No body has mentioned about pressure cooking. Great for cooking your beans etc. Also nobody mentioned the humble potato. They are only fattening if you use loads of butter and oil. I am Vegan,( Mostly plant based only ocassional processed food) for 5 years and vegetarian for over 25 years. I am 75 and am on no meds. Just because we get older doesn't mean we have to be ill. I am only vegan for the horror of animal agriculture. Doctors get hardly any training in nutrition which is really bad

Some easy things that I always do, hopefully can help a few people 1. In many recipes you can replace canned tomatoes with tomato paste. A tube of tomato paste contains about 3 times as many tomatoes as canned. The difference is the dehydrated water which makes it also more cost effective to transport. Also you can spend less time and energy reducing your dishes. Shorter cooking times also preserve the vitamins more. 2. Batch cooking, freezing, you should stay organised and defrost the food at room temperature ahead of time rather than using the microwave to defrost. 3. Figure out what you are wasting frequently and stop buying it 4. Eat the broccoli stems! The core of the stem is deliciously sweet 5. Frozen sweetcorn Vs canned. Frozen allows you to use as little or as much as your recipe requires. Frozen is also better for the environment if you go through a lot of it because cans take a lot of energy to produce

I buy dried beans or chick peas and soak and cook the whole packetful. When drained and cooled I freeze them in a single layer in a suitable bag. Once frozen you can give the bag a bash and the pulses will separate. It is easy to take out as many or as few as you want. It works well with whole grains too. Canned pulses are handy but I prefer the flavour of home cooked ones.

Watching this podcast from South h Sudan. Being an aid worker, getting a balanced diet is challenging. But I am blessed to be a South Asian. So my go-to ingredients are peanuts, lentils, frozen spinach, frozen peas and canned tomatoes and another canned veg. I use dry mushrooms. Keep sushi nories and dry kelp in my luggage. Wherever I go in the world I take kefir seeds to make kefir, I also make fermented cabbage or vegetables I buy locally. I also keep chickpea flour which allows me to prepare a variety of meals. I have seeds for making microgreens at home. I lived alone most of my life and never thought it was challenging to cook for myself. After work it is my passion to nurture my kefirs and sprouts, getting foraged herbs and leaves to invent new recipes. When I go back to the UK I add offals to my diet and always buy cheap cuts of meat which I eat only once a week. Eating a simple meal with daal, brown rice and some greens with pickles is more satisfactory than eating expensive animal protein-rich foods. I have made my own diet, taking a bit from Japanese and Korean, from India, the middle east, Africa and from Europe. After work having a miso soup with some rice sprinkled with seaweeds, sesame seeds and salt with chillie flakes does not take much time. But it is nutrition and brings in diversity in meal planning.

Thank you all so much - I am doing the Zoe intermittent fasting and as I am retired found using the spare morning time before my first meal at around 11 a.m. to do food planning and preparation such as a batch cook or fermenting, it gives me a challenge as I live alone. I am so grateful for all this useful support and I am more energetic.

A slow cooker has really helped since my husband died. I batch cook and then freeze portions for one meal. Frozen vegetables are really useful too.

Hi from Cape Town South Africa. Brilliant and must needed show! Have you been spying on my kitchen we Have implemented all your suggestions over the past 3 years. Even gone a step further and growing our own veg we now eat and create 90% of our meals from the garden. Hard work but rewarding when you see the price of food in the shop's.

I went through a period of poverty during the pandemic; I had no income, rent & tax debts, and very little money in the bank. I was forced to start using a food sharing app (OLIO), and cooking foods that I wasn't used to such as root vegetables, cabbage and lentils. I think I actually ate more healthily than ever before; red cabbage is really cheap and really healthy, same goes for root vegetables such as swede, and lentils. Tinned sardines are also fairly cheap (though they vary a lot in price; the most expensive ones can be 5x the price of the cheapest ones) and very healthy, same goes for baked beans. You can get brown bread for around 50p a loaf if you shop at the right time when discounts are applied, or free from OLIO. You can also save a lot by buying in bulk and freezing. All that's needed is common sense, a basic understanding of nutrition and the will power to overcome the desires that have been implanted in your brain by advertising.

