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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Too Much Food...

A local Fish and Chip shop won a national award in a national newspaper a few days ago.

We'd thought of trying them out some time ago so last night we did. They deliver(If I had a car)or use a taxi it would cost as much possibly more to travel there and back home. We telephoned our order.

No Haddock available tonight just Cod...ok, two cod and chips please. Would we like large cod or regular cod?

Regular please...

An hour later a knock at the door(and £10 lighter)we opened the packages.

Lovely and hot but enough to serve a family of four, if we order again one portion will be enough. Heaven knows what the large cod was like. I now know what it must be like when you see the adverts on television for a Bargain Bucket from Kentucky Fried Chicken for £9.99 and it shows a family of four getting stuck into a massive amount of food and usually some soft drinks too.

I've always thought that looks far too much for the family featured and I used to say you would have to be earning a lot of money to afford that night after night it would have to be a treat as our meal was last night. I can almost manage a full week of meals for that price.

By the way they were discussing the income of an average family in the UK on the radio a few nights ago with some economic experts, they said the average wage of a two adult home with children is £32,000. I assume that they use Government statistics.

I never earned that kind of money and I still don't, probably the highest I ever saw annually was approx £12,000 and when you take off the cost of traveling to and from work, taxes, rent, utility bills, community charges, food and usual items you have to buy like clothes etc...little if anything remains to save or spend on entertainment.

I still believe that you should work to live not live to work and if you are fortunate top find a job that rewards you or that you like or enjoy, it's a bonus. And my experience and what I have witnessed we still have few employers that are as good as they could be to their employees...most try to get as much out of their workers as they can for as little as possible. Even some perks that are not money based would help. But I digress and have gone off on a tangent, sorry.

Well, try as we may some had to remain uneaten and in reality that was probably half of what we had ordered.

So today there are going to be some very happy birds as I throw the remains of batter, fish and chips out to them. So it's not wasted as such but had we known...You live and learn...

7 Comments:

Blogger Span Ows said...

Very true. The last few times that I've bought fish and chips - in the Uk for the family - I have always got too much and that's with growing lads that eat as much as me...

16 January 2010 at 13:02  
Blogger The Great Gildersleeve said...

I put it out for the birds, disappeared for a minute or two and returned to discover it had gone in record time so they were happy!

17 January 2010 at 00:58  
Anonymous Northstar said...

Having recently enjoyed my share of fish and chips in England, I was surprised at the whale-sized portions that seemed quite typical in restaurants. It was almost as though I were still in America.

Did you get mushy peas, too, Gildy?

20 January 2010 at 23:52  
Blogger The Great Gildersleeve said...

As you both say...the portions are "Big!" and there are plenty of places that serve as large as any place in the States. You forget until you eat out or order a takeaway how big they are. It's not exclusive to America.

The older I get even though I love my food, my meals get smaller.

It's been a while since I had Mushy Peas, maybe I'll buy a can when I'm on my next shopping trip.

22 January 2010 at 05:42  
Blogger Paul said...

I actually feel guilty having fish and chips now because even the small portions are so large and leaving so much seems morally wrong. Potato prices must be down that's all I can think because cod isn't exactly plentiful and as you point out Gildy £10 is the normal bill for two people.

23 January 2010 at 18:38  
Blogger Ump said...

Hi Gildy ! ;-)

My nearest chippy is just across the road from me , and you can get all sorts of stuff ; english , chinese , pizzas , etc. ( AND there's an Indian takeaway next door too ! )

As one who does like his food , i only get chippy food from there occasionally .

Usually , it's steak pie & chips and they give you LOADS of chips !! :-))

For around 3 quid i think that's good value , with fish obviously dearer - around the price you paid for yours .

Maybe i'll nip there when i get home tonight !!

" Ump. "

28 January 2010 at 12:48  
Blogger The Great Gildersleeve said...

I watch what I spend on food already Paul and yet I do wonder sometimes how it comes out at the amount I pay at the checkout.

How people survive on a very tight budget I don't know and I consider myself quite frugal. I suppose it's choosing often whether you eat "Good" food or "Rubbish"

Good to see you Ump...that takeaway near you sounds good value and seems to offer a decent variety of food.

I must get back to eating more fruit throughout the day.

Truth is I don't eat a lot even though I love food and I don't really snack between meals.

28 January 2010 at 16:09  

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