[WhatJoeThinks]

Originally Posted by Enidan

Pointless pasta .

Fair enough, I agree twirls are more expensive.

Penne rigate aren't pointless. Those tips can be quite sharp!

[NaughtyNan]

As others have said £500 is for 15 people. Divide that by 15 it makes £33.33 for each person for a week.

£33.33 for each person is having a £4.76 per day for food. (33.33 devided by 7 days)

That is not a lot.

[honeythewitch]

Originally Posted by Enidan

If you do have a look at this thread again I would suggest investing in a good food processor, one that chops, blends mixes etc. It just saves so much time, pastry in seconds, cakes in minutes, hummus in moments, soups in seconds.

I also have bread maker for all dough type things. It's fab, I highly recommend them.

I usually make my own too but i have a kenwood major, magimix, breadmaker, and lots of time.
Anyone who has a job and family and manages to make everything literally by hand should be considered for the honours list.

Originally Posted by Enidan

Making your own sauce would be cheaper as a tin of tomatoes cost only 33p where as a ready made one costs about £1.
If you use fresh ingrediants such as onion, garlic, mushrooms, peppers the nutritional value will be higher as fresh foods have a higher nutritional value than ones that have been pre cooked and jarred for months, plus ready made sauces are often high in sugar and salt and chemical preservatives and fillers such as corn starch, non of which are healthy.

BTW I am a nutrionist.

It is a difficult choice. A 79p jar contains carrot onion and pepper, tomatoes and tomato puree and garlic .
A basic one is 39p.
I don't think it would be cheaper to make your own, but it is probably nicer.
On a very strained budget it might be better nutritionally to get the jar and use the saving to buy more fruit, vegetables or meat.
Looking at the jars, most seem to have a lot of saccharine, but many people don't mind or cant afford to care..

[honeythewitch]

Originally Posted by NaughtyNan

As others have said £500 is for 15 people. Divide that by 15 it makes £33.33 for each person for a week.

£33.33 for each person is having a £4.76 per day for food. (33.33 devided by 7 days)

That is not a lot.

It is adequate but can hardly be considered a luxury. I think they were swindled.

[CmdrX3]

Makes little odds whether they won the budget or not. If it's anything like last year, if they lose, they will simply be given a task each day to win a huge takeaway and loads of alcohol. In fact they might be better off losing, they would probably eat and drink better.

[Enidan]

Originally Posted by honeythewitch

I usually make my own too but i have a kenwood major, magimix, breadmaker, and lots of time.
Anyone who has a job and family and manages to make everything literally by hand should be considered for the honours list.
It is a difficult choice. A 79p jar contains carrot onion and pepper, tomatoes and tomato puree and garlic .
A basic one is 39p.
I don't think it would be cheaper to make your own, but it is probably nicer.
On a very strained budget it might be better nutritionally to get the jar and use the saving to buy more fruit, vegetables or meat.
Looking at the jars, most seem to have a lot of saccharine, but many people don't mind or cant afford to care..

I know. I find it sad when food which can be harmful to health in the long run is more affordable. I don't blame people for buying it as much as I blame manufacturers for making it.

[Eric A Blair]

Given the amount of parties and treats they get I really don't see what difference it makes if they have a basic budget or a luxury one as their shopping budget only appears to be there these days as a supplement to the extras they get.

[CmdrX3]

Originally Posted by NaughtyNan

As others have said £500 is for 15 people. Divide that by 15 it makes £33.33 for each person for a week.

£33.33 for each person is having a £4.76 per day for food. (33.33 devided by 7 days)

That is not a lot.

You are however looking at it the wrong way. If they are doing it right, they will be pooling the bulk of their money into meals which works out considerably cheaper and should leave plenty over for extras

[JayDee279]

It also occurs to me that cooking food from the basic ingredients gives you something to do, to while away those endless hours.
The non-cooks could also learn something from the cooks, given a basic modicum of intellectual curiosity. Oh, hang on ....

[Teddybear99]

Originally Posted by Enidan

Indeed, Luke A could have baked them a nice apple pie for a quater of the price. Flour, butter, sugar and apples. No wonder he looked fed up.

I'm guessing that to most of them £500 sounds like a really huge amount. Breaking it down when you consider it is for everything for 16 people I would say it is an average budget not a luxury budget.

What puzzles me the most, however, is why they don't get together beforehand and sort it out. They must know from other series that they only get an hour to write the list. With so many of them in there, they could allocate sections to pairs of them, so that two people order the meat, two people the veg, etc., etc. That way each person would only have to remember a few items, and they would get a nice rounded variety of shopping.