When I moved to a plant based diet I followed The Happy Pear vegan chefs and watched their KZfaq videos, I also bought their recipe books. I often batch cook using a large shallow casserole and I use a steamer for fresh and frozen vegetables. I find this method easy and convenient and the food is tasty and nutritious. I recommend this style of cooking to everyone.

For those without the freezer space, batch cooking for the week is an idea. The pasta sauce of day 1 can be spiced up for the chili with rice of day 2, then become a potato topper of day 3.

Thank you for this podcast. I've been batch cooking for years, because it's so economical. It's also fun to take out a batch from the freezer and decide what you're going to do with it for dinner - am I going to add some tomatoes, or some spices, have it with pea pasta or potatoes? The options are endless 🙂💚 There's a generation that does not know how to prepare meals economically, because of being brought up on highly processed convenience foods and takeouts. My mother is of that generation who always knew how to be thrifty with cooking, sewing, knitting, and some of that has rubbed off on me (although perhaps not the knitting, I'm rubbish😆). It feels quite sad that basic life skills could disappear. However with guys like you educating and re-educating people all may not be lost 🙂

A few years ago I ended 40+ years of vegetarianism. I'm surprised no one on the program has mentioned Frances Moore Lappe's cookbook Diet for a Small Planet, which offers recipes for COMBINING legumes, seeds, & grains to make complete proteins. A person CAN get enough protein from plants, but the miracle here is that adding a LITTLE animal protein GREATLY multiplies the protein available from the plants. You eat less animal and more plant without having to carry around an ideology. Delicious, too!

Thank you for addressing the cost of living crisis. I’ve noticed that even ‘basic’ supermarket shops are getting pricey.

I advocate Rupy's brief comment about cooking being an act of self love and caring for yourself. So agree with this and is a powerful positive to get me cooking more.

Love this. I've learned to adapt to eating this way over recent years. I think a big problem is many people don't know how to cook and get put off when they see the celebrity cooking programmes on TV and think it's too complicated and expensive. Cooking and nutrition are not taught properly in schools anymore, very little timetabling is devoted to it in the secondary school curriculum. Both my children have gone through secondary school with out of date Food Tech being taught. It's stuck in the 1980's, as they're still being taught to use artificial sweeteners and margarine for example. Learning how to make cakes, pastries and fruit salad with sugar syrup for example. They're not taught how to batch cook, to make basic base sauces, or how to cook healthy meals on a budget (that you were talking about). Nothing helpful for real life. Would Professor Tim Spector would be interested at some point in approaching the UK's Secretary of State for Education, to advise them on updating and improving the secondary school curriculum for Food Tech?

I’m a retired single. I usually always have at least 3 soups in my freezer, in one cup and two cup containers. So easy to throw in microwave when I don’t want to cook. They always have beans in them. Then I’ll have some broccoli/spinach along with them. So easy to make a big crockpot of healthy soup and freeze. Also gave up added sugars, flours and processed foods. Feel great and all of my bloodwork has been normal (had been high).

Great video, thanks guys I came from a family of ten, to budget my Mum would have 2 meatless meals a week. Usually macaroni cheese, curried eggs, stir fried veggies with peanuts. Later I learnt the meat, eggs, cheese and milk protein is considered a whole protein and could be replaced with a combination of grains, beans, peas, seeds and nuts. As I made friends from different cultures and travelled my diet became more colourful and diverse and I developed a liking for international flavours and dishes. The simple and the plain are the most nutritious. Sugar, meat and fat aren't necessary to survive. I find them hard to give up but I'm slowly succeeding.

