Jamie Oliver webchat, Thursday 29 August, 2.45pm

[GeraldineMumsnet]

We're chuffed that Jamie Oliver is paying a return visit to Mumsnet this Thursday. His first MN webchat was back in 2010.

Jamie has a new book out, Save with Jamie: Shop Smart, Cook Clever, Waste Less (all subjects dear to MNers' hearts). It has 100 brand-new recipes designed to be accessible, reliable and, above all, affordable.

This is what Jamie says about his new book: "For years I have been telling people that if you look back through history, the best food in the world has always come from communities under massive financial pressure. But the proviso is that you MUST be able to cook! If you can't, and have no money, that is where the trouble starts. This is a cook book which, from start to finish has tasty recipes, all dedicated to great value, is a brilliant weapon to have on the shelf, and is relevant to every household. If you use this book the way it's intended, you should end up saving a wodge of cash from your wallet."

And to tie in with the book, he has a new six-part series on Channel 4 starting on Monday 2 Sept at 8pm.

Please post your question and join Jamie for a chat at 2.45pm on Thurs.

[Scootergrrrl]

Do you think he'll look at the threads about his new series on here first? Then run away screaming

[LEMisdisappointed]

My Challenge, oh pucker one, is to feed a family of four with £30 for a week, BUT you have to have no pre-bought herbs/spices/magic ingredients in your larder. The cupboard has to be literally bare.

[LEMisdisappointed]

Can i just add - that £30 has to cover, breakfast, dinner and tea! :)

[Suddengeekgirl]

I don't care what the grumpy ones say, I really like Jamie and his books! :)

My question is... A lot of people who are trying to cook good meals for their families to eat together are also cooking whilst watching/ playing/ chasing etc small children. Are these new recipes easy to do whilst keeping an eye on your 4 and 2 yos and making sure WW3 doesn't start? :)
I know I tend to save my tricky recipe cooking for weekends when dh is home and I can cook in peace!

[noobieteacher]

Jamie some of us are talking about you on another thread. Some people are being very cynical and doubt your integrity as your book costs £26 on Amazon (currently reduced to £12 however).

I on the other hand am a Jeliever and am glad you are doing a good book on real cooking that doesn't cost a lot. Supermarkets have had a mirage effect on the cost of food, somehow letting us think that £1.20 is a normal price for a loaf of bread. I welcome a shot of reality into this insane business. When you go into a supermarket these days all you see is people standing at the shelves doing maths. I would like to know what the REAL cost of a loaf of bread actually is, because you can also buy flour that costs £2.00 a bag so where does that leave you? The alternative is 20p flour but is that actually edible?

[YoungBritishPissArtist]

Good luck, Jamie!

[noobieteacher]

Also Jamie - when will you do German food? Rick Stein tentatively wafted over it on TV yesterday and has offered us only ONE recipe for green sauce. I have ONE German cookery book, translated very badly with odd measurements which confuse me. Germany needs a culinary translator.

[TeWiSavesTheDay]

What is the average cost of a full day's worth of food from this book? Or to make the maths easier - how much would the food shop for one week of jamie meals, breakfast lunch and dinner for a family of four - including store cupboard 'basics'?

[Thaumatrope]

Imagine your cupboard was bare, and you wanted to buy five brilliant flavour-giving ingredients that could be found cheaply and used in lots of meals.

Which five would you buy?

[usualsuspect]

Jamie, is it ok for me to watch your tv programmes on my big TV?

[noobieteacher]

@ usualsuspect

[somersethouse]

Love Jamie, have all the cookbooks, love his ethos, love how he has changed, against much adversity, the way people think about food. He has made the world healthier. I also love his enthusiasm and can't bear the negativity he has received on a thread today - it is utter bollocks.

My question: Hi Jamie - I live in Spain, my question is: what is your favourite Spanish food?

[ivykaty44]

I have a couple of Jamie books and some recipes I love ( curry paste) and others I have not liked at all ( the tomato soup) I eat very little meat for many reasons.

Would you think about doing a vegan and vegetarian book?

Oh and I don't have a tv as little time to watch when you do your own cooking

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Another vote for German food, and perhaps central European food more generally. Some nice Polish zrazy, bigos, golabki? Lovely Austrian cakes like topfenstrudel, the politically incorrectly named Mohr im Hemd? Hungarian food is more than goulash (which is soup there and not a stew).

[GobbySadcase]

Might I suggest that if you are going to do your various campaigns (which thus far have all had good aims) that you consider the causes of the situation and that everyone's circumstances are individual before making massive generalisations and assumptions reinforcing the current media propoganda against low income groups?

That flat screen tv might be 10 years old and donated to them by a relative when they've upgraded their own, for example. They might have a severely autistic child who doesn't engage with the world around them at all other than via audio/visual media, for example.

Please stop being so judgmental. It does worsen the situation for families like mine.

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

Another vote for a vege or vegan book. Kids are dairy free and I'm cutting down on meat.

My question is, aside from the obvious tomato or bolognaise sauce and soups, what would be your must have sauce/meal base stashes for the freezer. (Preferably meat and dairy free)

:)

[Faverolles]

Hello :)

After your campaigns on school lunches, I wondered what you thought about lunch box police (many threads on mn) who ban normal everyday food that actually appears in cooked school lunches, and recommend low fat/high sugar alternatives.

If you were making your children's packed lunches day in, day out, what would you put in to make sure they were healthy and interesting, and fitting within a tight budget?

