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00:00Chef Michael Vandielsen and restauranteur Ganesh Raj are here to challenge our biggest
00:05spenders. I'm not even looking at the prices. I was a hundred off. Do we have a hundred to be
00:10a hundred off? Transforming kitchens. We're not allowed anything. Seaweed salad. Who are they
00:15trying to kid? And boosting nutrition. Looks very healthy, green. I don't like this. All to save our
00:22hard-earned cash. It's so cheap. This is amazing. I'm so pleased with myself. We get revealing
00:28expert help. 55% of that sauce is sugar. And even let you guys in on the act. I love it. It's time
00:36we all learned to eat well for less. Delicious. Thank you. Meet a family who are constantly on
00:43the go. We're quite active as a family. Our eating habits aren't a reflection of that. But are filling
00:48their trolley with too many treats and not enough veggies. Can Mike and Ganesh get their diet in
00:53line with their lifestyle and save them some serious cash. There's heaps of veggies. You said it.
01:09This week we're in Massey, West Auckland with a tight-knit and active family.
01:13There's Luena, 19, who's at uni and working part-time. 12-year-old Felicity, aka Tia, and Mum Sane.
01:29It's an all-girl household after the girl's much-loved dad sadly passed away last year. Being a single
01:34parent at the moment, I think it is more important now that I try to stay healthy. Firstly for myself and
01:41secondly my kids, for me to be able to look after them until they're old enough. Home-cooked dinners
01:47for the Walupome'e family are mostly favourites from their Tongan roots. The cooking I make at the
01:52moment is mainly like what I would cook in Tonga. Gravy and sausages, roasted cassava in the oven with
01:58lamb spare ribs, taro leaves with corned beef in it. Sane's passionate about passing on her Tongan
02:04culture to the next generation and along with some friends has started FIA Dance Academy which the whole
02:10family is heavily involved in. It's a big commitment that leaves Sane with less time to plan and sort
02:16the family meals. When the dancing practices starts running, I find I don't cook as much. After
02:23practice we usually either go to McDonald's or KFC. Our eating habits is pretty bad. Sane knows how
02:29important it is for her to sort out those eating habits and she's keen to lose weight after a tough
02:34couple of years. I've struggled with the weight since I became a primary caregiver to my late
02:40husband. We had been married for almost 29 years. He had a fall at work and then rushed to hospital and
02:48found that there was a tumour. The diagnosis was that he had about six months to live so he eventually
02:53gave up work because he didn't want to go into the rest home. He survived until almost two years. I think
02:59you know all my care had gone for him, yeah. The girls are also keen to see their mum take better care
03:04of herself. I want her to be healthy just because I see that when we exercise and when we eat the right
03:10kind of foods she does have a lot more energy. She's not as tired. I feel like food has a big impact on her
03:18mood but I definitely want to help her lose weight and stuff because I do see that it kind of makes her
03:23feel better about herself. She feels good when she looks good. She feels good. When it comes to lifestyle
03:30the family are well on the way to reaching those goals. We're quite active as a family. Our eating
03:35habits aren't a reflection of that but we do try to do exercise every day. We love just getting out
03:43there and enjoying the fresh air and I so want to lose weight. It's just a matter of getting their diet
03:49to match up with this active family. We definitely know that the exercise and the food needs to go
03:55together. Sometimes in the past I have done a lot of exercise but not the food and it kind of like
04:01really didn't work. They say that it's 20% exercise and 80% diet so if we want to be healthier it's
04:09mainly our food that we need to be looking at. Sane's motivation for her week on Eat Well For Less
04:14is not only to make those health changes but to save herself a bit of cash. We do eat big portions
04:20so long term is to try and keep the portions smaller. We have a variety of healthier meals
04:27and those meals to include a lot of vegetables at a lesser cost. We might just be able to help you
04:34out there Sane so let's get cracking with the weekly shop to see what we're working with
04:38and chef Michael Vandielsen and restauranteur Ganesh Raj are on surveillance duties.
04:45What do we have here? Mushrooms. I can get my asparagus.
04:51A lot of spuds. Is that a week you reckon? Well it's not a lot of other veggies though you know.
04:57What meat are you looking at? The steak. Pork belly. We'll have some egg chops. Chicken thighs.
05:03Oh yeah that one's okay. It's a lot of meat huh. Not a lot of veggies. No and you should have half a plate
05:08of veggies. Tylee there's like no green ones. No green ones that's what I was thinking. Where's the leafy green?
05:13The cookie time there. I remember last time you guys finished almost the whole thing eh?
05:18On your own. Wow. I've never seen a packet that big. Neither have I. I'm frightened of this size
05:24that. How much are they going to be? Must not forget my salt. I cannot eat without the salt.
05:31Soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce. That's a lot of salt. And your tomato sauce. I can eat like two whole
05:37bottles in a week. I have it on everything. And then ice cream. Trumpets. The mint ones. Yes.
05:42Can you get my jelly tips? Yes please. Orange chop. This one up here. And that's it right? That's it.
05:51Sugar, sugar and sugar. Yeah I know. Trumpets. They're premium huh? Yeah. Let's go get them.
05:57Quick. Time to intercept this trolley before all that ice cream melts.
06:00I like paper. Wow. Wow. Hello. Hey. If I say malo e lele is that correct? No. What's the correct?
