Why is Healthy Food So expensive in UK?

[Benchwayze]

I want some decent paint from u.k. All rubbish and expensive

Coley

Do we still actually make paint in the UK? Or is that something else we ship in by the tank-load, and fill the cans here? :roll:

 

[MarkDennehy]

Is it Finland where they eat putrid rotting fish from barrels?

To be fair, that's Sweden, and what do you think worsterererershire sauce is made from?

As for our own junk food,well that's there fot the "modern"housewives who wouldn't know what to do with a spud.

What, you don't cook?

 

[DennisCA]

Isn't there a guy from the UK here that goes to Finland often, can't he tell about the differences between UK and finnish supermarkets? I mean I dunno how they stack up. Perhaps I could snap some from the rural S-market I often goto.

 

[MarkDennehy]

Y'all should come try Irish supermarkets. The screaming from your wallets would soon soften your cough
(And Lidl here is the best quality produce in a supermarket for fruit and veg, if you want better here you have to go to an actual fruit and veg shop or grow your own, and they treat their staff a damn sight better than any of our domestic chains or chains like tesco).

 

[Benchwayze]

Is it Finland where they eat putrid rotting fish from barrels?

To be fair, that's Sweden, and what do you think worsterererershire sauce is made from?

As for our own junk food,well that's there fot the "modern"housewives who wouldn't know what to do with a spud.

What, you don't cook?

Quote: and what do you think worsterererershire sauce is made from?

Yep! =D>

Although I don't know where worsterererershire is! :lol:

 

[MarkDennehy]

Worsterererershire sauce - the sauce you can't stop spelling

 

[BRYAN]

Worsterererershire sauce - the sauce you can't stop spelling

Or smelling if it's made from that rotting fish.

 

[Benchwayze]

Worsterererershire sauce - the sauce you can't stop spelling

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[MarkDennehy]

Worsterererershire sauce - the sauce you can't stop spelling

Or smelling if it's made from that rotting fish.

No, it smells fine, and really doesn't so much taste of anything in the final dish so much as it enhances the taste of meat (it's like salt - in normal quantities in a dish, it doesn't taste like salt, it makes other things taste more strongly like what they are).
Last surviving mainstream example of garum sauce actually (the original Roman fish sauce).

 

[iNewbie]

I never buy Fresh Fruit/Veg from Aldi. I'm concerned by the time I get through the till it'll be out of date...

 

[bugbear]

Worsterererershire sauce - the sauce you can't stop spelling

Or smelling if it's made from that rotting fish.

No, it smells fine, and really doesn't so much taste of anything in the final dish so much as it enhances the taste of meat (it's like salt - in normal quantities in a dish, it doesn't taste like salt, it makes other things taste more strongly like what they are).
Last surviving mainstream example of garum sauce actually (the original Roman fish sauce).

Nam Pla, surely (and it's probably what Lea & Perrins is based on).

It's always amusing when some history program (probably Tony Robinson) talks about garum, and makes a face like fermented fish sauce is obviously rotten and foul, forgetting all about the delicious modern equivalents.

BugBear

 

[MarkDennehy]

Nam Pla isn't really derived from garum though (a case of the same thing being invented in different places I think).
Still delicious though (and you can add both to your chilli )

 

[rafezetter]

I assume the supermarkets in Finland are stacked to ceiling height with fish, wholemeal bread, fruit and organic vegetables, nary a biscuit to be seen ... :?
If so, they are the only supermarkets in the world that are.

Out of curiosity - how many Finnish farmers are paid by their own Govt and EU to NOT GROW FOOD?

and as pointed out - do finnish supermarkets only have "nice looking" vegetables or do they sell them whatever they look like?

Because those are the two biggest reasons why UK produce is more expensive than it could be, and why manufactured food & and treats are so much cheaper, because instead of 80% being wasted - like farmed vegetables are - they might only waste 10%.

