I must admit that I don’t fully understand the “junk food is cheaper” argument.

Junk food is easier.

For the great unwashed, they either can’t or won’t cook, so microwaved rubbish it is.

For the less workshy, we’re now in a situation where both partners have to go out to work to make ends meet, so there’s no-one at home to spend two hours cooking every evening. The last thing most people want to do after being out of the house for twelve hours straight is start chopping veg.

The only way round this really is to cook in bulk and freeze your own “ready meals,” but that requires planning, budgeting, and education. The only other way you’re going to get people cooking again is to pass a “one working adult per household” law and double the wage of everyone who’s left. That or remove a zero from the value of every house in the country so that people can afford to live without running themselves into the ground. And I can’t see either of those being popular policies.

Junk food is easier because it’s made of junk that comes from a factory, not fresh food from a farm (ok this is exaggerating a bit).

I knew someone who used to eat crisps and pop for lunch. That’s cheaper than a sandwich in her work canteen.

Plus – vegetables are cheap, but PLAIN veg on their own aren’t exactly appetising. To make them delicious you either need more money for meat, fish etc or some skill.

To make them delicious you either need more money for meat, fish etc or some skill.

There’s millions of vegetarians who might disagree with you there.

You’re right though, in that traditional meals like your Sunday roast have meat as a centrepiece; if you can’t afford that then you need to replace it with some form of education on how to cook other things.

There’s millions of vegetarians who might disagree with you there.

They’re wrong and/or deluded. Vegetables are rubbish without cheese or meat. End of story.

Growing your own food would be great if you could grow pizzas and cheeseburgers, but no – it’s always veg. Hardly worth the effort.

Yours greedily,

The Great Unhosed.

There’s millions of vegetarians who might disagree with you there.

The ‘etc’ in that sentence refers to protein or something. I doubt most vegetarians would want to eat JUST PLAIN vegetables that have not been prepared into some kind of dish, or served with some other pulses etc that have.

You can make vegetables very tasty by adding a spot of olive oil and lemon juice. Before someone points out the price of olive oil, it’s not bad compared with the price of a pint of lager, and lasts much longer 🙂

Can you not just do them an omelette?

You can make vegetables very tasty by adding a spot of olive oil and lemon juice

I did say they could be made tasty with skill, that not everyone posesses. That’s my point.

If squeezing half a lemon and throwing a bit of olive oil onto some greens is skill, then I despair!

Of course it is.

Maybe in your middle class world EVERYONE knows about olive oil and lemon juice….

Molgrips, maybe in YOUR PRESUMPTUOUS WORLD I’m middle class, knowing zero about me, and judged purely on the fact that I use olive oil and lemon juice. I’m not middle class, I just happen to hate junk food and have found ways to make vegetables tasty. That requires neither education nor bags of money.

What about deep fried veg in batter? Would the weenyness of the vegetables be enhanced by the super powers that only deep frying can produce?

So the middle class quip was mostly tongue in cheek but perhaps not entirely. One could possible argue that the use of olive oil in itself is a marker of being middle class 🙂

I just happen to hate junk food and have found ways to make vegetables tasty.

You’re underestimating yourself, and overestimating some others. There are plenty of people out there who simply can’t conceive of actually making anything out of something else. They simply read the label and chuck it in the oven/microwave.

*looks forward to binners’ contribution to tomorrow’s ‘fat Friday’ thread*

I’m overweight. Have been since the age of 19/20. Through a normal diet that most people have. Not very sedentary person either. Usually out and about on my bike. My main weakness was always eating from boredom on my days off when I couldn’t get out and about or when at work.

My heaviest I was 21stone 5.5lbs. I decided I wanted to do something about it ready for my upcoming wedding. So set my self an incentive to be down to less than 19stone by the time my next Cyclescheme voucher is available then buy a road bike. So with one of our family friends I joined slimming world. The diet at first looked like it could be expensive. Loads of fresh fruit, veg and meat. But when I sat down with SWMBO and looked at the amount we were spending on crap it’s actually not more expensive.

I stared slimming world 1st of September this year (when I was at my heaviest). I now weigh 19stone 1.5lb. Just through being more aware of what I’m eating. My Voucher for my new bike has been ordered and should be here at the start of next month. I’ve got to decide between the Cube Peloton SL or Giant Defy 1.

I now need to buy new clothes. That’s the expensive bit.

Lol molgrips, sorry I got a bit grumpy, but I really do have difficulty understanding why people would just choose junk food every time. It’s horrible!
I disagree with your definition of middle class, but no doubt many would disagree with mine!

I would have been with the people above saying vegetables are dull on their own if you asked me 6 months ago. I stopped eating a lot of crap and most process foods then, strange thing was that things like veg and fruit started tasting different and I now enjoy them much more. I think a lot of processed food is so laden with flavours and sugars that simpler foods taste really, really dull.

When you stop eating so much processed food with lots of added salt and sugar you can taste other flavours a lot better.