06:07Malo e lele. Malo e lele. I was close though eh? Very close. What's going on here? Oh that's her own.
06:12So this is my own grocery. I usually shop for myself. Really? Stop it. No sharing? No sharing?
06:18Can I look? Can I look? It's delicious. Yeah. Let's have a little do you pay for your own shopping?
06:23Awesome. You work? Yeah. Paying for shopping? I like that. Oh. Oh. That's a big pot of chocolate.
06:32What do we do with this? What do we? Ask her. What do we do? Like bread and eggs with it.
06:37Bread and eggs with it. Together. Bread and eggs. My brain is not understanding that.
06:42Okay. Let's go. Let's go. So much to learn. So much to learn. Come on. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
06:46Thank you. Let's hit the check out to see how much this all adds up to. So we're starting with some trumpets.
06:53It's gone downhill rapidly. It has. Seven dollars. Seven dollars. Seven dollars for four.
06:57How much are the jelly tips Michael? Oh. $8.50. $8.50. But that's for six.
07:02All right. Tip tops. Sugar. Sugar. Sugar. Oh. Here we go. My favorite. Some beautiful. Your favorite.
07:08Corned beef. I just saw the number 650 milligrams of salt. Milligrams. Hey. It's cookie time Michael.
07:16That's a big cookie time. $11. All right. Here's some good stuff. Look at this beautiful meat.
07:22What is that? T-bone? Yeah. And then we've got pork belly slicing bone in. And what vegetables do you serve
07:28of us? Uh. We just usually have carrots. Or no vegetables. Oh there's some. Or no vegetables.
07:34Yeah. Hang on. Hang on. We have carrots. We have carrots today. Then we have our good friends
07:38potatoes. Lovely. Eight bucks. So. Is that it? So. Is that it? What. That's a particular basket.
07:45Bring that basket forward. Put it down. Wow. This is like a whole other shop. And there's some vegetables.
07:50It's a different vibe going on here. A little nutty snack. Is this for like snacking in school?
07:54Yeah. Eight bucks though. Eight dollars. Is that eight bucks?
07:58Premium brand. Is that eight bucks? It is. Okay. What do you think you spent today both of your
08:04shops together? 400 around. 400. Felicity. I think over 400. Cool. How about that?
08:12I think maybe 420. All right. So. The magic number today is. Wow.
08:20Oh. You were pretty close at 420. You guys were all very close. What's added up has been the snacks
08:29from what we've seen. Yes. And all those snacks have really blown the budget. I was very surprised
08:34for the total. Um. I usually budget for about 200, 250. But today's like over 400 dollars. So.
08:43Obviously we're getting things that we should not. We don't really need. Some surprises for Sanae and the
08:49girls. But what shocks are in store for Mike and Ganesh in the pantry back home? Okay.
08:56All right. Convenience food. There's a very big. That is a monster. That's a jar of cookies.
09:03That is a jar. That is a jar. So this is our little section here. Mr. Sweet Chili and Mr. Sauce.
09:10I think they get used a lot. All right. Let's check out the freezer. What do we have here? Oh.
09:16One, two, three boxes of ice cream. Here we go refrigerator. What have we got?
09:27I do believe that's a veggie box that you put your veggies into in the fridge. The world's loneliest veggie
09:32box. It's a veggie box. Shall we give it a friend? Here's a little avocado. The avocado
09:36friend for the veggie box. Thank you for being part of the fridge. Veggie box. All right. So not a lot of
09:42veggies. There's a leak hiding down there. We need to do better on the veggies. All right.
09:47With plenty of sneaky treats in their shop but a lonely veggie drawer, let's take a closer look at
09:52the Vallupume'i Grocery Hall. What's it feel like to see all of it on the table like this? Like a store
09:59itself. I didn't realize how much food they're getting. The way that we've arranged this is we've
10:07surrounded your vegetables with sugar and salt. Yeah. And this is the only little bit of veg
10:18that we have right now. And the meat's great. You know, you've got to have meat. You've got to have
10:22meat in your diet but on your plate you should have twice the amount of vegetables to this meat.
10:27When we do have veggies, it's smaller portions, smaller than the meat. Yeah. You've got up your game.
10:33We've seen your veggie drawer and it's really lonely and it wants some friends. Okay. Okay. I understand
10:39you guys are, you know, you're an active family. You go out, you do stuff together. All that work
10:46you're putting in will only work out for you if you make this switch. So what you see in front of you is
10:52what you shopped today. That came to $415, including your shop, Louina, of $60. Yeah. Adding to that
11:02takeaways. That's correct. So we've got takeaways as well of about $93 a week. So that brings your
11:08weekly total to $508 per week. That figure you're thinking, all right, $508. But here's the thing.
11:17The minimum amount an average family of your size needs to get all their nutritional needs for the week
11:22is only $181. Oh, wow. That's... So that's over three times
11:29what you're spending right now. And that's a total of almost $26,500 a year that's being spent on the
11:35food. And when you look at what the average family would spend for its nutritional needs,
11:40you can see right there, there's some improvements to be made, right? And I see a lot of that in this
11:45packaging, in this... 100%. But I feel like you guys are pretty committed. Let's go and let's get
11:52it started. What do you reckon? I think they're a lovely family. They're doing activity, they're
11:57running around, they're trying to be fit. Yep. But they're not covering it with good food. No,
12:01they're eating, they're eating far too much salt, far too much sugar. I definitely think we can save them
12:06money. Wow, and get some more veggies in there. The Walupume'i kitchen is getting the eat well for
12:12less treatment today with many of their favourite items out of bounds or replaced by healthy and
12:17cheaper options in plain packaging. Even their beloved cookie jar isn't safe. The fridge has been
12:23packed with loads of fresh healthy ingredients and the lonely veggie drawer is now a thing of the past.
