We can complain of course but if you are reading this chances are you are high on the list of wealthiest people on the planet even if some months it's hard to believe.

Dearest Beloved

I get some really lovely emails from some really lovely generous people sometimes, (every day) which just proves to me the Internet is full of fantastic and lovely people. I thought you should share in the joy these emails bring, so here are a couple from today's offering

It seemed like such a good idea at the time. (A Rant)

It seemed like such a good idea at the time. 

We’ve all been there and done that, we’ve all looked at something and seen an instant fix, a way out of a problem that was oh so simple, and then at the end of the idea implementation or even halfway through we realise there were a thousand and one things we hadn’t quite considered.

 The cane toads in Australia have always been one of my favourite;’ learning the hard way’ lessons. In case you have never heard of it there is more here but in brief, there were lots of bugs that needed removal to save plants, so some predators (the cane toads) were brought in, what a fine idea! No pesticides, all natural, perfect. Except it wasn’t, the cane toads are poisonous and generally nasty, they had no predators of their own so they ran amok (a rather fine image there, toads running amok, like something from a B grade horror movie) and now the problem is not bugs but cane toads. And of course rabbits are not native to Australia …. 

Wasting all our money on plastic

We all know that credit is useful but not ideal. We all know that a credit card company is making money by letting us spend money we don't have, in advance. We know that we should pay it back to avoid high charges etc etc

But what about a newer plastic scourge? 

When I was young (and dinosaurs roamed the earth etc) 

Gratuitous Dinosaur pic ( Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos )

There were vouchers and gift certificates - they were slips of paper - maybe in a card that were just like money but could only be spent in a certain store, there was no cash back option, you spent it all in one go and you lost any 'change'. This worked fine for years - stores had a way of guaranteeing your money would be spent in store and usually more than you'd been given, as you were more likely to 'top up' a little over the limit than lose 50p if you spent under. People enjoyed the ability to give a gift where someone could choose what they liked....

I know you all know all this

But these evolved and now they are plastic cards, the benefit is that you can top them up with HUGE amounts of money (not just a fiver) and then spend over time, leaving the balance on the card. Sounds idyllic. (Unless it's a Jessops Voucher or an HMV one obviously). 

But these cards too have evolved. You can now buy prepaid Visa cards or American Express cards so that the lucky recipient can spend their new dosh anywhere they like! It's like money...but with one subtle difference...

If I give you a tenner, (I'm not going to before you ask) and you put it in your sock drawer, saved for 'a rainy day' while the government and inflation will do their level best, in a years time it will still be a tenner, ready to spend...

Not so the Visa or American Express prepaid card (and actually there are even more than those two) , no not because they expire, a reason much more insidious....you are paying to own them, but not just a small amount.

Some charge a rather awesome £9.95 to buy the card, £4.75 a month to own the card and £1.50 to use an ATM.

Don't take my word for it - there are comparisons here http://www.money.co.uk/prepaid-cards.htm

Now maybe I'm missing something hugely obvious, but if you have to pay up front (ie it's not credit) why not just use or give the cash? Are these cards just for people with no bank account? Is is possible to have no bank account??  And if so surely it's a huge rip off targeting (once again) the poorer members of society.

Are there still places that won't take cash (apart from the Olympics) and if so it seems cheaper to ask a mate to buy for you and give them the cash!

It's a similar story with 'Pocket money' cards. PKTMY seems like a good idea but only if you don't trust your child with cash (in which case why give it to them?) I don't feel the need to tell my child what she can and can't spend her money on, and if she needs a plastic card she can open a bank account. If I use a pocket money card I'll be paying someone else so that I can give her money and I'd rather she had what little I have to give, to be honest!

" The service is not free to use. There is a joining fee of £5 a family, a monthly membership fee of £1 a child, and a cash machine withdrawal fee of 50p in the UK and £2 overseas."

So to sum up - I think that prepaid plastic is a silly choice. Aimed at the poor or the gullible. Give your child a fiver, they may surprise you with their maturity, they may even open a bank account! (and some banks like the Co-op donate to a charity and give them gifts too!) And they may not - they may just spend it, but then, after all, it's their money.

This ranty post is obviously not sponsored :-)

all photos are Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos  and aren't they beautiful!

Something Borrowed and Something blue

Weddings (and Civil partnerships). They are imbued with superstition and tradition in a way few other celebrations are, and the biggest tradition of all seems to be that each new generation will pay more for their elaborate day than the next. I was prompted to write this following a news paper article (I use the term 'News Paper' loosely - it's the Daily Fail) in which a couple we poorly treated (by mistake) by a potential venue choice. 