I am already a fan of Dr. Rupuy's DOCTOR'S KITCHEN, but it was only by chance that I came across this video presentation. Thank you for sharing and uploading it on your channel. I will recommend you to other people and I will definitely watch this presentation again.

The first budget tip is NOT give up processed snacks for whole food snacks, it's give up snacking

As a massive nightshade vegetable intolerance sufferer - it took me 20 years to identify -, I can see lots of people turning to them (potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, aubergines, chilies, okra and goji berries) in an effort to eat cheaper and healthier. I wonder how many people might struggle with it and realise that they have that intolerance. We should talk about it more I think.

I don't think you can go very wrong with home made soups. It is so easy to make and there is no end to the variety; they are so satiating and warming in the winter. I have become addicted and have one every lunch time. Some may say soup is boring but believe me, home made soup tastes totally different to tinned or packet. I even have it during the summer time and freeze extra portions. I have even had it for breakfast during the cold winters.

Thank you for covering the protein myth. I grind flax, chia and pumpkin seeds, keep it in a jar in the fridge and sprinkle it on any dishes. Also dried tvp soy mince is super cheap and convenient for adding to ragu.

If you are worried about cooking for one, cook for you and a friend, or a person who has just had surgery or a sick family member. This simple act of community is as nutritious as the food! 🥰

Slow cooker has been amazing for us. We buy the cheaper meats now fill the slow cooker and that batch becomes the base for many other meals. From one slow cooker batch we'll have fajitas the first night, I'll make up some lasagne with some of it, taco soup. Sometimes we just need to add bits to it on the day. Different spices make it a completely different meal and fresher veggies added give another texture. Because we'll often be adding something to the main meal; bread, a small side salad, rice, pasta, we usually get around 15 portions out of our slow cooker! Portion size is very important too. We often eat a lot more than we actually need to.

what a brilliant and timely discussion. Just finished Tims book which is excellent. I have an insta pot and thats a game changer so great for cooking dried beans and curries and whole grains

I'm retired living on social security at $1186 per month. I can't afford EVERYTHING organic and pastured but I do pay the price for anything on the EWG dirty dozen and/or grown by local farmers. I have found since I simplified my diet to strictly fresh whole foods, and COMPLETELY STOPPED eating prepared foods (restaurants, hotbar at grocery store, processed foods) I've saved enough money to afford quality meats and vegetables. (I have chickens for eggs)

Thank you so much for this, love eating the zoe way, and love to batch cook too, as a disabled person, I have cerebral palsy like a stroke, and frozen chopped vegetables onions or soffrito, and frozen Mediterranean veg is a lifesaver, and lots of canned beans too

Great advice. Ready made food is usually way more expensive than cooking plant based ingredients from scratch. Let's hope cost of living crisis will nudge people towards healthier food. Good to dispel the myth that tinned and frozen veg and fruit are unhealthy. I've noticed that the supermarket own brand budget ranges of tinned peas and sweetcorn have no added salt or sugar. I eat sardines and mackerel tinned in water, tomato sauce or Olive oil. Supermarket own brands are good value.

Carrots, celery, tinned tomatoes, onions, lentils, garlic, basil, thyme, and vegetable stock cubes. Make the perfect vegan winter soup/stew. To be the healthiest corpse in the graveyard eat this on a regular basis and enjoy.

It's time we all as grown ups become adults again and teach children how to cook properly at school as a vital skill, confidence with handling raw food as a lot of parents don't have the time or knowledge themselves x

Thank you very much for this. I live alone and have a busy job so batch cook at weekends, but have been then just eating the same meal for a few days in a row. I really like the idea of making a base and then adding different veg to increase variety and interest.

Three Onions, add tsp of garlic paste, ginger paste.Brown and caramelise, then add tomato puree and half tsp of turmeric powder.Add tsp Garam Masala.keep simmering. That's the base.It's called Turkha.It should be nice and reddy-brown.Add any main ingredient you wish. Indian food wasn't originally called Curry.That's a Brit thing. 'Lentil curry' is Dhal.

