yes, advertising is VERY powerful and much of the public are creatures of habit.
It's also interesting to note that many of the "leading" brands aren't actually that "good".
They contain the same added sugar, salt and pointless additives as their cheaper counterparts. Sometimes more.
All the supermarkets own label food is made according to their own "brand standards" which Branded products do not adhere to.
Supermarket own label version will adhere to Govt health guidelines - like lower salt and fat etc.
This is sometimes why the Brands taste "better", as they have more salt, fat and sugar which consumers prefer.
There is also the pressure on retailers that all the products on a shelf combined, are supposed to - on average - hit the Government targets for salt etc.
AT one point I was working for a company that supplied supermarkets with Gluten free products, and we were under pressure not to just reduce salt to hit Govt targets, but be even lower, as the branded version came from Germany, so had massive amounts of salt as their food is not so closely regulated.
Any product made in any EU country can be sold in the UK as long as it complies with the law in the country it was made in.
Basically the supermarket pretty much wanted all the salt removed from our product so that our competitors could load theirs with salt.
This would have made our UK made product inedible, but the supermarket would be able to tick a box.
Our MD politely advised the retailer to force the branded suppliers to reduce their salt, or pay more to stay on their shelves.
Like watching this show, but I don't really learn anything from it as I already buy the cheap supermarket own brands. I pretty much get my weekly shopping down to 20 pounds.
It must have become very expensive in the UK since we left nearly 6 years ago.
Our MONTHLY shopping is around €200 or £ 150 to you.
That includes feeding 9 cats & a puppy.
I found it hard to grasp that two adults with two small children spend £325 per week on groceries. That's only £25 less than last week's family of six (who had two slightly older children in addition) and I'd thought that was bad.
I'm so glad I've never been a "brand name" or pre-prepared food shopper. We have to budget for a family of four, often five, adults plus one teen and have never spent as much as the featured families. However I'm pretty sure our percentage spent at food stores is more like 75% or higher of our weekly retail spending than the average figure quoted on this week's programme. I think over the last ten years or so, food prices have increased enormously and there's not a great deal I can do to cut our costs.
As a family of 2 adults and 2 boys aged 7 & 3, we would expect to have a similar food consumption in a week as the family on last nights show, we eat healthily and don't over indulge our kids with junk food.
I was utterly gobsmacked that the family were spending in excess of £320 a week on food, and fully expected to see the show reduce their budget down to something similar to what we spend in a week. I was amazed that the presenters reckoned they could only reduce it around £100 a month, which meant they were still paying £220 a week on food.
We regularly spend less than £100 a week on food to feed us and I consider myself and my boys big eaters.
As a family of 2 adults and 2 boys aged 7 & 3, we would expect to have a similar food consumption in a week as the family on last nights show, we eat healthily and don't over indulge our kids with junk food.
I was utterly gobsmacked that the family were spending in excess of £320 a week on food, and fully expected to see the show reduce their budget down to something similar to what we spend in a week. I was amazed that the presenters reckoned they could only reduce it around £100 a month, which meant they were still paying £220 a week on food.
We regularly spend less than £100 a week on food to feed us and I consider myself and my boys big eaters.
We spend less than £100 a week too .... That's for 3 adults all the time, 4 adults quite often and a small dog!!
I couldn't even watch last nights show because the dimness of the people on previous weeks irritated me.
There are some lazy people out there with more money than sense. I can rustle up a healthy and wholesome meal for a couple of quid any day of the week.
If you want to buy ready made meals and junk food and lots of sweet snacks then it stands to reason you are going to pay dearly for it.
What's so hard about making stuff like omelettes, casseroles, stews, soups, porridge and fruit, jacket spuds with all sorts of fillings or a roast chicken for about £4 ?
I look at trolleys piled high with c**p like pizzas, crisps, sugary cereals, TV dinners, cheap burgers and I despair.
Why are so many people feeding their children different food from the meal they eat? Surely that's a huge waste of time and money. On yesterday's programme, the adults had a Thai curry and also a pasta bake, neither of which seemed to be shared with the girls.