12:30Time for the family to see what's on the menu for the week ahead. Let's see what we got.
12:34Look, this is all off limits. Everything's neat. And all your cereal, dear, my cereal. Look,
12:43Chinese cooking wine. Well, wine. Do you fancy some wine? Well, I can have it, but neither of you
12:50two can. It's probably for cooking, not for drinking straight. Oh, okay. Most of these stuff, I don't use.
12:55We never see things like labelled. Wholemeal pita bread. Yeah, we've never seen it without the labels.
13:04Oh, okay. Wow. Look at how many veggies. It's a whole tray. We struggle to fill even this little
13:13box here. But look, we've got this filled and this tray here. Oh, how are we feeling about this?
13:22I don't know. The new change. Yeah. We need to try it. Yeah, I think we'll cope. If we all do it
13:29together, we'll be fine. Yeah. Yeah. It's a change that we need to do, especially maybe for mum. Yeah.
13:35Okay. Let's get right down to business with a food swap, starting with tinned pineapple that Sane loves in
13:42a seafood salad. With the label gone, let's see if the switched brand still hits the spot.
13:48Do you want to have a little try? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
13:58Nice. Sweetie, soury taste. Very nice. So you tasted it first, right? I tasted it mixing it together
14:06with the meat. And I didn't realize it's a different brand. The sweetness, the souriness,
14:13exactly the same. Yummy. Yes, I'd buy it again. And again and again, because I know my friends will
14:20like it too. She may not be able to taste the difference, but we've given Sane a tinned pineapple
14:25in juice rather than her usual pineapple in syrup, which means the sugar content is almost cut in half.
14:34With one success already under our belt, let's see if we can get science student Luena on board with a
14:40switched out version of her favorite study snack. Could this new choc fruit and nut mix be one for the
14:45books? Ah, looks like I've got nuts covered in dark chocolate and maybe dairy chocolate and some peanuts.
14:55It does look a bit different. So I can already see that there's no other types of nuts in there. I don't
15:02know what these nuts are, but usually there's like almonds in there or cashews and things like that.
15:14It tastes the exact same. The nuts and chocolates that I usually buy are really expensive, but if this
15:21was cheaper, I definitely could swap it out for this. There is a significant saving here for Luena,
15:26as this brand costs around half the amount of her usual choc fruit nut mix. Our swap has passed the
15:32test with flying colors. We're on a roll, so let's crack on. Mike's here to kick start the healthy eating
15:39regime with a recipe packed with vegetables to help the family drop their habit of eating unhealthy salty
15:45snacks. Do you like fish? Yes, I love fish. Smoked fish, raw fish, cooked fish? We have it raw, so...
15:52Okay, and that will go back to, like if you go back to Tonga, you would have fish galore. Yeah, we just
15:58have it straight out of the sea. So we pull it out, gut it, someone has a lemon and eat it right there
16:03on the beach. Yeah. So today we are going to do fish, but we're going to do smoked fish. So this is
16:10Mike's smoked fish pate with pickled cucumbers and other vegetables. So this is the sort of dish that you can
16:16make up when you've got a moment, because I know you're busy and it's so much better than all those chips and
16:21rubbish that's in that pantry. Yeah, yeah. Goody? Yeah. And it's delicious. Start by getting the pickle
16:27underway. In a pot, combine cider vinegar and water, add fennel, coriander and mustard seeds, peppercorns,
16:35bay leaves, garlic, a touch of sugar and salt, and a chilli to add a little kick. So this is your basic
16:43pickling mix. You can pickle anything you want in this. Today we're going to pickle celery, we're going to
16:48pickle cucumbers, we're going to pickle carrots. Bring the pickling mixture to a boil and prep your veg
16:53into dippable battens. Okay, so this pickling mix is now boiling. Okay. So that means that all the sugar
17:00that's in there is dissolved and we pour this over the top of our carrots. The carrots can sit in the hot
17:09liquid to soften them slightly and the celery and cucumber will be added once it's cooled. Remove the skin
17:15from the smoked fish and cut the crusts off two slices of wholemeal bread. Pour a little milk over
17:20the bread to soak it. Put the smoked fish and soaked bread plus some roasted garlic and juice of a lemon
17:26in a blender and blitz. And away it goes. So this is just canola oil along with the breads. It just helps to soften it,
17:37enables you to be able to scoop things out of it. It's in. Okay, this is done. Add that pepper in and that's it, done.
17:48Serve the dip on a platter with the pickled veggies, a sprinkling of parsley and pumpkin seeds.
17:53Gives us a little bit of crunch. Some lemon zest and toasted wholemeal pita pocket wedges.
18:00Doesn't that look pretty? Yeah, it does. Fish pate, pickled veggies.
18:06Hello. Hey. Hello. Hello, hello. Look what we have got here. What have you got for us? We have got some smoked fish pate, pickled veggies,
18:16and some toasted pita pockets. Little fork, little fork. Yeah. Very yummy.