Having done a lot of informed choices about my diet and improved my metabolic health, I want to share my BIG nuggets of wisdom; 1) Whole unprocessed or lightly processed food like grassfed protein sources, raw milk, local veg, local eggs, etc. This has been a powerhouse of changing my health. 2) More veg and less fruit. After 50yrs of eating fruit, I acquired a fatty liver and gout flare ups. Fructose is poison in my body. 3) Red grassfed meats are not just about protein; they are rich in so many minerals. 4) Reduce carb intake and substitute with satiating unprocessed fats.

I think Gov should support local farmers to help those on benefit with fruit and veg.

Another really interesting podcast with lots of good ideas. One big area that could be covered is cooking on a budget with children in mind, especially when they’ve been used to an ultra processed diet. If money is short you want to make sure your children will eat the food with the new style diet.

Fresh red meat is very healthy if we cook it at home - without preservatives and other additives. Please be sure to differentiate between a bought pie and a home cooked one.

I boil 3 days worth of potatoes for two people.bring water to a boil with lid on to save heat.As soon as the water is starting to boil turn heat compleately off cover pan with oven gloves around pan ,use washing pad to join them.cover lid with extra oven gloves or towels.The potatoes will cook in their own heat.leave for ages until water nearly cold .check potatoes are soft by sticking a knife in one .if soft let them cool and transfer into a tub .then just microwave each day the bit you need.time saver and energy saver.Do this with veg too.use steamer pans on top if you have them

24:36 Remind your wife that it’s “Best before, not Poisonous after” That was the mantra that I grew up with. We often ate expired food because dad would salvage behind the grocery store for expired items. This was before food banks and we were poor. Most canned goods can be eaten well beyond the best before date. For home cooked foods, just package and freeze them and they’ll be fine for at least three months.

In my area southern Texas.... I find that a few staples have not changed price very much over the past 3 years: Fresh Bananas. Tomatoes. Cucumbers. Spinach. Leaf lettuce. Cabbage. Parsley. Frozen: Peas. Broccoli. Mixed vegetables. Canned: Tomatoes. Beans.

Thanks to Tim & his DIET MYTH I eat sauerkraut almost daily since his book came out in 2015. Plus kefir, artichokes and only lait cru cheese like Parmigiana Reggiano Merci Tim !!! Made a big difference in my health ❤

Absolutely invaluable information. Fine work from the team!

Can’t wait to start my Zoe experience. Fascinating. Love your podcasts/videos .

So great. Thank you. Pay attention to spinach and mushrooms, they should not kept for several days because of histamine building up. No sugar/no sweet intermittend fasting or not snacking is good for the Budget and the health.

Part of learning to cook is tasting it! For example, discerning if you want more or less of each ingredient. Cooking is an art, only baking is science! Tasting soups as you cook it, is half the pleasure!

It’s eye opening to hear people don’t seem to generally cook for more than one meal. My mother and grandmother, or any other home cook I have ever known, always cooked more and are the left over the next day. I thought that was the norm.

I don't understand why people worry so much a protein. I have been vegan 28yrs and its not been problem for me. So far despite the cost of food going up l am not finding it costs too much more. I eat a lot of lentils and beans l get them cheaper from Indian shops. I also use frozen vegetables and some tinned ones. When l look at the cost of meat and dairy l don't know how people afford them especially with those with families.

Thank you for all the tips! I'll be experimenting more in the kitchen. I never tire of listening to good, sound, dietary advice.

Excellent podcast. Vegetables are absolutely the answer - jazzed up with herbs and spices, and a generous dollop of creativity and imagination! 😋

Surprised that the concept of omega ratios and inadequate dietary intake of omega 3 lipids is never mentioned. Not only are they critical essential nutrients, but are a weak link in fresh & cooked food preservation. Seed oils in general have not only higher levels of unsaturated lipids, but in western diets a major source of omega-6 fatty acids. These are responsible for pro-inflammatory prostaglandin cascades and should be recognised, along with lack of dietary fibre, as a major contributor of diet to disease processes and obesity. Strict Vegan and vegetarian diets are often deficient in omega-3s and fat soluble vitamins A, D,, E & K2

I love the way Jonathan and his guests (usually) keep the discussion lighthearted and entertaining, but at the same time providing oodles of useful information. It helps set the show apart from many others, which can be a bit staid.

