Mortgages available for Healthy Food?

[madzone]

it's not december - it's may, and the strawberries are £2.50 a punnet! they never seem to get much lower than £2 a punnet in the supermarket unless they're selling you the rotted ones.

we were thinking of getting a smoothie maker, but i agree we'd need a bank loan to fund the purchase of fruit to make smoothies, so there's no point.

and that is absolutely pathetic if you ask me.

when a packet of crisps, which clearly costs more to produce in terms of labor (from the potato picking right the way up to funding the law team of the crisp corporation that patents their crisp oil, not to mention distributors, etc.) is like 10p.

Because there's about half a potato in each bag. Our strawberries are just starting to ripen so they're not quite in season yet. The simple answer is don't buy supermarket strawberries - they're forced, tasteless, over priced and utterly shite in every way.

 

[madzone]

All of this foodie high moral ground is all very well if you live in London, of course.
Where I live, there are no foreign people, so we don't have ethnic food shops. The last greengrocers closed 7 years ago, and there are no food stalls except evil cheap meat on the weekly market. It's supermarkets or nowt (unless you want to drive miles and miles in your car to get other stuff)

I don't live in London! And I bet we've got less foreign people than you (if you don't count the english) I take your point though - some places have more facilities than others.

 

[Pingu]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/in_season/

http://thefoody.com/basic/vegseason.html

 

[SubZeroCat]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/in_season/

http://thefoody.com/basic/vegseason.html

Ooh that's great, thank you!

 

[_angel_]

All of this foodie high moral ground is all very well if you live in London, of course.
Where I live, there are no foreign people, so we don't have ethnic food shops. The last greengrocers closed 7 years ago, and there are no food stalls except evil cheap meat on the weekly market. It's supermarkets or nowt (unless you want to drive miles and miles in your car to get other stuff)

I know, there are no greengrocers round this side of Leeds at all! And I don't drive so am a bit buggered. On the plus side I have planted some apple trees in a bid to stave off scurvy.

 

[trashpony]

it's not december - it's may, and the strawberries are £2.50 a punnet! they never seem to get much lower than £2 a punnet in the supermarket unless they're selling you the rotted ones.

we were thinking of getting a smoothie maker, but i agree we'd need a bank loan to fund the purchase of fruit to make smoothies, so there's no point.

and that is absolutely pathetic if you ask me.

when a packet of crisps, which clearly costs more to produce in terms of labor (from the potato picking right the way up to funding the law team of the crisp corporation that patents their crisp oil, not to mention distributors, etc.) is like 10p.

You appear to have overlooked the costs of:
- growing strawberries (generally in polytunnels in the UK as it's too wet outdoors)
- picking strawberries (potatoes can be mechanically harvested, strawberries must be picked by hand)
- storing and transporting strawberries which I'm sure you agree are slightly less robust that your average potato
- packing strawberries - again because they are rather squishy, I'm sure you've noticed that they require slightly more robust packaging than a plastic bag.

That's not pathetic - you don't know what you're talking about.

Incidentally - pick your own is a lot cheaper. But they ain't ripe yet.

 

[Ms T]

There are some tremendous bargains to be had in ethnic shops (although as moose points out not all areas have them). I just bought 2 kg of cherries from a shop on the Uxbridge Rd for a fiver! The same quantity from a supermarket would cost four times that much, I would imagine.

 

[tarannau]

it's actually not that expensive to make a smoothie either. You only need a handful of strawberries to flavour an entire jug, along with a banana or two to thicken - the rest is generally natural yoghurt and some ice cubes.

As long as you're prepared to buy whatever's best and on offer at the market at the time, smoothies cost a lot less than you may think. Think how many kiwis you can get for a pound for a start.

And smoothies are a great way to get rid to some of the less than fresh fruit that accumulates in your fruit bowl too.

 

[Idaho]

I was going to write a long thread but it all boils down to:

Unhealthy ingredients have got cheaper and healthy ones more expensive. Supermarkets are bad, distort the food market, make loads of money for themselves and screw suppliers. Eat seasonal food that is produced as close to you as possible. Grow your own.

