Londonuck

Only thing that really pees me off about being back here is getting sick. Every time i come back i get a cold or flu! First one in 4 years and incidentally, im just back

huddm

Bristol UK

In the UK vegetables are not that expensive compared to junk food that is causing obesity in this country. You can go to a supermarket and buy 2 Pizza's for £7 or do what my wife does buy fresh chicken, onions, peppers, green beans,marrow, rice and make a chicken bake for the same money.
I do not believe its more expensive to eat healthier, but you have to be prepared to spend time on making a meal, rather than that of taking it out of a packet and putting it in the oven.

We shop at stores such as ALDI. 4 chicken breasts £3.80, 1 kg onions/carrots, a head of broccoli, cauliflower, 3 green peeper or cabbage 49p each/per pack. Pack of rice 69p. We live on a reasonable healthy diet which is affordable.

Hudd

BristolUK

Certainly you can do better, healthier and cheaper by doing your own from scratch instead of ready made. But you can't get away from the fact that a few pounds of spuds for a fraction of the price of those two pizzas or the chicken will make enough chips to fill the belly more than the pizza or chicken.

Whatever the reason for being low on cash - spending the money on ciggies, booze, the betting shop, the electricity bill that was more than you thought, the cooker repair, new daps for the kid....if you only have a fiver left for the next day or two, that amount will buy enough spuds and bread for chip butties whereas it won't buy enough lean meat or fish, veg and fruit for the meals that need to be consumed before the next income.

Mummy in the foothills

A fiver will get a lot more than a bag of potatoes and a loaf. There will be enough over to get some carrots, and cabbage and add some veg to that dinner even if you don't get meat. A nice veggie curry with rice would work.
It seems here to eat healthy costs more than eating junk food, In Uk it seemed to be reversed. I think it's the pre package fast meals that are so expensive and make you fat. and too many biscuits and cakes in UK. I don't even look at that stuff here I can't afford to feed it to my family.

huddm

BristolUK

I have notice that low income families tend to be much heavier smokers/drinkers than higher income earners. A pack of cigarette's will provide a cooked meal for a family of 4. I am classed as a high income earner in the UK and still careful how I spend my money. I do not smoke, go to the boozer or spend money on betting. I not sure how low income people can live that way and support a family. I assume that why the kids get chip butties.

Hudd

Returnee

A significant factor in Obesity is that modern life is more sedentary than ever. A recent study showed that housewives in the 1950s ate more calories than their modern counterparts, but were significantly slimmer because their daily lives involved much more physical activity.
In the UK an estimated 60.8 per cent of adults and 31.1 per cent of children are overweight. According to figures from 2009, almost a quarter of adults (22per cent of men and 24 per cent of women) in England were classified as obese (BMI 30kg/m² or over).

BBC

Grayling

So how is that any different to other countries such as America, Australia etc. They have higher levels of obesity.

What point are you trying to make?

...or is this just more trolling?

chris955

I must agree, I'm not quite sure what point you are trying to make. Most of your posts seem to infer that it is much worse in the UK than anywhere else when in fact that isn't true at all.

BristolUK

Yes, but that's probably just one meal for four. If you're faced with two days and a family of four add up the cost of eating healthy for eight breakfasts, eight lunches and eight dinners.

I'll bet that cost would buy potatoes, bread, a pack of cheap burgers from Iceland and some eggs; providing toast for brekky, baked spud for lunch, burger and chips for dinner and similar the next day except egg instead of burger.

All pretty unhealthy, but reasonably varied. And enough change for your smokes. (that's a joke)

bandrui

Applause . You took the words right out of my mouth.

bandrui

OK ... back to the original thought of this thread ... all the statistics in the world do not matter an iota if you want to move back to your home. Face it, life is what you create.

If you had never read a survey, you would never know whether UK was at the top of the list or the bottom and what does it matter anyway. If you want to be happy, you will be. You will immerse yourself in all the things you love and you will be home again. You will realise that the stats, reports and criteria are irrelevant to your happiness.

I am incredibly proud to be British... always have been and always will be... no matter where I go or where I live. Now why do you suppose that is?

I occasionally sink back into the habit of checking criteria and reading the media, but then I smarten up again.

bandrui

Well they are not unhappy in Upminster !

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...-best-sex.html

Bevm

No, sorry. Making chips needs a lot of oil, so toss in that price, plus it's a real pain, so I suspect people filling up on chips are buying frozen or from the chippie. I grant you, you can get a lot of chips cheap from a chippie.

But potatoes and bread aren't making people fat. They're quite nutrious. Irish peasants lived on mostly potatoes and cabbage for centuries. Bread's pretty good, too, especially whole wheat. Boil or bake the potatoes and put some grated cheese on them and it'll fill you up much better than chips, and cheese is pretty cheap here. Add in-season fresh veggies -- not cut up and plastic wrapped -- and you can eat well.

Trouble is, a lot of people (not just in the UK) are addicted to fried carbs with lots of sugar or salt, and nothing else will do. Something like roast pork with steamed veggies and mash tastes like nothing to them. Pork shoulder's a cheap meat.

Bev

Londonuck

Bev are you still down in Sussex or am i mixing you up with someone else?

BristolUK

I don't think it's that much and it gets re-used multiple times as well. People eating lots of chips probably have the oil already. It's just one of those things that you already have - like a tub of marge or jar of mayo.

Sure. But isn't it more expensive? It's 2004 since I was in England. My local supermarket sold cheap sliced white for about 25p anything better was three times that and more.

Yep. Dead right. Canada's way behind the UK for reduced or no addeds.