Jamie Is Quids In

On Monday evening, we watched Jamie Oliver's one-off show "One Pound Wonders". The cheeky Essex boy was trying his best to help us eat well through this "perma-crisis"

It's slightly alarming to realise he is now approaching his 50s and has been on our screens for nearly 25 years. The cheerful 'Naked Chef' has matured into a husband and father. He retains the enthusiasm and passion of his youth - and continues to campaign for everyone [especially families] to eat healthily and well. Only last month he was haranguing the government about providing more free school meals.

I know people will say 'what does he know, his house is worth £6M' and point to mistakes he made [and I think has genuinely tried to rectify] when some of his business ventures floundered. But I do think that he really was wanting to help families though this programme.

There is no book to buy - all the recipes are on his website.

Some of his tips seemed obvious, but I have to remind myself that there are a lot of people out there who are new to cooking, we were all beginners once. Good tips -Put a lid on the pan when you can, to retain heat; Cut potatoes into small chunks if intending to mash; Consider cooking rice or pasta in with the main dish, rather than separately; use cheaper cuts of meat, and wonky veg.

I had never thought about doing a meatloaf in a pan with the sauce - much more energy efficient! I shall be trying that.

The most amusing parts for us were his attempts with the microwave. He was like a student just up at uni, trying to prepare a simple meal**. It was quite clear that Jamie does not use this kitchen gadget frequently enough to have mastered the control panel! And he had the good grace to admit that. And at least he didn't call it the Mique-Ro-War-Vay like you-know-who.

The programme tried [perhaps a little too hard?] to cover all the bases. There were cost comparisons between oven, hob, microwave, airfryer, and slow cooker - I was not 100% convinced by some of the figures. And you do have to factor in the initial cost of purchase.

His £1 recipes were priced "using average figures from the major 4 supermarkets in Spetember 2022". Folk have rallied to twitter to say these were unrealistic, but to be fair, he did say 'average'. I thought 33p for a can of chickpeas was a little optimistic - but as prices are going up very fast at the minute, maybe there was an offer on the day they made the programme! On the whole the costings seemed fair to me.

**1975, Warwick Uni, My friend went home for the weekend and brought back a box of fresh farm eggs. She gave one to Jerry, and suggested he might like to have egg on toast for his tea, rather than go down to the refectory. She left - and 10 minutes later he knocked on his mate's door, nervously holding the egg in front of him. He explained it was a gift, and then said "But how do I open it?"

The programme ended with Jamie looking at the camera, and saying "I hope this helps". I hope it does too - but I am so sad that he needed to make a programme like this, that so many families out there are struggling right now. I remembered our trip to the States in 2004, seeing the FDR Memorial - part of it is a line of men, queuing on 'The Breadline' during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Alongside it is Roosevelt's quote

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”