The slight affront to the couple was upsetting, but as I joked on twitter – maybe the venue was right, after all – who sells their story to the Daily Mail! 

But it wasn’t the actual story that sparked my interest but the casual (bragging?) way the cost of everything was flung about. £1000 to let off their own firework display (a firework display!?) £240 per person (for what? Some food and a nice table? Maybe some music?) Over £10 000 spent on the reception. Never mind the cost of the rings, the dress, the bridesmaids’ dresses, the pageboys, the photographer, the bouquets and so on and so on 

I’ve heard people say they wouldn’t marry ‘because of the expense’ but getting married is cheap! And quick, and fairly fuss free, it’s the reception that costs the money, the cars, the suits, the hire of venues. I was married 20 years ago, we had a rather fabulous party afterwards in PizzaExpress. The staff were delightful, decorating the restaurant, sending us a card, and waiting on us hand and foot, everyone ordered from the usual menu, we ate, we drank champagne we had a great time. My grandmother made the cake and organised the flowers. When we settled the bill, it was less than £200, and even at today’s prices I bet it would be less that £30 a head including drinks.

Surely wedding receptions are just parties, you invite family and friends to have a nice time, to share your joy. I don’t know about your friends, but mine are not hanging round for the money and the free drink (just as well – they’d wait a long time) they are my friends, tea and cake in the back garden, drinks at a pub, a picnic in the woods, all would be fun with my friends. 

Now it’s true a wedding is a big event, and yes ideally it should only happen once in your life (stop laughing cynically at the back! If you assume it will happen multiple times it makes all this fuss far far worse!) But getting married should be about a lifetime, not a day. You will remain married for years and years. Waking on the first day of your married life to a heap of expensive presents might be nice, but a debt? Or the debt of your parents? Or the knowledge that you could have paid off a chunk of mortgage but can now barely afford a holiday next year, or at all…. 

Who are you getting married for? Why are you getting married? I suggest that if you are having a big party for ‘family’ or ‘your mum’ then it’s a mistake. If you are getting married because ‘you want to wear a wedding dress’ or ‘you want a big party’ then it’s a mistake. A marriage is a public declaration of love and commitment, and a legal document to confer some rights, people should marry because they want to marry. I read somewhere once that ‘the length of the marriage is inversely proportional to the amount of money spent on the wedding” I have no idea if that’s true, I doubt it is really but it sounds like the sort of superstition or tradition we should consider adopting.

The one where I share money saving tips and then lose the plot

Today I listened to The Jeremy Vine show. Sadly I often have to listen to his inane ramblings and tedious subjects as I share an office, and democracy dictates the majority rule the radio waves. Often his callers are as misinformed and as odd in their ideas as he seems to be (I fervently hope he is just pretending to be as stupid as he sometimes appears) any way today took the biscuit with some top money saving tips…

Now I don’t know about you but I do try and save money. Most of the way we do that is fairly obvious, we buy cheap unbranded stuff, we switch off lights we are not using, we don't buy newspapers, we turn off electrical appliances, etc

So I was a little surprised to hear the advice “Buy dresses in the sale to save money” Wow, I thought, how lucky he told us that! Who knew! Sale items are cheaper than full price! Great tip!

And to be fair I tuned out as much as I could after that, but still stupid money saving tops, from the glaringly obvious to the blatantly stupid began to pop into my head and so, without further ado I share them. I hope you don’t need to instigate any because either you already do them or you can see that they are plainly ridiculous.

My thanks to several tweeters for joining in with my idiocity.

• Buy things that are a bit cheaper than you usually buy
• Eat a bit less
• Ask the green grocer if he has any old vegetables ‘for your rabbit’ – eat these (My MIL actually used to do this)
• Try the above tip with bones for the ‘dog’ from the butcher – make soup
• Read your neighbours’ newspapers the day after they are printed, they can be easily rescued from the recycling bin under cover of darkness
• When a mate visits, ask them to bring their own tea bag, or batter yet, a flask of tea.
• Ask your neighbour if you can ‘borrow’ a cup of sugar. Do this weekly, never give any back
• Don’t buy any clothes at all for at least a year, you have too many anyway.
• Switch off your car engine when going down hill.
• Use a head torch powered by cheap pound shop batteries rather than turn lights on in the home
• Get rid of your TV and save on the licence fee
• Ditto telephone
• And also electricity…and your car
• Drip hot wax onto your head and stick a candle on it, even cheaper than a head torch!

 And it was at that very point I realised I needed a lie down, or a cup of tea…

   

Can you spare a cup of sugar?  

Please add more tips below, serious or silly, all appreciated