18:23I'll just dip, I'll just dip. Yeah, I know what it tastes like. I know what it tastes like. There we go.
18:29That is really nice. Isn't it? Yes. Very healthy. What do you reckon, Felicity?
18:35Mm. Tasty, fresh, and a great way to get the family munching on extra veg, this pate is here to stay.
18:44Coming up, can Ganesh deliver a family favourite with a fraction of the salt?
18:48Is there such a version, this healthy version? There is. Thank you for asking.
18:52We're in Massey, West Auckland with the Valupume'e family, and Mum Sane is whipping up some corned beef with a swapped out option.
19:06Almost ready. Gonna have a taste very soon and see how this corned beef is, eh?
19:14Are you ready to have a go? Okay.
19:16This one's close to their hearts. Could be a hard sell. That's nice.
19:24Do you like it? Felicity, I think I preferred my old one. Yeah, my Pacific.
19:29Why? Um, because I'm missing the fat.
19:34This brand is indeed significantly lower in fat than Sane's usual brand.
19:39I wonder how much this one costs. If it's less, shall we go and go for that one?
19:44But if it's more, stay with the Pacific corned beef. Okay.
19:49Do you think you'll get used to this?
19:51It's just less fat. That's the only thing I'm missing. Apart from them, I can get used to it.
19:57If Sane can get used to it, she'll get the health benefits of a lower fat product and a decent saving to boot.
20:08Choosing products with lower fat, sugar or sodium is easy once you're in the habit of checking nutritional
20:13labels. But for many of us, it's a bit like reading a foreign language.
20:19Nutritionist Amanda Bryan is here to translate.
20:22So nutritional labels have been a bit of a mystery for our families, haven't they?
20:25Yes, they have.
20:26So why is it so important to understand them?
20:29Food labels can be really complicated, but they're super important so we actually know what ingredients are in our food.
20:35So when most of us are choosing foods at the supermarket, we have a look at the front of a package,
20:40all the pretty marketing, the pictures, the food claims, but actually to find out what's really going
20:46on in the food, have a look at the nutrition information panel and the ingredients list.
20:51For example, a product like a packet of marshmallows might have a claim on the front that says fat-free.
20:59And that gives what we call a health halo. So we can think, oh cool, this is healthy, low fat,
21:04I can eat more of it. But actually when you turn over the back of the packet, the main ingredient is
21:09sugar. It can be quite overwhelming, all of this nutrition information. So I'm going to take you through
21:15it and give you a few tips and tricks. So we've got oats and we've got chocolate biscuits.
21:20I want you to just try and focus in on the per 100 gram column. So what that does is it breaks
21:26everything down into a percentage and that means we can compare products with similar products.
21:31And out of all of the nutrients on here, the ones we're wanting to look out for in particular
21:36are the saturated fat, the sugars and the sodium. When we have too much of these things in our diet,
21:42it can be harmful to our health. But it's not just looking for things that are low in nutrition,
21:48we want to look for things that have some other benefits. So another one to look out for,
21:52dietary fibre. So foods that are high in dietary fibre help to keep us full for longer. They're
21:58really great for our bowels, our digestive system, keeping them running well. So with our oats,
22:04the ingredients list is pretty short. There's just oats there. So not a lot of processing has gone on.
22:11But if we have a look at the chocolate biscuits here, 15% saturated fat. Then for the sugars,
22:17it's 44.8% in one biscuit. And so if we put those two numbers together, that's about 70% of fat and
22:25sugar. So it means there's just not really a lot of room for other nutrition in these biscuits here.
22:30You'll also notice the length of the ingredients list here as well, and some of those unfamiliar names.
22:37That's a good indicator that there's been a lot of processing that's gone on in this food as well.
22:41So the less label reading we need to do, so choosing whole foods like fruit, vegetables,
22:46meat, grains, the better it is for our diets.
22:51Armed with loads of that fresh produce we should all be eating more of, Ganesh has a recipe for the
22:56Pacific classic chop suey, with some little tweaks to cut down the salt and amp up the veg.
23:01So this is like a healthier version of a favourite, chop suey. Do you eat chop suey love?
23:07I do, but is there such a version, this healthy version?
23:10There is, thank you for asking.
23:12All right, well I'm keen to see.
23:13Because now I can show you.
23:14Okay.
23:15This recipe uses chicken thighs, which are marinated in coconut milk, garlic powder,
23:19a touch of soy and some black pepper. Combine well and set aside for the flavours to work their magic.
23:26Cover vermicelli noodles with boiling water to soften and prep Chinese cabbage, onion and garlic.
23:32So I'll just smash a bit of garlic.
23:35Once the chicken thighs have had a chance to marinate, get them cooking in a hot pan.
23:40You're looking for a nice caramelisation on the outside.
23:43What do you reckon?
23:44Yes, it's looking good.
23:47There we go.
23:49Set the chicken aside and it's time to pack this chop suey with some veg.
23:53The best thing about frozen veg is you can have it all year round.
23:57Right.
23:57Yep.
23:58Ready?
23:58See the smoke coming out.
23:59Wow.
24:00Start with frying onions, garlic and mixed frozen veg.
24:04There's heaps of veggies.
24:06You said it.
24:08You said it.
