Monday, March 19, 2007

Anyone for spag-bol?

According to the findings of a survey for Loyd Grossman sauces, the average household survives on just four staple dishes because that's all they can cook (presumably these dishes exclude bacon & eggs, cereal and beans on toast, although you never know). What's worse, it is estimated that spaghetti bolognese is cooked twice a week by 6.1 million people in Britain, which means that the average Briton eats 2,960 portions of spag-bol in a lifetime.

Considering the last time I ate spag-bol was in November 1993, does that mean that someone out there eats spag-bol four times a week, every week?!

I couldn't find a link to the actual survey, but thought this article by The Times was most interesting.

So, go on, tell us - how often do YOU eat spag-bol?

19 comments:

Margarita said...

Once per two or three weeks. But the sauce is never the same, the only recurring ingredients are the ground beef and the tomato puree..

Jim (Huan-Pu) Kuo said...

When living alone, four times a week, without the ground beef (meat saved for posh days only), just spaghetti + dolmio.

Erica said...

Being Italian, I should always be eating spag-bol, but it's such a cliche' in Italy. I prefer fettuccine o tagliatelle al ragu', which is basically the same thing, but with a different type of pasta :). The last time I ate spag-bol was about 3 years ago!

Erica said...

Tinsie, you must check this link:

http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/news/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=4335704

:)

angela said...

In defence of Spag Bol: I cook it once a fortnight and the week in between I turn it into lasagnes.
Everyone in my family likes it, the meat is fresh, cooked tomato is very good for you and the pasta is not actually bad for you....and at least it's not chips.
Honestly we could do worse!
Angela

Tinsie said...

@ Erica: OMG it's a never-ending saga!!

@ Angela: I wasn't knocking spag-bol as unhealthy, I was just surprised that people would eat it twice a week every week and not get bored of it! I agree it's way better than chips though, which apparently some people eat even more often than spag-bol (the mind boggles).

Gigi said...

I never eat it because I don't eat meat and I don't particularly like pasta either. But I make it about once every ten days for my children because it's quick and easy. On the other days, my eldest daughter makes herself pasta with various sauces every day - she loves it...:-)

Tinsie said...

I used to eat pasta all the time when I was younger - the sauce was always either carbonara, or plain tomato.
I don't know why, there's something about minced meat that means I can't cope with it. I think I've cooked mince maybe 5 times in all my life, if that.

angela said...

Tinsie, at university mince and cheap sausages were all I lived on. When I think about Mad Cow disease I shudder to think what I ingested.
Take your point about Spag Bol:)
Angela

Tinsie said...

One of the things that puts me off mince (and sausages to an extent) is that I can't see what's in them.

Betty Carlson said...

How depressing! I eat spag-bol about once a year and TRY to limit pasta meals to once a week, although sometimes they slip in twice...

Tinsie said...

As it happens we had pasta today: wholewheat fusilli, with sundried tomato & basil "stir and serve" sauce. Not sure it counts as cooking, but it was ready in less than 15 mins and tasted delish!
I really ought to have pasta more often.

Anonymous said...

Yum spag bol - I love the stuff, especially my mum's which has chicken livers in it (probably not an authentic recipe though). I've got a craving for it now and there's none left in my freezer.

Tinsie said...

Chicken livers?! OMG.

ShadowFalcon said...

Ok I know what I'm having for dinner now

ShadowFalcon said...

sushi!

Tinsie said...

Sushi sounds way more interesting than spag-bol ;-)

Karen said...

Tinsie--been cruising through your posts...this is the one that has stayed on my mind. Growing up, my dad made huge homemade pots of spag sauce and we would have what came to be known as Spaghetti Week. In college, it was a frequent meal because nobody could cook and everyone was broke. As a result I cannot even STAND to LOOK at a spag-bowl. Even thinking about eating it four times a week makes me nauseous.

Tinsie said...

Spaghetti week?! OMG that sounds positively scary. Not surprised you can't stand the stuff now ;-)