Bo-Jangles

The 'Aisle of Value' always has the best quality nutrition.

Five+ a day = Coke, Bluebird Chippies, Arnotts Shapes, TimTams, Ritz Crackers or Oreos.

The Weezer

I think "quality" needs to be defined. I find a lot of the meat you get in supermarkets is injected with water, so won't brown properly. Chicken, particularly so. There are no labelling requirements to disclose whether the meat is pumped full of liquid.

Is the produce is of better quality in NZ, as I've often read on this forum? What the heck does that mean, anyway? Organic produce in NZ is expensive. Surely it's cheaper in the UK?

Northern Henry

Just remember anything/ most things "on offer" in UK supermarkets have been "up priced" for min 4 weeks (legal minimum), then put back down to normal price and shown as "on offer".

All those "half price" wines...actually at normal selling price, they've just been set inflated for a minimum of 4 weeks then they can reduce the price and say things like "half price", "£2 off", etc

bourbon-biscuit

Ha! We might have nothing else in common and nothing else we agree on, TommyLuck, but we have similar shopping/ cooking habits.

Pak n Save is just for branded junk food. The actual real food they do have is pricier than elsewhere. I am fortunate in Cambridge that we have a utterly brilliant Veg Fresh where the fruit & veg is actually fresh and very cheap and they sell herbs, spices, and dried pulses very cheaply too. We also have a Farmer's Market if you like (and can afford ) that sort of thing and an independent butchers selling their own stuff (https://www.facebook.com/whollycowcambridge). We have a Cornish pasty shop, too, though they charge SIX FIFTY a pasty
Oh, and a French patisserie where they actually fly the stuff in but also
We also have Dante's (Dantes Fine Foods - Cambridge International Food Shop) ... blimey, now I think on it, Cambridge is a bit posh!

christmasoompa

I also cook everything from scratch and buy fresh food, and as I said above, my food bill for 4 of us plus pets isn't even close to £100 a week in the UK. I think that davros1984's £15 a week for a single person is perfectly reasonable, I could certainly eat very well on it if I didn't have those pesky kids and a husband to feed too!

TommyLuck

High in nutrients, low on a combination of calories, hormones, additives, sugar, saturated fats (the bad ones), genetic modification, being a processed food ... Need I go on?

TommyLuck

Wonders never cease!!

Food plays in important part on my life. As in turns out, we'd probably make for a rip roaring dinner party

We'd just have to resist the urge for a food fight.

TommyLuck

I happen to think it important that parents feed their kids properly.

I'm seeing the fruits of eating properly at home with my 3 year old. It's very important to nail their eating habits early. IMO.

My parents didn't do that with me and it affected me.

On that, I'd better go, home made meat balls in a marinara sauce, whole meal spaghetti, broccoli, spinach and green beans for din dins!!

bearskin

The UK is a better place to live than NZ because the cost of your shopping basket is lots less.

Amazingly, for me, that's not the case. Incredibly I knew that and moved from the shopping paradise of the UK to NZ anyway.

The Weezer

Yes, I get your meaning.

New Zealand food labelling laws don't cover all that you mentioned above. For example, a manufacturer is not required to disclose whether trans-fats are in the food, unless it's making particular claims about the fats, such as "cholesterol free." Also, if an additative comprises less than 5% of the weight of the product, there's no requirement to disclose it. There's no requirement to put a warning on a product if addidatives that are included are known to be adverse to the health of some people, either.

It's quite possible that sometimes New Zealand food seems safer and better, but it might just be that labelling laws are more lax.

bourbon-biscuit

Lol, all that applies to junk food alone. I don't think anyone would claim nz processed food is better than the UK's! Unless they love pineapple lumps and milo.

The Weezer

New Zealand food labelling laws apply to all foods, not just the highly processed stuff. It would be applied to ready-made meals, such as refrigerated pre-made pesto or hummus sold at supermarkets, for example. Also applies to meats, as above I mentioned that meats that are pumped with liquid are not required to be labelled as such.

I was just asking what TommyLuck meant by "quality food."

TommyLuck

Maybe.

I tend to use a few of rules however:

Low in sugar - less then 10g per 100g.

Low in additives, the less ingredients there are the better.

If the packaging screams: 'I'm healthy for you, honest!!', in all likelihood it's probably not.

EDIT - 5 a day? More like 9 a day, minimum, with 6:3 ratio Veg:Fruit. Suddenly your cravings for sugary, mono-saturated fat, high calorie foods all but vanish.


Low fat, isn't necessarily healthy - it's probably loaded with sugar, which in terms of toxicity is far worse for our health than fat.

Just because something is gluten free doesn't make it healthy. Yes it'll stop a wee bit of bloating, and won't irritate the wheat allergy (you think) you've got, but hey Lead, Cocaine and Uranium are gluten free and low fat - it doesn't make them quality, or healthy for human consumption.

After all, no one needs to tell us a Carrot or Broccoli is healthy.

I could keep bleating on but there are so many misconceptions about food: Eggs - high in cholesterol. True but by and large the type of cholesterol we need. The "everything in moderation" phrase is useless now, because the meaning of moderation has morphed in to something else.

Suddenly we're eating a small bag of crisps, a mini chocolate bar and a fizzy drink with our simple carb sandwich for lunch - all moderate in isolation, but added together in one meal? Not so much.

If I'm boring you to tears, here's my story. I'm passionate about this subject:

CLICK HERE



PS - Clearly I nicked the Lead, Cocaine and Uranium comment, but it's a fair point I though!!

christmasoompa

I totally agree. My kids are 7 and 9 and will eat pretty much anything, even things that aren't 'child friendly' like olives, blue cheese, squid, curry, etc.

I think that's just because they don't know any different, I've never given them fish fingers and chips or other 'kiddie meals', they eat whatever we're having.

Which happens to be chicken, parma ham, pea and asparagus risotto tonight, with salad and homemade sundried tomato & parmesan bread (see, we eat pretty well for our budget despite it not being £100-120 a week!). Enjoy your meatballs, they sound great.

TommyLuck

I dunno, even though I've had my dinner now, your Risotto doesn't sound too shabby!!

For what it's worth, I can sympathise with people who don't have the time. It's a process cooking from fresh every night and dining together in this day and age. But you have to change you routine and behaviour. If dinner over runs and the kid goes to bed at 8pm, so what?

She'll still get 10-12 hours sleep and aside from eating well, the social interaction we all get from eating together as a family is just brilliant.

Moving to NZ meant we had the opportunity to change this behaviour in our family life relatively easily, away from one of eating as we do now, but in front of the TV.