24:08That's what we're going to do.
24:10Get heaps of veggies into your diet.
24:11Add in Chinese cabbage and saute.
24:15I love doing it like that.
24:16It's not a chop suey without soy sauce, but this recipe uses just a quarter of the amount
24:21that Sanae usually puts in and we're also going for a reduced salt option too.
24:25A little bit less salt, but it's still got that flavour of soy that you guys love.
24:29So it's familiar, but healthier.
24:31Yeah.
24:33Then it's oyster sauce, white vinegar, Chinese cooking wine and sesame oil.
24:38So let's put the noodles in.
24:40In go the drained noodles and the resting juices from the chicken.
24:43We give it a good old-fashioned mix.
24:49So that's ready.
24:50All we got to do now, chop up some of the chicken, mix it through and we're ready to serve.
24:55Okay.
24:57Shall we?
24:58Yes.
24:58Shall we?
24:59We shall.
25:03Does that look good?
25:04That's very good.
25:05It does, right?
25:06My favourite part is always stir.
25:08You know what I mean?
25:09Because it's like, I feel like this is the love bit.
25:11The pampering bit.
25:12The pampering bit, right?
25:14So we'll put some of it on a plate, right, for everyone.
25:17Yeah.
25:17A little bit of spring onions.
25:18Do you love spring onions?
25:19Yes, I do.
25:19And a bit of lime on the side.
25:21Nice.
25:21Right?
25:21Squeeze it over the top.
25:23A little more love.
25:24More love.
25:25More love.
25:25It's a bold move tweaking the recipe for a family favourite.
25:29Time to see if Ganesha's healthier chop suey passes muster with Felicity and Sane.
25:34Thank you, Mr. G. Look at that.
25:38Look at this.
25:38Felicity, does that look familiar?
25:40Yeah.
25:41What is it?
25:42What is it?
25:43Sapa suey.
25:44Sapa suey?
25:45Yes.
25:45Sapa suey.
25:47Felicity and Holly's for Amy.
25:50Lime.
25:51So you poke it, poke it like we did.
25:53Yeah.
25:53Go up and then that allows you to do this.
25:55And then you can...
25:56Squeeze.
25:57Oh.
25:57Yeah, you see that?
25:58That's a trick.
26:01Lovely chicken.
26:04Yeah.
26:06Nice.
26:06We got a nice.
26:07We got a nice.
26:08Nice is good.
26:09I'll take a nice.
26:10What do you think, Sane?
26:11Delicious.
26:15Yum.
26:15I'm so glad you love it.
26:17More veggies, less soy, less noodles, more chicken, so more protein.
26:22And there was so much left over, right?
26:24You've got enough in the pan for a whole nother round.
26:29All that and coming in at just $5.30 a serve.
26:32That's a super chop suey.
26:36A big ticket item in the family shop are Felicity's cookies.
26:40So we've done a switcheroo to see if she can get on board with a more affordable option
26:44for her sweet treat fix.
26:46Are you ready to taste some new cookies, Felicity?
26:49Yep.
26:50Have a look at it.
26:51Does it look like the normal one we usually, mommy usually buys?
26:54The cookie time.
26:55Yeah?
26:55Does it look like it?
26:57Well, let's have a taste, eh?
27:03How's this cookie gonna crumble?
27:06Not bad.
27:07It's not bad?
27:08Will you miss the cookie time if mommy swaps these ones?
27:12Yes.
27:13I like this one, but maybe on my birthday or Christmas, I could have a little treat.
27:19I can.
27:19Yeah, but I think we have a deal.
27:21Shaking.
27:23If Felicity can make the switch to this brand, she'll save her mum some serious cash on the
27:28weekly shop and still get a little cookie treat in her lunchbox.
27:32I'd call that a win-win.
27:35Coming up, which vanilla ice cream gets this frosty response in our taste test?
27:39Bland's a polite word for it.
27:48We're back in West Auckland with the Valopume Es, an active family who could be doing much
27:53better on the diet front, especially with veggies.
27:56Like many Pacific Island families, they enjoy a taste of home with root vegetables like cassava
28:02and taro, but just how much of these should we be loading onto the plate?
28:06Dietitian Mafi Funaki Taifote has the answers.
28:09Mafi, let's get to the root of these root vegetables.
28:14That was for you.
28:15But seriously, they're a lot more interesting than people know, aren't they?
28:19Yeah, definitely.
28:20We've got taro, we've got kumura, we've got cassava, we've got potatoes.
28:25These are root vegetables that go into the ground and they absorb all the nutrients that the soil
28:32has to offer.
28:33So therefore, they are great powerhouses for minerals such as potassium.
28:38They're quite high in them.
28:39But they've also got vitamins, vitamin C, the colourful orange colour of kumura.
28:46That gives us an indication that they are rich in vitamin A, good for our eyes, looking in the dark.
28:52As well as that, they're yummy to eat.
28:55But though they're yummy, we should be understanding that they are vegetables, but they are the starchy
29:02vegetables.
29:03They're eaten more as similar to the other types of carbohydrates.
29:09Would that then translate into what you put onto your plate?
29:12Because you should really only have a quarter carbohydrate, a quarter protein, and a half veggies.
29:19But I think a lot of people are doing it the other way.