Could I bring mushy peas back from history, excellent base for a quick soup, and incredibly cheap.

Great podcast as usual, I am just surprised to hear dr Tim Spector's comments about protein intake not being an issue at all. Both guests sound very confident on the topic, but new studies are coming, the old ones were quite badly set up, and apparently they are showing that a daily protein intake of 1,2 g/kg is needed to prevent sarcopenia. Resistance training is also essential, as doing aerobic training alone, even with a sufficient protein intake, is going to lead to muscle mass. The experts on the topic, such as dr Brad Schoenfeld and dr Stuart Phillips, actually recommend around 1,6 g/kg and even more, if doing resistance training. Given that we still need data, dr Spector's confidence on the topic surprises me, and dismissing recommendations as marketing isn't fair, given the evidence so far. I would love him to be right, because it would mean that we can reduce consumption of meat, fish and cheese, but there's no way that you are going to meet the above-mentioned targets by eating beans.

“Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” is a great book that help me learn how to cook without a recipe. Since I’ve gotten it, my food has tasted better. I’ve been using healthier ingredients and there’s been much less waste because I know how to improvise and use ingredients on hand. It saves so much money when you can use ingredients you already have to make some thing good without relying on a recipe.

I've always meal prepped like this. I'll cook 3 chickens, strip the meat, freeze it in meal size portions and make fajita's, curries etc. 51b mince cooked together then frozen in meal size portions, goes on to make mince and gravy, mexican tortillas, pies, lasagne, spag bog, the list is endless. I'll slow cook a large portion of chunked beef and make various meals out of it. I tend to bulk out with lentils, carrotts etc, it's the way I was taught to cook and now, I am so thankful I was taught this way by my Mum and Grandmothers.

My feeling is that eating healthily is cheaper than eating boxed ready meals and takeaways. My food spend averages £20 a month and I don't even own a microwave. I get by on discounted food and there's plenty of discounted fresh veg in the shops. But my heart always sinks when someone mentions virgin olive oil when talking about budget eating. Even regular oil in the shops right now is overly expensive for most tight budgets. I ration basic vegetable oil in my diet (probably better for me) but I also rely on one pan meals most of the time so it's always a balancing act.

Love this video thank you! Valuable advice, I also add grated carrot and courgette to my speg bog chilli even my children don't notice it as it just cooks down and looks like mince meat.

When I first came across Dr Rupy I bought three of his books with Tim I bought a four book (amazon) deal (not read the twins one yet) I will now get Ruby's 4th thus evening up the score, maybe this is what my retirement is about? I'm certainly learning more of the 'various' different cultural basics and loving it and yes eating less meat and fish. Great to see you three together. losing potatoes, bread and pasta is really difficult for me though, instead of a fillet steak they are my new guilty occasional pleasures, how things change?

Thank you for all the Zoe podcasts. They are all very interesting and helpful.

When you batch cook and put into portions, don't forget to label everything !