Children (in my experience) are far less fussy eaters if they are presented with the same food as adults from the beginning, with the assumption that they can eat some or leave it if not hungry. Spicy food can be modified if necessary and it's good to cut salt anyway. Why is junk food, such as ready made chicken nuggets, pizzas and the tinned spaghetti hoops shown, thought of as suitable nutrition for growing children?
Why are so many people feeding their children different food from the meal they eat? Surely that's a huge waste of time and money. On yesterday's programme, the adults had a Thai curry and also a pasta bake, neither of which seemed to be shared with the girls.
My understanding at the time was the curry was too spicy for the girls as they listed the spices that had gone into it. But you do make a good point.. why not just make a meal that they can all eat together. It's a fair point. Perhaps sometimes they just feel like having a spicey adult meal and give the kids something more basic.
The guy looked like he trained in the gym to me so I was surprised there wasn't a reference to him eating a specific diet. Maybe he wasn't and he was just naturally built like that. Git.
"A hundred different ways you can include food to make relatively cheap to produce programmes."
I'm finding it entertaining, in a "Well, I'm glad I don't do *that*," kind of way. Granted, if they wanted to be really useful, they could be giving more tips for people who don't already overspend. I don't bother with straight cookery programmes; I think GB Bake Off is fun, though.
The guy looked like he trained in the gym to me so I was surprised there wasn't a reference to him eating a specific diet. Maybe he wasn't and he was just naturally built like that. Git.
Maybe it was just his job - they did say he was "in the building trade".
I find the programme quite interesting, but at the end of the day, are you really going to drive to Sainsbury's to buy their own brand beans because they're 31p cheaper than what you normally use? Or go to Asda to buy their Value Brand of whatever.
It just seems pointless showing all the savings they could make if you have to actually travel to 2 or 3 different supermarkets to actually buy them!
I find the programme quite interesting, but at the end of the day, are you really going to drive to Sainsbury's to buy their own brand beans because they're 31p cheaper than what you normally use? Or go to Asda to buy their Value Brand of whatever.
It just seems pointless showing all the savings they could make if you have to actually travel to 2 or 3 different supermarkets to actually buy them!
I got the feeling they were showing different supermarkets to be balanced, and not to oversell one supermarket when in reality they all have discount branded stuff.
They've recommissioned this. It does seem a stretch that this has enough content to get another series of one hour shows. Then again Greg Wallace is contracted for 80 hours a year on BBC One I guess.
No matter what the food was that the family were buying originally, I still find it hard to comprehend the makers of the programme can't get their food bill down to nearer the £100 a week mark, I've spoken to work colleagues and friends about their food bills and all spend similar amounts per head on food.
The whole premise of the show is to suggest ways to get the best value for money, well they've failed miserably if they're still showing a family of 4 spending in excess of £200 a week on food, the family were clearly lacking a little in the brain cell department but the presenters should be sacked if they couldn't get that bill nearer to £100 a week as they're clearly incompetent.
Why are so many people feeding their children different food from the meal they eat? Surely that's a huge waste of time and money. On yesterday's programme, the adults had a Thai curry and also a pasta bake, neither of which seemed to be shared with the girls.=
Lots of families do the same - have a an earlier meal for the kids for when they come in from school then an "adult" one later in the evening when they have more time to relax together. When I was at school the only meal we ever ate at together at a table was Sunday dinner.
Quite a nice family this week. The couple may have been a bit thick but they seemed to be good parents, the kids were cute and the wife was very tasty indeed.
I loved the idea of using making a pasta sauce from tinned tomatoes, garlic and chilli - and then adding a expensive jar of pasta sauce to it.
No matter what the food was that the family were buying originally, I still find it hard to comprehend the makers of the programme can't get their food bill down to nearer the £100 a week mark, I've spoken to work colleagues and friends about their food bills and all spend similar amounts per head on food.
The whole premise of the show is to suggest ways to get the best value for money, well they've failed miserably if they're still showing a family of 4 spending in excess of £200 a week on food, the family were clearly lacking a little in the brain cell department but the presenters should be sacked if they couldn't get that bill nearer to £100 a week as they're clearly incompetent.