29:22Half of their plate are filled up with all the root vegetables, and then it's the small quarter,
29:28Michael, the colourful green, orange, red that should be on plate.
29:34We should look at our plates and go, wow, beautiful.
29:37Highly.
29:38What are the health implications of eating too many starchy carbs?
29:41Health implications include things like diabetes.
29:45For example, we've got cassava, taro, kumura, potatoes.
29:50When we actually have those foods, our system actually breaks them down into sugars.
29:57And we do need sugars because it gives us energy, but having too much of those, it could lead to
30:03complications such as heart disease, but there's also other health implications such as if you have
30:09too much of them, the body will store them and give us a bigger body size, makes us heavier, and therefore
30:20not good for the heart when it does have to serve a bigger body.
30:22We do need them, but in smaller amounts to this side.
30:27The food swaps continue at the Valupume'e home, and this one is a little sweet treat that the family love,
30:34their mint choc chip ice cream cones.
30:36We've swapped them out for a supermarket-owned brand.
30:39What will the ladies make of their new sweet treat?
30:42Chopped mint.
30:43Chopped mint.
30:44Ah, it's all chopped mint.
30:50Minty.
30:52Do you like it?
30:53I think it kind of tastes the same, huh, with the ones that we usually buy.
30:56Yeah, I'd say it tastes very similar to trumpeter.
31:00I like it.
31:01Do you like it, dear?
31:02Yeah.
31:02Would you buy this again?
31:03Yes, I think so.
31:04I like it.
31:05Do you guys like it?
31:07Me and dear say yes.
31:08We usually get the trumpets, because me and dear's favourite is the chocolate at the bottom.
31:12Yeah.
31:13And this one has it as well.
31:15Yeah, I'd buy it again.
31:16This mint choc cone is not only a hit with the family,
31:19but will help them scoop up some savings on their weekly grocery bill.
31:27Kiwis are up there with the biggest ice cream eaters in the world,
31:29with each of us eating an average of 23 litres a year.
31:33Today we're putting vanilla ice cream to the test with the help of the New Zealand Defence Force,
31:37who are more than up for the task.
31:39As long as it's still creamy and has a hint of vanilla, it'll be good.
31:42Today our tasters will be testing a Kiwi classic, Tip Top French Vanilla,
31:47the cheapest of the bunch Countdown Own Brand Creamy Vanilla,
31:51Kapiti Vanilla Bean, a reduced fat offering from Zilch,
31:55and finally Lewis Road Creamery Madagascan Vanilla.
31:59All right guys, let's do this.
32:01They've been exercising up an appetite, so let the testing begin.
32:05First up is Zilch, the only reduced fat option.
32:08I don't really like it, but it's okay.
32:12I'm not really tasting it, am I right? It just tastes like cream, like a bit icy here.
32:18Bit of a frosty start. What will they think of Kapiti Vanilla Bean?
32:22It's pretty, um, vanilla-y, is that the word? Vanilla-y?
32:27Vanilla-y.
32:28Vanilla-y.
32:29As far as vanilla goes, this is probably pretty vanilla-y.
32:33High praise indeed.
32:34Will the Countdown Own Brand melt the rest of the competition?
32:37All right, let's get into it.
32:38Let's get into it.
32:44Feels like a family ice cream.
32:46Yeah.
32:46Well, I mean, if it's Tip Top, then it's family ice cream, you know.
32:49So they think that one's Tip Top.
32:52Wonder what they'll think of the real Tip Top French vanilla they're about to try.
32:56Definitely a lot sweeter than the others.
32:58It looks more yellow than the other ones, no black specks in there.
33:01I reckon it's just the French vanilla, yeah.
33:04It's like vanilla essence, like the actual vanilla flavouring you put in, like, your cupcakes.
33:09I don't like it.
33:11And finally, the vanilla from Lewis Road Creamery.
33:14Can this one leave the rest out in the cold?
33:16This one.
33:17This one.
33:17Mmm.
33:18Tastes milkier.
33:19Mmm.
33:20I don't taste vanilla.
33:20Definitely tastes the milk in it.
33:21I don't taste vanilla.
33:22Yeah.
33:24Glan's a polite word for it.
33:27So which ice cream will freeze out the rest?
33:30The winner is Carpeti Vanilla Bean.
33:32Showing that paying a bit more can give you the flavour hit you love.
33:35But with the cheaper options coming in second, those more affordable ice creams are worth a try too.
33:40Back in the kitchen, and with the family more familiar with spaghetti from a can,
33:48Mike has a spaghetti bolognese recipe for them to try.
33:50But this one's from scratch and packed with hidden veg.
33:54Today we're making Mike's veggie-packed spaghetti bolognese.
33:58Mmm.
33:59Sounds good?
33:59That's great.
34:00And we're cooking with mince.
34:02Okay.
34:02Oh, mince.
34:03We've never cooked with mince before.
34:04No.
34:06All right.
34:06We've never done this trip either.
34:08Challenge accepted.
34:09Okay.
34:09Okay.
34:10So first, we'll start off with cutting up our veggies.
34:14We normally don't have this many.
34:15Quite unusual for us.
34:17We have a lot of veggies in our meals, but...
34:19And I don't think we've ever cooked spaghetti bolognese.
34:22No.
34:22I think the only spaghetti we have is spaghetti in a can.
34:26This bag bowl is supercharged with veg.
