I spend, combined costs, under £3 a day on food. It’s not easy, even in the UK. But, for example, I can get 1kg bags of organic frozen vegetables for £1…

That is the million dollar question. Part of the issue is not only figuring out how to educate people, but first figuring out how to inform people that they need to be education (GOD that sounds presumptuous and patronizing, ugh!). What I mean is that many people think they know what is healthy and what isn’t. They all took health class and learned the food pyramid, didn’t they? They ordered a diet coke with their Big Mac, no? They look for the Trix boxes that scream “NOW WITH WHOLE GRAIN!” Now, these people aren’t stupid; they’ve simply been inundated with bad information, much of it coming from (drumroll please!) THE GOVERNMENT! But it is very hard to have someone unlearn something, especially when they’ve believed it to be true for most of their lives.

Obviously, there are others who probably know they eat an unhealthy diet but simply don’t care or have bought into the propaganda that they can’t really do much better for themselves (too expensive; too hard; not tasty) or underestimate the short- and long-term effects of their food choices. Those people might be easier to teach but are also far more likely to suffer from inertia.

This situation isn’t unique to food… how many people still smoke? Use dangerous drugs? Drink too much? Drive too fast? Practice unsafe sex? Do generally stupid and dangerous things? Some of these practices have had wars waged against them! Yet they persist. Because, in the end, people are going to follow what motivates them. For some, that is the enjoyment of a home-cooked, tasty meal. For others, it is the feelings that come from a healthy lifestyle. More still will seek quick, easy, tasty foods. And if any of us truly new the secret to motivating people to do the “right” thing, they’d be billionaires by now.

So it’s a good thing to suggest, as well as things like “If you’re grilling chicken, grill twice as much as you need, eat the grilled chicken one day, and make chicken salad or something else with some of the leftovers” enough to change what you’re eating. This works very well with proteins, which are probably the more annoying things to cook for people. But I think it has to be accompanied with being honest and realistic about the effort required.

As for the cooking discussion, I will add that cooking might take time, but my wife and I make up for it by cooking at least 2 or 3 meals worth of food at one time, and then reheating leftovers. If it takes 30 minutes to cook 3 meals, that’s only 10 minutes per meal. I don’t care where you live, the overhead of going to a restaurant is going to be that much.

I think, in the end, education is likely to be the most impactful approach. However, we have seen how well the government (federal in particular) has done when it comes to reaching the poor masses about healthy choices…

Slate vaccination article quoting the WaPo:

“People need to put this into some perspective,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “The vaccination campaign was part of the hunt for the world’s top terrorist, and nothing else. If the United States hadn’t shown this kind of creativity, people would be scratching their heads asking why it hadn’t used all tools at its disposal to find bin Laden.”

Did anyone else catch it?

Christ, the first time I heard the argument I laughed out loud. It’s gotten to the point where poor people are never responsible for their own plight and now we’re supposed to believe that one of the horrors of poverty in the U.S. is being over-fed because they’re too poor not to be?

the CIA showed an enormous amount of self restraint by not using the opportunity to conduct secret medical experiments (that we know of).

It was brought up, but they noted we live in a Wikileaks World* now and they all cursed and shook their fists at the sky.

*Uhm…but…you know Wikileaks hasn’t had any impact at all and is just overblown hype.

I really think that if it was sold as a ‘Spend one hour a day maximum and you’ll eat better and healthier and enjoy it more’ that it would get more traction, rather than cherry picking recipes and techniques that are faster but don’t result in an appropriate meal for everyone.

Thinking a little more broadly, I wonder if maybe trying to get schools to cut down on homework assigned would help. I’ve been shocked seeing the amount of homework that all children are expected to do for grade schools. This can take a lot of attention away from other household activities, especially something like food preparation, which children as young as 7 or 8 can assist with. If this is a priority, then it has to take priority over something else. But there are so many ‘priorities’ now: food, sleep, school, health and dental, and every single one is considered ‘most important’ by the people pushing it.

Your declaration that Adam Serwer’s post was the “best take yet” on the whole Oslo thing is immensely disturbing. In his post, he demonizes–without a single shred of evidence, which I thought you valued immensely–Robert Spencer of http://www.jihadwatch.org. There is no justification for this. Robert Spencer has never demonized Muslims and is not an “Islamophobe” (whatever that loaded term means, anyway). He has never promoted violence in any way and has actively disavowed any ties to any violent organizations in the past and present. Your support of demonization without evidence is unfortunate. Please consider reading Robert Spencer’s response to the ridiculous allegations against him before taking anything Serwer says seriously.

Sincerely, a big fan.

True that. I sometimes still use what I call the “homeless man pot”. Take the lid off, peel the label off the side of the can and get as much glue as you can off it, pop it right on the burner, and cook away. Works for soups, beans, Spaghetti-Os. Not quite as quick as your method, but at least you have hot food! You usually do need a bowl afterward or you risk burning yourself on the can and it can be awkward to eat, but it does save a pot. To your point about filling up with veggies first, I’d recommend tossing a little bit of olive oil (or another dressing with healthy fat in it) or nuts or avocado on your salad. Research shows that getting some healthy fats into your body at the beginning of the meals helps your full-reflex kick in sooner. For other meals, you can throw peanut butter on your toast or a handful of almonds down before a sandwich. You’ll be surprised how much easier it is to control your portions with that base.

I think many people would be surprised to learn the things they can make at home that are cheaper and better than they get at the store and require very little work (though sometimes less common tools). Peanut butter requires two to three ingredients and a food processor. Fantastic soups can be made very easily from pre-made kits or from a handful of ingredients with very little prep or active work. Make your own pasta sauce in minutes. Granola is a piece of cake, though can be a bit labor intensive.

But, again, people who don’t want to do the work won’t.

First, I made the switch in order to lose weight. It worked – I dropped from 245 to about 200 and have stayed there.

Second, making this switch has saved me a potload of money. Can’t recommend it enough. A portion of that is that the food I’m eating is cheaper, and a portion is because I’m eating less food overall.

Third, there are ways to cook that can save time. When I was eating less healthful food, I cooked just as much as I do now, but I was cooking crap. (Hamburger helper, spaghetti, etc) Now if I still cook some of that stuff, it’s because I eat much smaller servings, which brings me to…

Fourth, and this is a big one, in my opinion. You can make a HUGE change towards more healthful (and less expensive) eating by doing the following. Prepare a simple, raw-vegetable salad and eat a bunch of it before every meal so that there’s less room in your gut for crap. Don’t put a bunch of dressing or cheese or croutons on it – just fill your gut half-full of leafy greens, tomatos, carrots, cucumbers, etc. Prep time is significant, but not daily if you make a big enough salad, and all you need is a sink, an knife, and a cutting board. Then balance your meal with the same stuff you always eat, but cut back to half, or a third.

BSK-I am living proof that one can eat Spaghetti-O’s without dirtying anything other than a spoon. Back when I was eating them, I found them to be fine at room temperature – I started eating them that way when I was a pre-teen and continued until grad school. Total prep time – as long as it takes to run a can opener. Total clean up time – as long as it takes to throw the can away and put the spoon into the dishwasher.

1 year probation and 40 hours community service. The judge “also made the unusual move of offering her a chance to clear her name at a new trial”. No further details Probably the best possible outcome under the circumstances (not that she should have been charged, much less convicted, in the first place).