The main point of any programme is to get people to watch.
Therefore sensible people are excluded from such "contrived" programmes.
I sometimes despair of the programme makers' ability to continue to find all these dysfunctional people suitable for such programmes. But they still manage to do it.
I sometimes despair of the programme makers' ability to continue to find all these dysfunctional people suitable for such programmes. But they still manage to do it.
I also despair of the number of dysfunctional people willing to appear on TV in front of millions. Can you imagine turning up for work the following day when your life have been pulled to pieces and made a mockery of on telly the night before? I've never dare show my face in my local pub again.
Everyone has some strange habits and peculiarities but what possesses people to share their private life with the world?
I also despair of the number of dysfunctional people willing to appear on TV in front of millions. Can you imagine turning up for work the following day when your life have been pulled to pieces and made a mockery of on telly the night before? I've never dare show my face in my local pub again.
Everyone has some strange habits and peculiarities but what possesses people to share their private life with the world?
It's a "culture" born of the mobile phone (we're into the fourth decade of those) and Facebook (second decade) generations.
Sometimes packaging is designed to discourage you from buying the product. That's really counter-intuitive; you expect the opposite. It happens with "value ranges". Supermarkets don't want you to buy a value product if they can get you to buy a normal or premium product instead. They only want the value products to be bought by people who can't afford the normal ones.
I'm finding it entertaining, in a "Well, I'm glad I don't do *that*," kind of way. Granted, if they wanted to be really useful, they could be giving more tips for people who don't already overspend.
Indeed - when they were showing the mum throwing out all the veg, all I could think was that it would make a good soup!
Why not take a family that spends relatively normally and show how they can save money - that would be far more useful.
well I think that although those families are extremes a lot of people eat ready prepared stuff / expensive brands / overbuy , that's why the supermarkets are crammed full of the stuff. Bad habits are easy to fall into , the couple the other night must have had a rough time when the little girl was really poorly and it would have been easy to buy easy to prepare stuff because they were backwards and forwards to the hospital.
The show I think just shows them ways to change their habits by buying smarter and cooking differently and then it's up to them to keep going further if they want to make more savings .
Comments
Let alone 17 trips to the shops - what the hell's THAT all about!?
All the supermarkets own label food is made according to their own "brand standards" which Branded products do not adhere to.
Supermarket own label version will adhere to Govt health guidelines - like lower salt and fat etc.
This is sometimes why the Brands taste "better", as they have more salt, fat and sugar which consumers prefer.
There is also the pressure on retailers that all the products on a shelf combined, are supposed to - on average - hit the Government targets for salt etc.
AT one point I was working for a company that supplied supermarkets with Gluten free products, and we were under pressure not to just reduce salt to hit Govt targets, but be even lower, as the branded version came from Germany, so had massive amounts of salt as their food is not so closely regulated.
Any product made in any EU country can be sold in the UK as long as it complies with the law in the country it was made in.
Basically the supermarket pretty much wanted all the salt removed from our product so that our competitors could load theirs with salt.
This would have made our UK made product inedible, but the supermarket would be able to tick a box.
Our MD politely advised the retailer to force the branded suppliers to reduce their salt, or pay more to stay on their shelves.
Our MONTHLY shopping is around €200 or £ 150 to you.
That includes feeding 9 cats & a puppy.
I'm so glad I've never been a "brand name" or pre-prepared food shopper. We have to budget for a family of four, often five, adults plus one teen and have never spent as much as the featured families. However I'm pretty sure our percentage spent at food stores is more like 75% or higher of our weekly retail spending than the average figure quoted on this week's programme. I think over the last ten years or so, food prices have increased enormously and there's not a great deal I can do to cut our costs.
I was utterly gobsmacked that the family were spending in excess of £320 a week on food, and fully expected to see the show reduce their budget down to something similar to what we spend in a week. I was amazed that the presenters reckoned they could only reduce it around £100 a month, which meant they were still paying £220 a week on food.
We regularly spend less than £100 a week on food to feed us and I consider myself and my boys big eaters.
