Princess,

If I have given the impression that we should give up on "food fun" in the interests of some ideally chemically balenced diet then I have scored an own goal. My goal with this blog was to promote cooking with fresh, healthy ingredients AND TO HAVE FUN. My family will probably complain that I bore them to death on the 'food' bit while failing to show them any 'fun'

I have just been shocked at apparent widespread ignorance in this country as to what is healthy to eat or drink. To fill yourself with ready meals and fast food or to binge drink goes against that. But fundamentally you need to have a balence in your diet and if consumed in small quantities the takeaways and ready meals can be a component. Of course the term "ready meal" varies in definition. In our household it is something like a better supermarket pizza.

I totally agree that a balenced diet is important and that a stupid compensation of obviously unhealthy things with greens will not help.

However I also think that most diets promoted in the UK in my lifetime have taken stupidly extreme views on things like starch and sugars. From what I recall in the 1970s many diets advocated avoiding starches like potatoes and bread. Nonsense! If you have good quality bread or potatoes plus healthy vegetables, meat or fish you are not going wrong.

However in the UK we have had "superstarch food" on offer. After we returned to the UK from Germany we were shocked at the "school dinners". In my childhood, school dinners were probably reasonably well-balenced nutritionally but tasted disgusting. Today, with everything contracted out to private companies who have small budgets and high profits, there is the incentive to produce tasty but unhealthy food.

I cannot forget hearing that my kids were fed a main course of pizza, baked beans and chips (all three starch) followed by a sticky bun! They may have left out some alternatives but that is simply encouraging terrible eating.

Anyway, if I have been pontificating I apologise. I work and travel long hours and do not always have much time to cook - same for Mrs O.
Sorry for ranting so long!

Graham, thanks for your comments....I hope I did not come across as self-righteous on food!

I work 50 hours per week or more, travel a lot with my job but still find time to cook - or my wife does in the times when I do not. As a student I was impressed by what my Chinese and Indian colleagues could do on tiny budgets of both time and money. I have sought to emulate that ever since then.

Of course my blog represents the positive things that I try to do but if people are pressed for time there are plenty of things that can be prepared within 30 minutes. I can prepare something that is - for my taste of course! - appetising within 30 minutes; a worthwhile alternative to spending 10 minutes on a ready meal (though it would cost more time to heat it up for my whole family).

Similarly spending 20 minutes chopping for a stew or curry at a weekend (say 50% eaten the next day and 50% frozen for a future occasion) and letting it bubble for 2 hours is not onerous.

Of course I admit to buying the odd pizza or takeaway curry. One of the points of this blog is to encourage people to try more with fresh ingredients. If I can do it ... I am sure more people can.

O.