 

[catrina]

You appear to have overlooked the costs of:
- growing strawberries (generally in polytunnels in the UK as it's too wet outdoors)
- picking strawberries (potatoes can be mechanically harvested, strawberries must be picked by hand)
- storing and transporting strawberries which I'm sure you agree are slightly less robust that your average potato
- packing strawberries - again because they are rather squishy, I'm sure you've noticed that they require slightly more robust packaging than a plastic bag.

the problem people here are talking about is that fresh fruit and veg are extortionately expensive, often even during season, while unhealthy foods are cheap, and that most people can't afford to avoid the processed crap because the fresh stuff is too expensive.

that is pathetic.

i'm quite happy to eat what's in season, but when it is the season and things are still ridiculously expensive (and they're not even being imported!) then what the hell is going on? asparagus is cheaper out of season when it's being flown here from somewhere else - why?!

 

[gentlegreen]

the problem people here are talking about is that fresh fruit and veg are extortionately expensive, often even during season, while unhealthy foods are cheap, and that most people can't afford to avoid the processed crap because the fresh stuff is too expensive.

that is pathetic.

i'm quite happy to eat what's in season, but when it is the season and things are still ridiculously expensive (and they're not even being imported!) then what the hell is going on? asparagus is cheaper out of season when it's being flown here from somewhere else - why?!

the balance will be redressed as the oil shortage bites.

.

 

[Rohen]

Nope it wont because the supermarkets depend on daily deliveries by truck

Doesnt matter where it comes from it goes to the depot first


80% of our food is by the big five supermarkets So we are basically fucked without them


As far as soft fruit goes grow your own its probably the easiest way of avoiding the prices.... every one has space for a strawberry pot in a sunny corner inside

 

[tarannau]

**************

 

[tarannau]

the problem people here are talking about is that fresh fruit and veg are extortionately expensive, often even during season, while unhealthy foods are cheap, and that most people can't afford to avoid the processed crap because the fresh stuff is too expensive.

that is pathetic.

I think 'extortionately expensive' is pushing it more than a little. Every year our generation spend proportionately less of our disposable income on food rather than more. We've come to the stage when a pint of watery beer's the price of a nutritious meal, a single bus fare could buy lunch and a pack of fags equals a generous homecooked meal for a couple. Food's become a commodity to be pulled off shelves and often purchased on a BOGOF/discount mentality at the lowest price, regardless of the quality of how it got there. We're all guilty of it, but I'd like to think that food and our diet's one of the few areas we shouldn't compromise on too much, nor begrudge paying a fair price for.

I simply don't buy the 'can't afford to avoid the processed crap' excuse past a certain point either. Yes, processed food can be cheap, convenient and hard to resist, but there's also a huge amount of healthy and tasty options you can cook for pennies if you're motivated and determined enough. Dried pulses, cheaper cuts of meat (we still sell far more chicken breasts than the much cheaper and tastier thighs for example), grains etc can all be purchased for very little. We shouldn't expect to have luxury vegetables and fruit served, imported, for low costs every month - farmers should get a fair price after all - but there should be an opportunity to benefit from seasonal gluts where possible. I don't know where you're buying your Aparagus, but it's fairly reasonable on markets around here. Where are you based Catrina?

I can still buy a big bag of fruit and veg for a a fiver, a whopping one for a tenner, from my local stores and market. Supermarkets are tougher, but it's still just about possible to eat well and cheaply. It's a pain in the arse perhaps, but we're not badly off over here. It's hardly post-war and, despite the best efforts of the supermarkets, there are still some great options out there.

 

[Ms T]

I agree with tarranau -- proportionately, we spend less on food in the UK than ever, and certainly less than in other European countries like Spain or France.

As for asparagus, it's very dependent on the weather. I haven't had much at all in my veg box this year, as it's very difficult to grow organically. You can get bunches in the market for around £1.50 or so, which I don't think is that expensive. I've just ordered some English stuff from Waitrose (not known for its cheapness) and it was £3 for two bunches.

As for the smoothie addicts, frozen berries are widely available and quite cheap.