We spend less than £100 a week too .... That's for 3 adults all the time, 4 adults quite often and a small dog!!
I couldn't even watch last nights show because the dimness of the people on previous weeks irritated me.
There are some lazy people out there with more money than sense. I can rustle up a healthy and wholesome meal for a couple of quid any day of the week.
If you want to buy ready made meals and junk food and lots of sweet snacks then it stands to reason you are going to pay dearly for it.
What's so hard about making stuff like omelettes, casseroles, stews, soups, porridge and fruit, jacket spuds with all sorts of fillings or a roast chicken for about £4 ?
I look at trolleys piled high with c**p like pizzas, crisps, sugary cereals, TV dinners, cheap burgers and I despair.
Maybe someone at the BBC should write a book.
"A hundred different ways you can include food to make relatively cheap to produce programmes."
"I'm sure David Attenborough would buy it."
Why are so many people feeding their children different food from the meal they eat? Surely that's a huge waste of time and money. On yesterday's programme, the adults had a Thai curry and also a pasta bake, neither of which seemed to be shared with the girls.
Children (in my experience) are far less fussy eaters if they are presented with the same food as adults from the beginning, with the assumption that they can eat some or leave it if not hungry. Spicy food can be modified if necessary and it's good to cut salt anyway. Why is junk food, such as ready made chicken nuggets, pizzas and the tinned spaghetti hoops shown, thought of as suitable nutrition for growing children?
My understanding at the time was the curry was too spicy for the girls as they listed the spices that had gone into it. But you do make a good point.. why not just make a meal that they can all eat together. It's a fair point. Perhaps sometimes they just feel like having a spicey adult meal and give the kids something more basic.
The guy looked like he trained in the gym to me so I was surprised there wasn't a reference to him eating a specific diet. Maybe he wasn't and he was just naturally built like that. Git.
I'm finding it entertaining, in a "Well, I'm glad I don't do *that*," kind of way. Granted, if they wanted to be really useful, they could be giving more tips for people who don't already overspend. I don't bother with straight cookery programmes; I think GB Bake Off is fun, though.
It just seems pointless showing all the savings they could make if you have to actually travel to 2 or 3 different supermarkets to actually buy them!
I got the feeling they were showing different supermarkets to be balanced, and not to oversell one supermarket when in reality they all have discount branded stuff.
The whole premise of the show is to suggest ways to get the best value for money, well they've failed miserably if they're still showing a family of 4 spending in excess of £200 a week on food, the family were clearly lacking a little in the brain cell department but the presenters should be sacked if they couldn't get that bill nearer to £100 a week as they're clearly incompetent.
Lots of families do the same - have a an earlier meal for the kids for when they come in from school then an "adult" one later in the evening when they have more time to relax together. When I was at school the only meal we ever ate at together at a table was Sunday dinner.
Quite a nice family this week. The couple may have been a bit thick but they seemed to be good parents, the kids were cute and the wife was very tasty indeed.
I loved the idea of using making a pasta sauce from tinned tomatoes, garlic and chilli - and then adding a expensive jar of pasta sauce to it.
The main point of any programme is to get people to watch.
Therefore sensible people are excluded from such "contrived" programmes.
I sometimes despair of the programme makers' ability to continue to find all these dysfunctional people suitable for such programmes. But they still manage to do it.
I also despair of the number of dysfunctional people willing to appear on TV in front of millions. Can you imagine turning up for work the following day when your life have been pulled to pieces and made a mockery of on telly the night before? I've never dare show my face in my local pub again.
Everyone has some strange habits and peculiarities but what possesses people to share their private life with the world?
It's a "culture" born of the mobile phone (we're into the fourth decade of those) and Facebook (second decade) generations.
Ask a lot of young people.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
"Famous."
Indeed - when they were showing the mum throwing out all the veg, all I could think was that it would make a good soup!
Why not take a family that spends relatively normally and show how they can save money - that would be far more useful.
The show I think just shows them ways to change their habits by buying smarter and cooking differently and then it's up to them to keep going further if they want to make more savings .
Also, a programme about "people acting normally" doesn't get commissioned.