How natural is your diet

[Eve]

I was pondering this while looking through the kitchen cupboard this morning.

Do you tend to buy fresh over frozen (or grow your own), eat things in their natural form (butter rather than spread, whole milk over skimmed), make your own meals rather than buying pre prepared/microwave meals etc... similarly with sauces, gravies etc... use things like sweetners rather than sugar.

More a general question, not judging haha, I'm the microwave queen although trying to be better at cooking and eating more natural stuff.

[boxtops]

Morning jenna - the short answer is "not very". I too would like to eat more "as it's intended" but I don't, cooking is not a hobby of mine and we'll often buy what's a) easiest and b) cost-effective. I used to work with a woman who made her own tomato sauce, which seemed a great waste of time to me. Having said that, we had some great home-made salsa on holiday, we said we'd try to do our own in future! Also as there is often only me in the house, live veg and fruit goes off before I get to all of it - pre-prepared goes in the freezer.

[cazzz1975]

hi jenna, I tend to buy most veg fresh, I will buy things like sprouts frozen because they are good for midweek and they keep better. I dont buy microwave dinners, having ibs and reflux, I cant buy prepared foods as they may contain an ingredient that will react with me.

[fredkins]

hi Jenna 1978,I have to say I love cooking,fresh everything,I grow my own tomatoes,peppers,peas,and strawberries.I'm not saying i don't have the odd take-away,I love kebabs and chinese now and then.But I do like home cooking more.

[RATTER15]

I wont eat any food cooked in a Microwave, I don't mind things heated in it. We buy little frozen foods and most things are fresh, we only use Cravendale milk (not sure why) I wont eat ready made meals, Gross, yuk !! I know Carakeel does buy the occasional ready made sauce, personally I would never buy them, I would always make my own.

Apart from anything, Ive seen the size of these ready made meals, I would need four just for one meal, miniscule little portions!!

[Eve]

That's partly my issue, just me and things like frozen veg is so much easier (and cheaper!) to buy and store. It also means I have more choice on a nightly basis rather than eating the same thing a couple of nights running to use stuff up if fresh. I have to say I've been a lot better since I've been working more normal hours. I feel like I've got more time to go look for stuff and cook something nice, often making enough for a couple of days, rather than getting in late and knackered and getting something quick like a microwave meal so I have more of an evening before getting a decent earlyish night before getting up early. I do enjoy cooking though have less enthusiam when just for me.

Everything seems so much more expensive these days though and as I rely on mini city centre supermarkets I tend to go for the cheaper more processed stuff than nice fresh meat, fish and veg. It puts me off buying healthier extras like salad and extra veggies. If i say buy tinned salmon for a sandwich I would have to fork out around £1 extra just to get some tomatoes. I should go to the market more but it shuts early. Effort is a lot of my issue though!

[RATTER15]

I remember a few weeks ago I saw a ready made "Cottage pie" in a supermarket in a foil tray, it was just over an inch deep, I almost felt sorry for it!! That is not a cottage pie lol!! My cottage pies (home made) are about four inches deep, the way they are supposed to be!

[cazzz1975]

pre packed cottage pies are scary, I read the back of one a while ago in asda "contains fish traces" scary or what!

time is a big issue with foods, if I dont have time I will make a stirfry as its fresh and natural (I have been know to sling in frozen veg)

[pastafreak]

All fresh for me also.I use some frozen veg as it is more cost effective and adds more variety as it is just me that I am cooking for. If I had a garden,I'd grow salad stuff.Making a fresh tomato sauce-either from tinned tomatoes or fresh can take as little as ten minutes(or all afternoon if you are so inclined!)....so I've never seen it as wasting time. At least with cooking fresh you know what is in your food. By the way... sweeteners are by no means 'natural'. ;-)

[ktee]

I buy fresh fruit, veg and meat. I don't buy any microwave or convenience foods, the only thing I buy in tins is tomatoes. I tend to buy butter rather than spreads but that's because I don't like spreads. The only thing I use the microwave for is reheating. I really wish I had a garden so I could grow my own veggies.

[pastafreak]

As for time for cooking...get yourself a slow cooker. Put everything in either in the morning...or even the night before...and you can come home to your own 'ready meal'. The house smells divine when you walk thru the door!

[cazzz1975]

I agree there slow cookers are worth their weight in gold

[pastafreak]

They are great for cheap cuts of meat...pork belly done in a slow cooker is to die for.......

[RATTER15]

We wont even feed processed food to our dogs, they get all their food fresh as well.

[joggerjayne]

I'm afraid I'm a bit like Jen.

I couldn't imagine living in the days before microwaves.

I'm afraid my diet's a bit poop. I don't enjoy cooking, and I'm not terribly good at it.

But I eat quite a lot of raw stuff ... cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, etc ... so that's quite good, I think.

[Eve]

I prefer proper butter and sugar, sweetners give me headaches. I rarely drink fizzy drinks anyway but avoid those diet ones like the plague. Drink skimmed milk though and I'm not really a dessert person - should eat more fruit though.

I admire my parents, love looking in their fridge, always nice fresh meat/fish and salad and veggies and stuff from the deli counter etc... My dad grows a lot of his own stuff, veggies, salad and fruit and exchanged with others who have different things. Mum can make fresh pies with homegrown rhubarb, bramley apples, plums etc... We used to go fruit picking at the local farms where you could pick your own strawberries, raspberries etc...

It's all in moderation though, a proper roast every Sunday and always salad for tea each weekend night with fresh meats from the deli counter.

I'm a beggar for using the microwave for bacon, rice, veggies etc... Any meat, fish, mushrooms etc... are grilled on the George Forman.

[boxtops]

I wouldn't put bacon in the microwave, ours is always grilled!

[cazzz1975]

I love belly pork but It has to have the fat trimmed off, its great value meat and very tasty

[ktee]

Is it more economical to use a slow cooker rather then using the oven on low for a few hours?

[Eve]

I do like the idea of a slow cooker. Always felt a bit nervous about leaving something on when I'm not in the house (especially with the cats if they are in) but might well be a good investment, love the ideas of slow cooked stews and such and hams/gammon.

[sara3]

busy working mum, I like to use fresh everything and achieve that 4-5 times a week but have some back-up crap in the freezer :o)

unless you grow your own, you can always "do better". there's a small Tesco opposite work and their fruit, veg and pre-packed meat is okay. there's also a "by Royal appointment" butchers where you get better quality meat but it's much dearer.. and the little Greek shop that sells much nicer fruit!