 

[catrina]

I think 'extortionately expensive' is pushing it more than a little.

well i don't drink or eat chicken, and spend most of my income on food, and so i do think the price of fresh veg is ridiculous here. where i grew up, i could do my weekly shopping at the gourmet organic supermarket for half the price of buying fruit and veg at the supermarket here, or the veg shop for that matter. regardless of what's in season.

 

[catrina]

i'm in london by the way. i went shopping to both the supermarket and the veg shop on saturday, but it took me four hours between walking to both, and i don't have the time to do that every week. so what usually ends up happening is i go into morrison's with the intention of shopping there, and getting so pissed off with the utterly shit quality of food that i end up at the waitrose across the street, and then have spent my month's shopping budget on a single visit.

i had just discovered the frozen berry option, so will probably get a smoothie maker and do that, but still, it just doesn't seem right that even in season things are really expensive. the only thing decent i noticed was the nectarine season last year where you could get huge punnets for 99p at the supermarket, and that seemed to last more than 2 days.

 

[catrina]

and one last thing, my point (and i think the original poster's, but maybe not), is that fresh fruit and veg is really expensive here compared to a lot of places. i spend for it because i enjoy it more and know it's better for me, but it seems barking mad that the government goes on these huge health 5-a-day campaigns and then does nothing to control the price of healthy foods, and instead you see pre-packaged 5-a-day processed crap things that will get you your 5 a day much more cheaply than buying the fruit and veg. if you're only cooking for one or two, it often is much cheaper to eat unhealthy processed foods. that doesn't mean i do it, but for a lot of people that is the option. not all of us live near greengrocers.

 

[trashpony]

and one last thing, my point (and i think the original poster's, but maybe not), is that fresh fruit and veg is really expensive here compared to a lot of places. i spend for it because i enjoy it more and know it's better for me, but it seems barking mad that the nhs goes on these huge health campaigns and then does nothing to control the price of healthy foods. if you're only cooking for one or two, it often is much cheaper to eat unhealthy processed foods. that doesn't mean i do it, but for a lot of people that is the option. not all of us live near greengrocers.

Compared to where? It's very expensive in Scandinavia too - because it's difficult to grow fruit and veg in cold countries.

The profit margin on fruit and veg is tiny - many farmers are giving up because they just can't make a decent margin on it any more.

 

[tarannau]

i'm in london by the way. i went shopping to both the supermarket and the veg shop on saturday, but it took me four hours between walking to both, and i don't have the time to do that every week. so what usually ends up happening is i go into morrison's with the intention of shopping there, a

No disrespect, but going to Morrison's for fresh veg is like visiting a halal butchers in islamabad for a pork steak or two. And Waitrose, as nice it is, is a chintzy overpriced place for the Home Counties set in the main.

Buy yourself a travelcard at the weekends and get down the East End markets. I can almost guarantee that you'll make your travelcard money back and end up with bags of food that you can barely carry.

 

[Ms T]

Compared to where? It's very expensive in Scandinavia too - because it's difficult to grow fruit and veg in cold countries.

The profit margin on fruit and veg is tiny - many farmers are giving up because they just can't make a decent margin on it any more.

The profit margin for the supermarket's pretty big, though.

It's true that supermarkets are expensive for fruit and veg, bar the loss leaders (carrots, bananas). I find Lidl pretty good though -- this week I got cherry vine tomatoes for less than fifty pence a box, some nice cos lettuce and great, plump bunches of radishes.

 

[trashpony]

The profit margin for the supermarket's pretty big, though.

It's true that supermarkets are expensive for fruit and veg, bar the loss leaders (carrots, bananas). I find Lidl pretty good though -- this week I got cherry vine tomatoes for less than fifty pence a box, some nice cos lettuce and great, plump bunches of radishes.

True. But like others have said - I try and buy most of my fruit and veg daily from the stall outside Kilburn tube or FoodWorld - the magic emporium of comestibles on Kilburn High Road.

 

[SubZeroCat]

I'm really surprised at the fruit stall on High Holborn. Loads of rich business men/women walking around, rather expensive area and yet the bloke's selling half a kilo of cherries for £1.50, punnet of raspberries for £1 and various fruits 4 or 5 for £1

It's good though