Wednesday 27 May 2009

Guess who forgot their lunch today.

Bah.

I love working in SpringVegas.. there's Viet, Thai, Asian of all denominations. If you can think of a cuisine, there is a pretty fair chance that someone in SpringVegas is cooking it.

But like Midas, I am surrounded by all this loveliness, but I can't access it.

You see, in my investigations, no restaurant in SpringVegas delivers at lunch time.

The exception being Pizza Hurl or Domin-Throw's pizza.

You may remember Domin-Throw's for such super sexy dishes as "pasta in a flaky pastry eatable bowl"

Can we all say "Carbo-loaded, fatty goodness!"

And for reasons that actually escape me, I can't leave the office today.

Furry has recently been dubbed my Sandwich Slave, as he brings me Banh mi from Bun Bun on Springvale Rd, but alas, today he's busy.

SO I either close up the office, hoping Elvis doesn't notice, and race out for take-away, or I dial a pizza.

In a recent Choice Magazine survey, the found(not surprisingly)

Takeaway makes for a quick and easy dinner when you’re pressed for time. Even in the midst of a global economic crisis Australians have increased their reliance on this convenient, but not always cheap, option. On average, we spend 10% of our food budget on takeaways and after a lull last year this percentage is on the rise again.
View full article here.

There is nothing new in the survey. Take-away food is bad for you. And you can cook cheaper and healthier at home. It's not Rocket Science. And sadly, they only base their "Home Made Fast Food" on Simmer Sauces available in Coles and Woolies. They also promote shelf-stable meals as an alternative to take away, and I'm sorry, but I am NOT eating anything with "chicken" in it that can remain, unrefrigerated on a shelf for up to 12 months.

But I digress.

In the spirit if transparency, Choice provided the survey for me to look at and asked me to blog about it.

The things that shocked me about the Choice survey are these:

10% of your food budget on take away? Seriously people, get with the programme. Despite what I see as flaws in Choice's survey, they're right. It IS cheaper and easier to cook at home. I can whip up a pasta that is 100 times better than any shit you'll order from Pizza-Hurl, and you can too!

I am all good for the occasional dodgy take-away. There are PLENTY of nights when I simply can't be bothered to cook, and I dial up the local Noodle/pizza man. But 10% of my food budget?

I must be in the minority here, because in our house, take-away/delivery something you only eat maybe once a month. And I'm talking about "fast foods" such as pizza or "Chinese" here. I will freely admit to buying take-away salad rolls and pho regularly.

The Choice article really provides nothing new under the sun. Their alternatives to fast food rely on pre-packaged simmer sauces, jarred ingredients and define fresh vegetables in one recipe as
"fresh are the pre-cut, packaged version from the refrigerated vegetable section of your supermarket"


**insert scary food Epic Fail icon**

The thing is that fast food is bad for you. Choice have provided evidence and alternatives to such. They're not great alternatives, but in today's time-poor world, there are plenty of people out there who are prepared to sacrifice a little flavour for convenience. And if it stops people reaching for the phone and dialing Deliver-A-Vom, and gets people back in the kitchen, then it's still a good thing.

One of the things I did find useful, given my current weight gain, was this scary, scary graph.



Given my lunch-less status today, I think I might close the office up after all, walk up to the local Asian fruit mart and grab some seasonal fruit.

5 comments:

Jazz said...

You go girl. Close up the office and to hell with Elvis. Obviously, he's not in the office, stuck to order crap.

Bluenose said...

Actually at about midday today I was in transit between Dandenong and Mont Albert and could have brought you some nice fresh tucker had I only realised you needed it or you had called me on the mobile. it would have been only a fairly monor detour after all.

Oh well. For the record I had a quite edible and not too expensive chicken and potato curry with steamed rice from quite a good cafe near the Dandenong job.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ella, I dont think I'm inthat 10% either?
Choice got that graph wrong too! Everyone knows its hard to eat those foods & cycle at the same time, DOH!

Maree said...

Hmmmm, wonder if that 10% includes takeaway sambos and coffees- I think I eat really healthily, but fear if I added up all those quick lunch fixes plus coffees plus the lazy nights you describe it could creep up. You know what's ironic, we go to the markets to get the best quality fruit and veg for a cheap price and then go "What the hell, $8 for a sandwich, why not!".
Anyway, I wonder how many minutes cycling a duck curry is- cause thats my all time takeaway fave!

Griffin said...

Well here in the UK, I'd only ever get takeaway if I could afford it and knew what I was getting. I usually cook supper or rustle something up in the kitchen, not out of virtue, but cos it's cheaper.

Takeaway for me is a treat and usually Chinese, minus the rice which we make at home.

At the very least, you ought to get a lunch break where you can go out for food or go somewhere quiet and eat. You can't rely on Elvis, the man eats squirrel burgers!!... SpringVegas?!! Ay Caramba!