I add cannellini beans or lentils to a minced beef stew which traditionally I only add potatoes, carrots and onions to (well, also tomato puree, herbs and stock etc). The addition of beans or lentils adds more protein and fibre. It's also a 'needs must'. Also, as the great Jack Monroe taught me in her wonderful cookery books (one of which is based on food bank tins to make complete meals which are delicious) ... Jack taught me to buy the cheapest baked beans and rinse off the sauce because they are cheaper than tinned beans without the sauce. Another thing I do, when frying onions, celery, mushrooms and herbs etc..., I set some of it aside for the next day and pop into the fridge. Then the next day I will use it to make the base for an omelette. I also make an absolutely delicious sardine omelette using a whole tin of sardines and four eggs. I like it with peas, onion and tomato puree, oregano too etc etc. I top the omelette with finely grated padano cheese (which I buy from chilled in supermarket and then I keep this in the freezer)... I live alone so the four egg sardine omelette is absolutely fine saved the next day because it is too much for one serving. Sardine omelette is really nice. There is a knack to cooking the sardines nicely, which involves 'drying it out' on the hob so the omelette is not too soggy. Peas go really well with this recipe, along with tomato puree. Jack Monroe also has a brilliant sardine and tomato soup recipe, which, again, requires a special way of cooking and I can tell you it really is delicious. This recipe will be free online on Jack's website. It is also in her foodbank book called TIN CAN COOK. Zoe should interview Jack Monroe as she has worked tirelessly to promote healthy eating on a very small budget. One of her other cookbooks is called COOKING ON A BOOTSTRAP.

Love this and I do buy ginger which I slice and put into a freeze as I do with most of my herbs, especially seasonal ones and then add them to my dishes or teas as I need. In a cities these things are much cheaper to buy but in the countryside they are definitely not. 😬

When I went vegan three years ago I had to relearn to cook basically and found lots of lovely new recipes. My favourite is chickpea tuna 😋 I like to think I'm healthier now but who knows lol

I do enjoy the summaries at the end!

Atomic Shrimp raised a really good point about feeding yourself on a tight budget, namely the cost of your time. For someone on minimum wage who literally needs to work every hour they can to keep a roof over their head and the heat on, every minute spent cooking is a minute they can't be earning. A recipe that takes an hour to prep and cook has already cost them £11.44 before you start on the ingredients and cooking fuel. Worth bearing in mind when you find yourself thinking "Why don't they just cook from scratch?".

I recently found out there are websites that give tips about what you can substitute with what so you don't have a whole array of spices you only use once a while or are stuck with it when you find the dish isn't according to your taste.. It has really helped me trying out new recipees

Brilliant. But nobody mentioned steaming, where you are cooking two layers of foods one on top of another. Also, soya beans are the highest protein bean and can be soaked and added to cheap stews.

Doctors rediscovering what their great grandmothers learned from their grandmothers.

Exactly. I'm 40 years old and live in the center of beautiful Heidelberg Germany. I inhabit a flat with 2 students, to save money. I can walk to work (ICU nurse), but I have an old used bike for less then 200 bucks. I don't need to travel. Heidelberg is paradise. No car, no kids. I only work part time so I have enough money for my hobbies: Bouldering, Running, Gaming on Sony PlayStation and Nintendo Switch (when our house burns down, I can't lose those games, I own them in the cloud). Life is beautiful nowadays, why would I waste it at work. I only buy cloths when I really need them, mostly cheap. You can eat healthy for 5 bucks a day (coffee included). I consider whole grain pasta to be healthy, but you should have them split up in to maximum 2 meals a day, and with a good amount of healthy plant seed oils (I prefer olive). Other than that I eat nuts and vegetables. Only drink water, coffee, and tea without milk or sugar. If you're vegan have your vit.B12 and a good source of omega-3 fatty acids (like algae oil), maybe vit.D if you're a nightshift worker or not out in the sun much, and you're good. I'm 40 years old, athletic, everyone thinks I'm much younger. Take good care of your bodies folks and enjoy life 💟

Spices (and knowing how to use spices, blooming etc) is also so important. They are not always expensive when you buy in bulk (and share with family for example). SUCH a difference in getting different tasting meals with just a few simple bases.

I found out that I can cook a pound of beans, any type, in 30 minutes in the instant pot. Very surprising, and this has really helped stretch the budget. If there are beans always cooked, there is always something to eat. You simply rinse a pound of beans, put them in the instant pot, then cover with water 2 inches higher than the beans, put the lid on, and hit the "bean" button. That is all there is to it. :)

My very elderly, fragile, patients seemed to live longer on low protein diets. I assumed it was because of declining kidney function and their reduced ability to excrete the nitrogen.

