Has Delia Smith gone raving mad? I watched her show the other day and she was making a meal from a can of minced beef! I'm really sorry, but nothing would make me eat canned minced beef. I'm sure she chose her rpoducts carefully, but surely it's misleading to people who think all canned meat product contains good quality meat?

I think she's lost the plot....

I have to agree, this is just one step too far. People should be being encouraged to use fresh stuff in a simple way, not this tinned garbage, full of preservatives and artificial whatevers. This is most certainly a retrograde step in teaching the public how to eat healthily and how to cook efficiently and simply. I'm all for time saving and convenience but at what true cost?

Yes Delia has gone potty, I was always taught tio use fresh stuff. Sadly I know a young married couple whom have not got a clue how to cook, they must of been locked away on a desert island some where not shown the basics on how to cook.

What I am trying to say, is that this new series of Delias is for total clueless in our society, and tinned stuff has to better than McDonalds all the time.

I guess Delia will be showing how to cook with powered egg shortly........... A step to far one would suggest.

I seem to remember some years ago Delia made a whole stack of money with her basics series of books, you know the ones the simple instructions on how to boil water, add an egg etc. She obviously thinks that this series failed in its aim to educate the general public in real but simple cookery or she would not now be putting this garbage before us for our delictation. Or has she just sold out to the publishers and major canneries/producers of tinned products and cashed in again? Some might argue that there is nothing wrong with tinned mince or instant potato and perhaps that is right as stand alone products. Does it save time? Is it a healthy option? Is it cost effective? With all the problems inherant in today's fast living society, with obesity at allegedly its highest ever in this country surely we should be looking at real food rather than re-constituted chemicals, the energy and resources used in producing these products must be vast. You must first plant the veg, feed the veg, harvest the veg, make a tin (won't go into the mining etc), make a label (trees cut down), treat the veg, add sugars and chemicals to preserve them,(all have to be made somewhere along the line), can them in a factory, box them up and then distribute them before they are opened and boiled al la Delia. This in comparison to planting the veg, feeding the veg, harvesting the veg, lightly packaging in the factory, yes there are plastics but hopefully recycleable, distributing and then simply cooking by boiling. The same would go for mince. Some like bread "wi nowt taken out" I don't know about you but I like my food "Wi nowt else added" I truly think that this is just a crazy concept. There is nothing I admit wrong with using some tinned products or ready meals but combined with fresh and that fresh being in the larger proportion of the whole. The foundation of change must be in education, there has been a myth built up over many years that it is too difficult to cook from scratch, it is too time consuming, this has been promoted and nurtured by the companies who make the ready meals and tinned stuffs. We are now so indoctrinated that we believe we are not capable of producing good, fresh, healthy food. We feel inadequate, we believe that only highly trained chefs can produce good and tasty food from scratch. I have lost respect for Delia completely, she has sold her soul to the devil (the big corporations)Tinned stuff has a place but it should not take the primary place which belongs to good fresh food. Rant over, sorry guys, just had to get it off my chest.

Well I think she is an utter genius!!!

sorry but she has crossed the thin line between genius and utter madness. She may have been a genius previously but she is only as good as her last shepherd's pie and the last one she was seen making was canned and full of artificial flavourings. She is encouraging lethargy in the kitchen. She with all her talent should be promoting and educating the public in the virtues of good fresh food not just cashing in on the insecurities of those less able, prolonging the myths surrounding good culinary basics like boiling water, mince and potatoes to produce the better, fresher and tastier option. This is not a personal rebuke to you nor is it denigration of your view that Delia to you is a genius it is just a statement that IMPO Delia is taking us backwards not forwards in cooking. Please do not take this personally, I have always loved Delia previously I just think that she has sold her soul to the publishers.

I think she's trying to encourage those who think they have neither the time nor the inclination to cook that they can do so, and that it is almost as easy as pricking holes in the film of a ready-meal and shoving it in the microwave, only slightly more satisfying knowing that you made it yourself.