Instead of that, it always seems to be a last minute panic.

That said, I'm trying to imagine getting together with 15 other people and ordering everything we need for a whole week in one go, I'm sure we would forget loads of stuff.

[honeythewitch]

Originally Posted by Teddybear99

I'm guessing that to most of them £500 sounds like a really huge amount. Breaking it down when you consider it is for everything for 16 people I would say it is an average budget not a luxury budget.

What puzzles me the most, however, is why they don't get together beforehand and sort it out. They must know from other series that they only get an hour to write the list. With so many of them in there, they could allocate sections to pairs of them, so that two people order the meat, two people the veg, etc., etc. That way each person would only have to remember a few items, and they would get a nice rounded variety of shopping.

Instead of that, it always seems to be a last minute panic.

That said, I'm trying to imagine getting together with 15 other people and ordering everything we need for a whole week in one go, I'm sure we would forget loads of stuff.

I am amazed that they so often have no concept of the amounts needed.Seven apples for 16 people for a week.
It does seem odd they leave deciding what to get until they see the list.
If they ordered the basics for three meals a day first they could add extras later.
I cant imagine how annoying it must be to have people helping themselves to ingredients you have earmarked for a meal.
I would have the meals decided beforehand and a rota to cook them.
Then i would probably be evicted first for being unbearable

[Enidan]

Originally Posted by Teddybear99

I'm guessing that to most of them £500 sounds like a really huge amount. Breaking it down when you consider it is for everything for 16 people I would say it is an average budget not a luxury budget.

What puzzles me the most, however, is why they don't get together beforehand and sort it out. They must know from other series that they only get an hour to write the list. With so many of them in there, they could allocate sections to pairs of them, so that two people order the meat, two people the veg, etc., etc. That way each person would only have to remember a few items, and they would get a nice rounded variety of shopping.

Instead of that, it always seems to be a last minute panic.

That said, I'm trying to imagine getting together with 15 other people and ordering everything we need for a whole week in one go, I'm sure we would forget loads of stuff.

Yes it's true, they have had plenty of time.

If it was me, I would have said, in a bossy, domineering manner:

"Which amongst us has experience in ordering food for large groups of people and also understands portion sizes, meal planning and menus and the quantities involved, so as to provide healthy, balanced meals of substance with minimal wastage.
"Ah Luke A, that appears to be you. Please can you compile the shopping list and whilst you do it I will keep the most ignorant and fattest amongst us out of your hair."

[honeythewitch]

I don't think Enidan or I will be on BB any-time soon.

[WhatJoeThinks]

Originally Posted by Enidan

Yes it's true, they have had plenty of time.

If it was me, I would have said, in a bossy, domineering manner:

"Which amongst us has experience in ordering food for large groups of people and also understands portion sizes, meal planning and menus and the quantities involved, so as to provide healthy, balanced meals of substance with minimal wastage.
"Ah Luke A, that appears to be you. Please can you compile the shopping list and whilst you do it I will keep the most ignorant and fattest amongst us out of your hair."

LOL!

[hulakula]

Originally Posted by Enidan

Yes it's true, they have had plenty of time.

If it was me, I would have said, in a bossy, domineering manner:

"Which amongst us has experience in ordering food for large groups of people and also understands portion sizes, meal planning and menus and the quantities involved, so as to provide healthy, balanced meals of substance with minimal wastage.
"Ah Luke A, that appears to be you. Please can you compile the shopping list and whilst you do it I will keep the most ignorant and fattest amongst us out of your hair."

Haha you should be a housemate.

[Teddybear99]

Originally Posted by Enidan

Yes it's true, they have had plenty of time.

If it was me, I would have said, in a bossy, domineering manner:

"Which amongst us has experience in ordering food for large groups of people and also understands portion sizes, meal planning and menus and the quantities involved, so as to provide healthy, balanced meals of substance with minimal wastage.
"Ah Luke A, that appears to be you. Please can you compile the shopping list and whilst you do it I will keep the most ignorant and fattest amongst us out of your hair."

A bit harsh, but yes, that is what is needed, sort it out beforehand. I believe in other years, what they have done is got the basics and allocated everyone say £5 each for their luxury items.

Do we know how many smokers there are this time, because that normally causes problems as well.