Thanks for the information and recipes. I understand that plant-based iron is not as easily absorbed by the body as heme iron. What about recipes with vegetables / legumes that can increase iron intake?

Its amazing how much knowledge is lost from generation to generation. Batch cooking, low meet content, bulking up by starches, choosing alternative form of ingredients (canned/preserved instead of fresh when it makes sense), seasonal ingredients... For my grandparents generation it was obvious an normal. Now, it need to be tought to some as 'new tips and tricks'.

Basic point, Batch cook for 6 helpings. don't keep 2 to eat today and put the rest in the freezer. Serve out all 6 on plates and put 4 plates of food in the freezer.

Sweat 3 crushed garlic cloves in olive oil in a large pan, add 2 tins drained cannelloni or even butter beans. Add 1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes, 1 cup chopped parsley,1/2 cup grated Parmesan and 1/4 cup pecorino cheese. Tasty.

Allegra McEvedy wrote a great cookery book called Economy Gastronomy covering points like these….. including batch cooking a base recipe that can be given different flavours as you reheat portions…… worth a look

Legumes are my best friends ,so versatile in cooking ! 😊

hello, Great topic for today's problems. I have a question. In years past there was always much discussion about incomplete and complete proteins. Is this something to be concerned about?

Love you guys. You are so helpful. Thank you!

Dried chickpeas are very cheap and are super easy to cook in the slow cooker. 1 cup per litre of water, 6 -8 hours. I cook up to 4 cups at a time e and freeze them in two cup bags.

Can you get enough protein if you have tree nut and ground nut allergies - not intolerances, but allergies meaning they carry an epipen & can't consume tree & ground nuts OR beans , pulses (& many fruits & veg (oral allergy syndrome too)). It's rare but does happen - my offspring is one such individual. They currently rely on prescription vitamins & minerals.

This has been really helpful, thank you!

I've been "bulk cooking" all my life. I can not understand how anyone thinks cooking is difficult. There are countless recipes that just require you to roughly chop up the ingredients and put them in a pot in the right order. I use three sets of storage bottles, heating them in the oven and adding the food whilst hot so it is sealed. I use tall 700g passata bottles, short wide 700g Gherkin jars, both which hold 2-3 serves, and single meals in 360g tomato concentrate jars. Being glass they are easy to pasteurise, do not interact with the food and are tough. The sizes fit perfectly on fridge shelves. Write the date and what it is on the lid. Cooking for yourself is very cheap, satisfying and given the saved meals are reheated, very quick. Supplement with side vegetables and salads some of which can also be stored and served as needed. The fact that this needs to be said over and over again, shows just what a sad state we are in.

I use Dr Rupy’s 123 book all the time. All recipes made in one pot, 2 servings and 3 portions of veg. I always have to adjust them because I’m intolerant of fructans (onions, garlic, leeks 😩) I have used a remoska for years, I hardly ever put the oven on, but if I do, I remember my mother’s mantra of making sure you’ve got something cooking on every shelf. Her go to was either rice pudding or bread and butter pudding. (Bread went stale in those days!) 😋

I use a recipe app, Paprika that lets me store recipes, let's me do menu planning and will generate shopping lists and keep a pantry inventory. I only cook dinner/lunch a couple of times a week and I do batch cooking using an instant pot as much as possible. Then I vacuum seal and freeze the leftovers. Eating this way saves money and time. It results in less spoilage because I only shop for what I'll eat. And it gives me access to a variety of tasty and health meals. It also helps that I have a wide variety of spices, and kitchen equipment. If you can treat cooking as a hobby, rather than a burden, that helps too! I love to cook! I also have a waring vacuum sealer gun which has reusable bags and I seal anything that oxidation can spoil, this at leat doubles the life of most stuff in the fridge. I live alone and it's one way I avoid spoilage.

