For those that can't acess the article it said this....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16365230

Families encouraged to eat healthily on the cheap

Vegetables Healthy eating can be done on a budget, the government says
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An effort to convince families in England that they can eat healthily on a budget is being launched.

Four million recipe leaflets will be mailed to families already signed up to the government's Change 4 Life public health campaign.

Three supermarket chains have also agreed to offer discounts on products such as fruit, vegetables and fish.

But Labour said ministers do not take public health seriously and the drive is an "advertisement for big business".

Meanwhile, celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott has helped devise a cookbook promoting healthy dishes, with recipes that can be created for under £5.

He has also been filmed performing cooking tutorials which will be posted on the Change 4 Life website.

Among the meals being promoted are vegetable soup, fish pie and sweet and sour chicken.

Many of the ingredients will be discounted at the three supermarket chains signed up to the campaign - Asda, Co-op and Aldi - although it is not being revealed how big the discounts will be.
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“Start Quote

    They're calling this public health but it's just a glorified advertisement for big business.”

Diane Abbott Shadow public health minister

Public health minister Anne Milton said: "The new year is a good time to think about losing weight. The Supermeals campaign will give us all some great ideas for balanced meals on a budget."

Mr Harriott added: "Sometimes the thought of making meals from scratch can seem a bit daunting, but I have always tried to assure people that cooking at home can be really quick, easy and doesn't need to break the bank."

But Labour criticised the move.

Shadow public health minister Diane Abbott said: "They're calling this public health but it's just a glorified advertisement for big business. This is a government that doesn't take its responsibility around public health seriously.

"Some areas in inner cities are fresh food deserts so families fall into eating takeaway chicken and chips."

Health benefits

Dale Rees, a spokesman for the British Dietetic Association, said the initiative was a positive step because the recipes would help those who wanted to cook but did not know the ingredients involved, the steps needed to prepare them or how to cook adhering to a budget.

"Evidence shows that people who eat a diet low in fat, added sugars and salt are less likely to develop chronic diseases in later life. You can protect against heart disease, for example, plus you're less likely to be obese and have weight-related health problems," said the dietician.

Referring to the issues raised by Ms Abbott, he said some local shops often carried fresh fruit and vegetables but some groups - people without cars, elderly and disabled people - found it hard to access such produce in inner city "blackspots".

Such people, he said, could be eligible for deliveries of hot meals, adding: "We need to tackle those blackspots to make sure fresh food is made available for those people. But that shouldn't stop the promotion of eating healthy food on a budget."

Alain Ducasse (famous cook here) is giving an oppurtunity for a groupe of 15 mothers at a time (house wives in precarious situations) to pass a CAP (The certificate of competence) in cooking, with the bases of maths, general culture, english ....his first try was a success, most passed the CAP, one of the participants is now employed in the Hotel 'Matignon' another has opened her own retso.

...........................

A well known dietitian called Dukan wants the Governement to add extra points on to students education certificats that havn't put on weight between their end of College to the end of University years.

The NYC greenmarket initiative is interesting:
http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket

Ultimately all these 1/2-arsed ideas, are just that.
Changes to the nation's eating habits should be Nat.Curriculum level & predominantly child-based.

Every child should be taught to cook on a budget, not just basic dishes, but also home-baking & preserving. If people grew up knowing that a treat comes as a result of labour, instead of as an instant & automatic right (........."because you deserve it"...as some idiotic advert tells us!).............maybe they would take pleasure in it.

These children come across the board from deskilled parents.......& it's no good trying to convince parents that they are wrong.....at a national level we could change it if priorities & investment were in the right place.

minerva wrote:

Ultimately all these 1/2-arsed ideas, are just that.
Changes to the nation's eating habits should be Nat.Curriculum level & predominantly child-based.

Every child should be taught to cook on a budget, not just basic dishes, but also home-baking & preserving. If people grew up knowing that a treat comes as a result of labour, instead of as an instant & automatic right (........."because you deserve it"...as some idiotic advert tells us!).............maybe they would take pleasure in it.

These children come across the board from deskilled parents.......& it's no good trying to convince parents that they are wrong.....at a national level we could change it if priorities & investment were in the right place.

I know that healthy eating gets discussed and learned about at primary school level , but cooking is not on the curriculum .
Sadly many schoold do not even have the facilites for cooked school lunches or classes of school children cooking.

We do have a room at the school that I help in that can allow children to do very simple cooking tasks, it has a microwave and a couple of those little baby belling type cookers , there is also a reasonable sized cooker in the staff room kitchen.
We are lucky , not all schools have this luxury.
Sadly there is little room for anouver in the National Curriculum , but the teachers do manage to get the children cooking occasionally and often before school fayres when the classes all make things to sell and raise money for the school.
But they do not learn to make meals , its mostly little things like flapjacks or another type of biscuit.

I am unsure now whet happens in the high schools as my family have now left that stage, but when they were there cooking classes were minimal .