[bluejumper]

Just 22 years ago on finishing my GCSEs we had a school trip to Swansea for a week. Staying in the uni accomodation about 8 per house. The day b4 going we had a house meeting where we had to come up with daily menus and stick to the budget. On arrival in Swansea 2 from each house were sent to do the shopping (with teachers) I cant remember the budget but I know we were under and all fed for the week. All left over money was used for treat at end of the week....Basically it can be done

[Paace]

Originally Posted by Ms Ann Thrope

He is a background person and as such will not be let near the shopping list until they realise eventually that he could do the best job. But that won't happen until the bossy bullying types have been booted out.

I'm afraid Luke A is a bit of a wimp . He needs to get a backbone and stand up for himself and be more assertive. As they all are quite happy to have Luke do all their cooking of course he should have a major say on the food items needed.

The chef has a major say in the purchasing of foods in hotels and restaurants.

[Paace]

Originally Posted by CmdrX3

Makes little odds whether they won the budget or not. If it's anything like last year, if they lose, they will simply be given a task each day to win a huge takeaway and loads of alcohol. In fact they might be better off losing, they would probably eat and drink better.

True.

[wappaho]

Originally Posted by Enidan

Making your own sauce would be cheaper as a tin of tomatoes cost only 33p where as a ready made one costs about £1.
If you use fresh ingrediants such as onion, garlic, mushrooms, peppers the nutritional value will be higher as fresh foods have a higher nutritional value than ones that have been pre cooked and jarred for months, plus ready made sauces are often high in sugar and salt and chemical preservatives and fillers such as corn starch, non of which are healthy.

BTW I am a nutrionist.

I'm not going to argue with you because I like your posts. I know I have a minority standpoint on nutrition but I stand by it and am qualified to do so.

[Penny Crayon]

Originally Posted by Paace

I'm afraid Luke A is a bit of a wimp . He needs to get a backbone and stand up for himself and be more assertive. As they all are quite happy to have Luke do all their cooking of course he should have a major say on the food items needed.

The chef has a major say in the purchasing of foods in hotels and restaurants.

Hmmmmmmmmm - rex was a chef - when he was in charge of the food budget he blew the lot on BB surprises. That was classic!

[Caz42]

Do we know how many smokers there are this time, because that normally causes problems as well.

I'm surprised there still seems to be so many smokers on BB this year as so many people have given up now that they so expensive and health implications are much better understood.

I buy all ready made frozen type of food and pre packed salads, for me life is too short to cook from scratch

[Enidan]

Originally Posted by wappaho

I'm not going to argue with you because I like your posts. I know I have a minority standpoint on nutrition but I stand by it and am qualified to do so.

Cool I agree everybody is entitled to have their own opinions.

Normally I only give nutritional advice in return for hard cash from people who want it. I have learnt that telling people what I think they should and shouldn't be eating otherwise doesn't go down too well.

[wappaho]

Originally Posted by Enidan

Cool I agree everybody is entitled to have their own opinions.

Normally I only give nutritional advice in return for hard cash from people who want it. I have learnt that telling people what I think they should and shouldn't be eating otherwise doesn't go down too well.

Tell you what I love, maybe somebody has already said this, is really light pasta 'sauces'

- a bit of olive oil or pesto, a pinchette of salt, a few screws of black pepper, a chopped tomato or even a chopped tinned tomato, a pinch of herbs maybe or a snippet from the garden if it's not raining, a few olives if I've got any in the fridge, sometimes I might add a bit of tuna or left over chicken, and a few scrapings of cheese on top - I like the flake setting, makes me feel like I'm living the dream!

Takes 2 minutes (I just stir it into the ready pasta, I don't heat it in a pan) and I prefer it to slop and goo.

I buy quick cook spag, which I can't see is any different from the other or fresh so it's max 10 mins for the whole meal and that includes boiling the kettle for water. Soooo lazy!

[Enidan]

Originally Posted by wappaho

Tell you what I love, maybe somebody has already said this, is really light pasta 'sauces'

- a bit of olive oil or pesto, a pinchette of salt, a few screws of black pepper, a chopped tomato or even a chopped tinned tomato, a pinch of herbs maybe or a snippet from the garden if it's not raining, a few olives if I've got any in the fridge, sometimes I might add a bit of tuna or left over chicken, and a few scrapings of cheese on top - I like the flake setting, makes me feel like I'm living the dream!

Takes 2 minutes (I just stir it into the ready pasta, I don't heat it in a pan) and I prefer it to slop and goo.

I buy quick cook spag, which I can't see is any different from the other or fresh so it's max 10 mins for the whole meal and that includes boiling the kettle for water. Soooo lazy!

Sounds delicious. (I am finally able to use the licking the lips smiley)