Absolutely loving these podcasts! Thankyou so much :)

My main 'trick' is to make a large thick basic soup / stew. Then when I reheat a portion, I add a few quick cooking items (sliced mushroom or garlic, some greens and so on).

Just opened a can of chickpeas with some spice and sliced some apple and enjoying it 😋

Wow. Good to hear that cheese is ok now. Need to find the episode on that. We eat 85% chocolate after lunch and dinner. We have extra virgin olive oil every day. I pour it over my lunch. And we have free range eggs with beautiful orange yolks. When they are on sale, we buy lots.

Are protein levels in everyone's diets really sufficient for reducing sarcopenia and improving healthy aging? Based on how the elderly tend to have issues with reduced muscle and reduced efficiency of muscle synthesis, is there no need to understand protein quality, protein quantity and meal timing/spreading protein throughout the day for good muscle mass as we age? The US RDA/s seem to be much lower than the amount needed to build muscle, which may be needed to counteract the impact of aging. Love all the discussion on fiber and new ways of thinking about recipes and cooking. Thanks for the fun and informative videos.

Very significant info for today. I’m always shocked when I see moms on the news complaining about food prices and they show what’s in their cupboard it’s junk food. 😮

May I put a word in for a pressure cooker. (Mine is electric so more expensive but it has an auto cut out which with my memory is helpful.) Since I boil dried beans in batches and make stews for the family it's been a worthwhile purchase in the longer run.

What about people who have small flats in London, who can't store large amounts of food in a freezer/fridge because of the small size?

In Indonesia people leave the food out all day and then put it in the fridge at night. Then they will eat it 3 days later even if it has meat in it. Admittedly it has more spices in it, but my take away is that fears of food poisoning are severely over blown. Also, I have reheated rice many times without consequence. Just put your food in the fridge within a couple of hours of cooking and use within 3 days for meat and 5 days for no meat/dairy. You will be fine.

Thank you guys for your very helpful information. 🌟🥰🕊

when tim says olive oil, celery, onions, etc I immediately thought of our italian ‘soffritto’ glad to hear it two minutes later...

Hi your vids are so good and informative,thank you for taking the time to get together firstly,that must be a major task in itself but also projecting your enthusiasm and honesty about food that the majority of people have no clue about. I'm wondering in the future if you can do a podcast about daily cold showers and saunas 4-7 times per week.Interstingly I've done this for 1 month and within a week my attraction to chocolate or anything sugar related has gone.i no longer eat any sweets or desert and I feel amazing tòo.I E life feels good best wishes Tim Stoddart

Loved this episode lots of great ideas. Xxx

Jamie had an excellent series on Channel 4 One Pound Wonders. Each dish came in under a pound.

0:53: 🍽 Dr. Rupee is working on creating budget meal plans and recipes to help people eat well for less during the cost of living crisis in the UK. 6:11: 🍲 Batch cooking and using affordable ingredients can help maintain a healthy eating habit during the cost of living crisis. 11:37: 🥦 Starting with one master recipe and using affordable ingredients can make adopting a plant-based diet more accessible. 16:59: 🍽 Cooking on a budget and for one can be made easier by swapping ingredients, using frozen foods, and making one pan meals. 22:24: 🍲 Cooking can be an act of self-compassion and self-love, and batch cooking can save time and create multiple meals. 28:11: 🌱 People do not need to worry about protein deficiency when reducing meat consumption and can get enough protein from plant-based sources. 34:13: ✅ Protein is not a problem for the majority of people and can be obtained from plant-based sources on a budget. 39:43: 🍲 Batch cooking, using tinned or frozen food, and incorporating lentils and spinach can help maintain a healthy diet while reducing costs. 45:08: ✅ It is possible to have a healthier diet by reducing spend on highly processed foods and incorporating more whole foods. Recap by Tammy AI