34:29Sana and Luena get started chopping cauliflower, eggplant, garlic and onions.
34:34It'll be nice to have some flavour in there that's not salt.
34:38Just give that a little stir around.
34:41Sauté onions and garlic till soft and add the mince to brown.
34:44Add in the prepped cauliflower and eggplant, along with grated carrot, kumara, pumpkin and courgette.
34:53Ooh.
34:56The oregano.
34:57Just a tablespoon.
34:58See when?
34:58Yep.
34:59I think that's a tablespoon.
35:00Tomato puree.
35:01Three.
35:02One.
35:02Two.
35:03Two.
35:04Three.
35:05And four.
35:06Okay.
35:07A whole can of crushed tomatoes.
35:10Tomatoes.
35:11Pour that whole thing in.
35:12You said tomatoes, I said tomatoes.
35:14Yeah, tomatoes, tomatoes, tomato, tomato.
35:17Now that everything's in, tip the bolognese into a casserole dish.
35:21Wow, that's a meal for two days.
35:23Yeah.
35:24Finishing the bolognese in the oven develops the flavour and leaves you free to do other things while it cooks.
35:30Done.
35:30Nice work.
35:31Nice work.
35:31First time cooking mince.
35:34After an hour, you'll have a beautiful bolognese ready to serve on some wholemeal spaghetti.
35:39Christ the Lord.
35:39Amen.
35:40Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
35:41Amen.
35:42And then we have some parmesan cheese here.
35:45What'd you put in that?
35:46Oh, a lot of veggies.
35:48Yeah, tons.
35:50Pumpkin, carrots.
35:51Pumpkin, carrot, courgette, eggplant.
35:55Mmm.
35:55Let's dig in.
35:56Smells nice.
36:00Do you like it?
36:02This is nice.
36:03It's nice to have something different.
36:04Mints.
36:05Some different meats, yeah.
36:06Easy to make, cheap meal, and healthy.
36:13All right.
36:14Coming up, as the savings are revealed, just how big will the numbers be?
36:19I'd love to save that much money.
36:27After a week of new recipes...
36:29Don't they look pretty?
36:30Yeah, it does.
36:31Swap favourites and a whole lot of extra veggies.
36:34There's heaps of veggies.
36:36You said it.
36:37Mike and Ganesh are heading back to the Valupume'e home to see if the family are committed to making the changes stick.
36:43All right.
36:44What do you reckon?
36:45I reckon they're going to go well, but you know, they love their brands.
36:48They do.
36:49And all those vegetables.
36:50Especially the bolognese.
36:52How are they going to go with that?
36:53Part of me feels like they're going to kill it.
36:55I think they're up for it.
36:56Cool.
36:57How are you?
36:58We're great.
36:59I'm good.
37:00So, big week?
37:01Yes.
37:01Very big week.
37:02Very big because it's been so different from our normal weeks.
37:07Tell me, what's been different?
37:08Eating habits.
37:09Yeah.
37:09What goes into our stomach.
37:11Yeah.
37:11What about the recipes that you've been trying?
37:13My favourite was definitely your smoked fish pate.
37:16Oh, lovely.
37:17I loved all of it.
37:19I'm happy that I've got a few recipes that I can make meals daily for the kids now.
37:23And do you feel better for it?
37:25Oh, definitely.
37:26I've eaten smaller portions.
37:29More veggies, less meat.
37:31And I feel more energetic.
37:33I feel like I'm, like, alive.
37:35Content.
37:35I have a lot of energy.
37:36Yeah.
37:37With the amount of eating.
37:37One week.
37:38Amazing, eh?
37:39Shall we do it?
37:41Oh.
37:42Let's have a look at them.
37:45This one is for you, Lo.
37:46Okay.
37:47Because do you remember when you were shopping,
37:50we came across a pack of nuts.
37:53Mm.
37:56Yeah.
37:57Tastes good.
37:59Did we swap them?
38:01I believe you guys did.
38:03Just because I didn't see my normal nuts in there.
38:07Okay.
38:08Yeah.
38:08And what were your normal nuts?
38:09What?
38:09We're missing out of the swap.
38:10Almonds, cashews.
38:13I'm not sure why.
38:14No, it is.
38:15She's watching.
38:15Did we swap?
38:16She's watching.
38:17We did, in fact, swap.
38:20Oh, I see.
38:22These are nuts.
38:24This is like a choc nut mix.
38:26Yes.
38:26Did you like it?
38:27I did.
38:28I loved it.
38:29It's a good start.
38:30I did say that I would get this if it was cheaper than my normal option.
38:35Hold it.
38:35Do, do, do.
38:36Do, do.
38:37For the same weight and the same amount of fruity, nutty things, you would save.
38:42Oh, my gosh.
38:44This much.
38:45For the same weight as well.
38:46Yeah.
38:48I'd love to save that much money.
38:49Amazing.
38:50So it's a keeper?
38:50Wow.
38:51A keeper, definitely.
38:52A keeper?
38:52All right.
38:53So, what did we think of the pineapples?
38:58Ooh.
39:00Yummy.
39:01Yes, I'd buy it again.
39:02And again and again.
39:04Very nice.
39:05Just tasted exactly the same as a brand that I usually get.
39:10It was a swap.
39:11Oh, wow.
39:11Oh.
39:12But the best part is this stuff is in its own juice, not that syrup.