I'm not sure why more than a few of you said Owsnap is being a whiner and upset the community while settling in, he has raised a valid issue that Jamie Oliver himself has been trying to champion for YEARS (almost a decade in fact) to get reformed. I think several of you are suffering from a form of misplaced british pride in our supermarkets and owe Owsnap an apology.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My cousin worked in the London school that Jamie Oliver first did the menu in - she told me they had to double the number of skips they usually had to get rid of the food waste. They just dumped 100s of nearly untouched plates of food every day. It was good for Oliver's ego, but not much else.
Having said that, if Owsnap had raised a perfectly valid point instead of having an out and out "everyone else is better than you" rant he might have had a lot of support.

 

[MarkDennehy]

My cousin worked in the London school that Jamie Oliver first did the menu in - she told me they had to double the number of skips they usually had to get rid of the food waste. They just dumped 100s of nearly untouched plates of food every day.

Well, if the nearby chip shops are selling through the bars of the school, you'd expect that, to be fair. Doesn't mean the food was bad, just that teenagers prefer lots of fat and salt.
Bet you that if they had a choice between milk and beer, you'd see a lot of milk going to waste too...

 

[Woodchips2]

I never buy Fresh Fruit/Veg from Aldi. I'm concerned by the time I get through the till it'll be out of date...

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My cousin worked in the London school that Jamie Oliver first did the menu in - she told me they had to double the number of skips they usually had to get rid of the food waste. They just dumped 100s of nearly untouched plates of food every day.

Well, if the nearby chip shops are selling through the bars of the school, you'd expect that, to be fair. Doesn't mean the food was bad, just that teenagers prefer lots of fat and salt.
Bet you that if they had a choice between milk and beer, you'd see a lot of milk going to waste too...

Yeah ... but they weren't doing it before J. O. got there. :lol:

 

[MarkDennehy]

No, but they were serving the chips straight up with the school lunch though.
It's just kids wanting to eat what tastes good rather than what's good for them. I don't remember being a fan of broccoli when I was that age either.


Then I learned you can deep fry broccoli...

(Incidentally, if you've never tried deep fried broccoli... hooooo mama!)

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Another take on the cost of healthy food.

Firstly a basic assumption - healthy foods tend to be purchased as unprocessed (fresh?) single ingredients - beef, chicken, fish, vegetables, fruit etc. Only main exception is likely to be bread.

By comparison most unhealthy food is processed - numerous ingredients including sugar, fats, additives. Typical examples are pies, cook chill and frozen ready meals, takeaways, cakes, biscuits etc. High sugar, salt and fat content to "enhance" flavour.

Many years ago I read that to make a car by purchasing individual components would cost 10 times the price of the showroom model. There is a connection with food here!

In selling individual ingredients, major supermarkets make a significant margin on the price they pay the farmer/importer. This is to cover their overhead costs, staffing, store sites, checkout operators, IT systems, marketing departments, profit etc etc. They also want food which matches very precise specifications in terms of size, weight, appearance etc - particularly things like fruit and vegetables.

But a processed food supplier buys the ingredients by the ton, not the kilo (as the consumers). They are unconcerned by appearance and size which reduces wastage and purchase costs - eg: fruit that falls outside the supermarket criteria are almost valueless. Recipes minimise the use of expensive ingredients and are replaced by "fillers". Typically production processes are highly industrialised. Finally producers are hammered by the supermarkets on selling price.

It is no real surprise, therefore, that the price of processed food is so low compared to the alternative cost of the individual raw ingredients to prepare at home.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Finally producers are hammered by the supermarkets on selling price? I wonder why that is? It wouldn't be anything to do with the people that moan about supermarkets, by any chance? ... their customers ... or would it? ... no, surely not ...

(I tried to put a smilie in, but for some reason the page gets reduced to the left hand 40%. It happens regularly - anyone else get this?)
(I found the answer - post and quickly edit, then put the smilie in)