Thank you

[insancerre]

have you ever used freecycle?
I recently gave away a big lcd flatscreen tv. It needed fixing and would have cost several hundred pounds to fix, which I couldn't afford
so we bought a new one, on credit, and gave the old one away for free

[littlemisswise]

I like cooking and have passed that on to my two sons, however many children don't get that at home. My son managed to get an A in his Food Tech GCSE without actually ever planning or cooking a meal. Do you think the way cookery is taught in schools needs changing and if so how would you change it?

[OneStepCloser]

Hmm, I do want to ask a serious question in light of todays headline re the flatscreen TVs (Im hoping you will say you were misquoted completely, as a tv would be handy for watching your show)

I do think teaching good cheap easy cooking is a great idea, but I do wonder about costs as most recipies do not take into account the store cupboard (have built mine up over a long period and can cheaply replace items weekly or monthly) and gadgets needed for cooking (ie, mixers, good quality saucepans, processers etc.....), so for a lot of people building up a well stocked store cupboard is really expensive, do your new recipies take this into account? (so not using too many items that are quite unusual) I think this puts a lot of people of trying to cook from scratch.

[LaVitaBellissima]

I love Jamie

My question, can you please do a recipe book for Slow Cookers? Do you or Jools use one? I love mine but seem to always do the same few recipes, usually pulled pork or shoulder of lamb.

Looking forward to the new series on my flat screen

[LtEveDallas]

(I think this webchat is a really bad idea. His comments today have put a lot of people's backs up, and I can see the whole thing degenerating into a bunfight that will show MN in a bad light. I really do think it should be reconsidered/rescheduled - just like the Ceaser Milan one was)

That said:

Jamie,

My neice is a single parent to a teenager. She also has recently been diagnosed with reactive arthritis and cannot work, she can barely walk and there are days she physically cannot get out of bed. She has not yet been assessed by ATOS so gets no 'extra' provisions.

She has a total of £54.00 per week to feed, clothe and look after her and her child. She is also about to lose 14.00 per week of that in the 'bedroom tax' unless she can find someone willing to house swap with her.

She is limited to a local Co-Op small supermarket to buy her provisions from. The nearest Tesco would cost her £4.00 on the bus to town and from there another £2.00 on the bus to the supermarket. She is limited to how much she can carry (I've just bought her a shopping trolley). If she can get on the 'net she tends to do an Iceland shop as it is the only place that will deliver, free, to where she lives. Otherwise she shops on the day, every day.

Will she be able to make any use of your new book - if I bought it for her? Will she be able to afford to make any of the recipes? Will she be able to make them without a HUGE outlay on the storecupboard essentials - many of which she will not have? And will she be able to buy and transport them back home (to give you an idea of how she suffers, until I bought her the shopping trolley her 'sunday lunch' shop took her 3 journeys - 1 for the cheap and nasty pumped full of water value chicken, 1 for the veg and 1 for the potatoes, because she couldn't carry it all at once)

I think you have lost touch with the 'common man', how very little some people have to live on, how hard it is to live in semi-rural communities and where not everyone is able to 'source' fresh veg, a handful of XXX and some 'lovely Feta'. Sweeping statements like this mornings will do nothing but hurt people.

I'd like you to prove me wrong - Could my neice make 7 main meals out of your book, for 2 people, for less than £54? What about £40? (We can assume my neice will only eat one meal a day, and my great neice will have her Free School Meals 5 day out of 7)

[Faverolles]

"(I think this webchat is a really bad idea. His comments today have put a lot of people's backs up, and I can see the whole thing degenerating into a bunfight that will show MN in a bad light. I really do think it should be reconsidered/rescheduled - just like the Ceaser Milan one was)"

I agree with this. Would be very bad timing.

[orangepudding]

Is your book accessible to those with limited resources such as those who don't have a cooker with oven and hob, perhaps just a mini oven with hob or a microwave?

[Trigglesx]

I agree that this is bad timing. The "big screen TV" comment was ill-advised and in all honesty, put me off completely.

I have a fairly large TV (purchased before H and I separated when we were both working), have a fair bit of food waste (child with disabilities that has a food problem, yet I still persist in exposing him to good foods even if he doesn't eat them as eventually he will sniff or lick or possibly taste something new), and am currently on benefits. I do buy some ready made food, mainly because I need a backup for those days when my son is having so many difficulties that I cannot be out in the kitchen cooking and it's easier to pop something in the oven to cook.

I also have a Wii system with games, a Nintendo 3DS, and a fancy phone - all 3 of which I was given for free (from Mumsnet for various things - testing products, prize draw). To someone looking in, it might give the wrong impression. We also have a tablet (not an ipad, but something similar), that DS uses that was purchased for him with disability funds.

Alienating what should be your target audience isn't the best marketing move IMO.

Personally, if you want to impress me - have a word with that nutter on the other BBC programme recently where the well off woman with her own cleaning company stood there telling the poor woman that buying chicken breasts was better value than buying the whole chicken - when most of us know that is simply WRONG!!!

If you want to impress me - bring out recipes that will help someone gradually build up their store cupboard, rather than expecting a huge change. Start off showing people how they can make stuff they are used to eating in perhaps a more healthy manner or less expensive by cooking it at home.

And stop making snap judgements based on seeing a television for heaven's sake. Some people who are low on money make sure they spend a decent amount on their television as they know it will be a solid source of entertainment - you know, like to watching cooking shows?