39:17Not the syrup one.
39:18Oh, okay.
39:18So you were already cutting your sugar way down just by doing that.
39:23Yeah.
39:23By the way, there's more.
39:24You're also going to save.
39:26Oh, no way.
39:27It's a little bit.
39:28So what do you reckon?
39:29Swap?
39:29Oh, definitely.
39:30All right.
39:33Oh, is it me again?
39:34This one is close to the heart, team.
39:36Oh, close to the heart.
39:37Close to the heart.
39:37Close to me.
39:38Corned beef.
39:41It's nice.
39:42I like it, but I can taste the difference.
39:46It has less fat in it.
39:47Yes.
39:48So do you think it was a swap?
39:52Yes.
39:52Well, guess what?
39:53It was a swap.
39:54Oh, what?
39:56So this one is a supermarket-owned brand, and it has almost half the amount of fat.
40:01Oh, wow.
40:02The savings.
40:03Look at that.
40:03Oh.
40:04Oh, toodles, 80.
40:05Oh, wow.
40:07So is that a swap?
40:09Definitely a swap.
40:10Yep.
40:11Swap.
40:11Fit-wise, taste-wise, and price-wise.
40:13Mm-hmm.
40:14Perfect.
40:14It's a good combo, isn't it?
40:16I love it.
40:17Okay, next swap.
40:19What did we think of our choc-mint ice creams?
40:25Mm.
40:27Very nice.
40:28Yeah, I'd buy it again.
40:30I loved it.
40:32Yeah.
40:32It didn't taste any...
40:34No chance.
40:35I could taste the difference.
40:36You could.
40:37I could.
40:38But it was just as good.
40:40In fact, we did swap them.
40:42And we swapped them for these guys.
40:45Supermarket-owned brand.
40:46No.
40:46Same amount in this packet as what you had previously.
40:49Yeah.
40:50Flavor-wise, okay?
40:51Yeah.
40:52Taste-wise, okay?
40:52Yeah.
40:54Wow, okay, yeah.
40:55$2.50.
40:56That's pretty good.
40:58One a week, $2.50.
40:59It all adds up.
41:00That's right, yeah.
41:01Swapping?
41:02Yes.
41:03Swapping.
41:04Check.
41:04Good swap.
41:05Good swap.
41:06Oh, hello.
41:07Do you remember the, uh...
41:09What was this big that was sitting on the table?
41:12Oh, the cookie!
41:12Oh, the cookie time!
41:14Cookie time!
41:15Nice!
41:19It's not bad.
41:20Not bad.
41:21Not bad.
41:22What did Felicity think of them?
41:23Uh, she didn't like it as much, but she was happy for me to swap it.
41:28So with this, $9 per pack.
41:32Mm.
41:33So is that about $500 a year in savings?
41:35Pretty much.
41:36Pretty much.
41:36On biscuits.
41:37On just saving.
41:38What do you reckon?
41:39Swap?
41:39Swap, definitely.
41:40No brainer, right?
41:41Yeah.
41:41No brainer.
41:43I think out of all the swaps we've done, that was probably one of the best.
41:47Yeah.
41:47That's a big number.
41:48I love that number.
41:49When you can save that much.
41:51So team, you remember your total spend, including your takeaways, was $508 per week,
41:57which was $26,500 a year on food.
42:01Three people.
42:02Yeah.
42:03However, with our swaps, and you enjoyed them all, didn't you?
42:07Mm-hmm.
42:08Cutting your takeaways down to maybe once a week.
42:11Yep.
42:12And cutting the treats out to just these guys here, maybe, as a treat once a week,
42:19we've managed to save you $137 a week.
42:22Oh, wow.
42:23That's helpful.
42:24So that's a total of $7,126 a year.
42:29Wow.
42:30It adds up, doesn't it?
42:32Mm.
42:33I mean, what could you do with that?
42:34A lot of things.
42:35A lot of things.
42:36Yeah.
42:36We haven't been on a family vacation in a while.
42:38No.
42:40That'd be nice.
42:40Pay some overdue bills.
42:43Don't we all have them?
42:44Yeah.
42:45Yeah, we've introduced a lot of vegetables into your diet, into your daily meals,
42:50and we've cut a lot of the fat out.
42:52And the sugar.
42:53And the salt.
42:54And so, yes, you've got money on one hand, but you've got the health on the other.
42:58I feel like you guys are ready for it.
43:00We are more than ready.
43:01I'm so ready for, you know, I've been waiting for mum to make this change,
43:05and it's finally here.
43:07I'm excited to see where we go from here.
43:09I'm glad that we did it together, because I think we'll stick to the changes.
43:14Yeah, and we all learnt together.
43:16We went through it together as well, and we'll stick to it.
43:21I think they went well, huh?
43:22Nice to meet you.
43:23Do you guys want a sandwich?
43:25Ooh.
43:26Thank you, young lady.
43:27Thank you very much.
43:28Bye.
43:29Bye.
43:29Not sure what they are, though, huh?
43:31What is it?
43:32All right, Nutella and egg?
43:33Yeah, it's strangely normal.
43:36Oh, my God, this is delicious.
43:38It's like a panna chocolate with an egg inside it.
43:42Oh, my goodness, Nutella and egg.
43:44Who knew, eh?
43:45I might cook it up for the kids.
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