No offence but if you had neither the time nor the inclination to cook would you not just reach for the first ready meal? I doubt very much that that type of person would get much satisfaction out of making something themselves.

I know it's learning curve, and you have to start somewhere. When I was 24 I realised I couldn't cook anything much more than a baked potato, a mediocre spag bol and macaroni cheese. I taught myself to cook from that age onwards. I learnt it all from scratch, with help from Delia, but along the way I learnt how much better fresh produce tastes. I eat well now, and I've got no interest in eating ground up cast off cow bits. I really don't see how to make student food teaches people to cook properly.

I think she is a business genius and expect a 'Delia' endorsed range of ready meals/ingredients anytime soon.

It's the next natural step after she has done a whole programme about how good pre-prepared products can be - "they are so good I've put my name to some".

Watch your supermarket shelves.

'Tis a sad but true fact that this could and probably will happen daveyjp. A step back into the cave and uptake of clubs looks imminent.

Dear me some people are getting their middle class knickers in a bit of a twist here. I am totally for fresh produce, however do not have a go a canned foods with mis-information. The canning process its self preserves the food not added preservatives other than salt and sugar. Tins have there uses - I may not use a lot of them but I am happy to use them (try HPs omelette chips and beans eaten cold out of the can for a top tea).

Given the current instability of our food supply, we should all have a few tins stashed away for the next fuel crisis.

*Thinks I may have moved up a class*

No, I am working class, always have been and even if I win the lottery I always will be, to quote from a long ago sketch with the two Ronnies and John Cleese, "I know my place"

Whilst I agree that tinned food has it's uses and I use tinned kidney beans, baked beans, mushy peas, tomatoes and the like as minor ingredients, it is the concept of using all convenience products to make a meal that I find very hard to swallow. No, I aren't getting my knickers in a twist about it, I am calmly putting forward my view which is what these forums are here for. TBH, and I don't mean to offend, I cannot see from the previous postings what gave you the impression that anybody, middle class or otherwise, had their knickers in a twist. It is a good humoured thread with people respecting each others' opinions even if not agreeing with those opinions.

Many of us these days are pushed for time, especially with both partners working and hungry children to feed. But what is wrong with making short cuts but still using fresh food, for example, making a bolognese sauce one evening, then the next day heating the sauce and boiling a pan of spaghetti for spaghetti bolognese? How quick is that?? Surely a fresh mince sauce made the day before has to beat tinned mince hands down?? Or make some things over the weekend, for example curries or stews, fish pie or shepherds pie and freeze, or make quiches etc. and service with a salad during the week. The list is endless.

service with a salad = serve with a salad!

Exactly PeggyG. Totally agree, nothing wrong with tinned products but in conjunction with fresh and the time saved by using tinned mince must be minimal.

What gets me is that a lot of us have probably been "cheating" in the kitchen à la Delia for years - using ready made pastry, tomato puree in a jar, preserved lemons, frozen fish fillets, tinned salmon and tuna, etc. So why do we need to spend £20 to buy a book that tells me what I know already?? When is the epiphany moment exactly??

PS. Actually, I do still make the reduced tomato sauce myself as shown my St Delia many years ago. Nicer than anything I can get in a jar or a carton...

Yes i do too. It smells and tastes absolutely delicious. It also freezes well for a quick meal with pasta anytime.

I do cook most things from scratch, and hate using jars of stuff, particularly when I know they contain squillons of times more sugar and salt than I would have added....

BUT.... I do still think she is a genius. Most of us on this thread are already converted to cooking, but I think her aim is to try another tactic to convince people who think it is far too difficult that it really isn't. And to let all us who think we are in the "know" that there are still a few tricks out there.

My trick is to make a huge batch of Welsh cakes when I have an afternoon free, and then freeze the lot (uncooked), so that I can whip them outta the freezer when unexpected guests call by. They taste so much better when made "fresh".

What are your "tricks"?

My "trick" is to make larger amounts of meals, and instead of plating 4 meals I plate 6, and freeze the extras directly on the plates to use when we are very late in from work.