Stephen Blackburn, Community Dietitian, RDE Exeter, writes in this week's Community Education Column

The recently-published National Food Strategy addresses what it describes as the things wrong with our food system, concluding that it is doing terrible damage to our planet and health.

The report makes several recommendations to create a healthier population and protect the environment, including buying food that should meet expected standards on health, environment, and animal welfare. It also suggests we eat 30% more fruit and veg, 50% more fibre, 30% less meat, and 25% less HFSS (high fat sugar salt) foods to help achieve this.

The report states that bad diets are much cheaper than healthy ones, but is all cheap food unhealthy and damaging to the environment? What changes could we make to our diet if we want to help the planet and eat a healthy and sustainable diet?

This report was published during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many people had lost their jobs and/or were using food banks, so it’s a fair point that simply affording food at all is a priority. But the good news is that there are options when trying to make dietary changes on a restricted budget. All supermarkets have daily fruit and veg promotions, and local independent food shops and markets often have comparable prices. Buying seasonal UK produce means food miles are likely lower, and eating more fruit and veg means you are eating more fibre, a food group naturally lower in calories than many other foods. High-fibre carbohydrate foods, such as brown rice, whole grain pasta, granary bread, potatoes, and oats, are inexpensive, have a long shelf life, and are less likely to have been transported by aeroplane. Plus, they supply your body with energy and a good variety of vitamins and minerals, and should form part of a balanced diet.

HFSS foods include crisps, pizza, and ice cream, and some will be available on tempting price promotions. The £2 special offer on a pizza might seem irresistible, but it’s high in salt and saturated fat, both linked to poor health if eaten excessively, plus high in calories, and studies have shown that food miles of the ingredients could exceed 20,000. These are referred to as ‘occasional foods’ for a reason!

While meat is a good protein source, it’s also expensive, low in fibre, higher in saturates, and is associated with higher greenhouse gas emissions, and animal welfare standards will vary depending on the source. By consuming other protein sources a bit more often, such as beans and lentils, you will save money and they tend to be much lower calorie foods too.

You may think you lack the time to cook, or are too tired after a long day, but this doesn’t mean you have to live off expensive convenience food. Build a small repertoire of quick and cheap recipes that are achievable on most days and can be cooked in a batch. If you have kids, encourage them to get involved as well. Evidence shows that people who plan ahead with food shopping and meals tend to eat more healthily and sustainably, and are less likely to over buy and waste food. The more you cook, the more it will become your normal, and you are likely to enjoy your food more, eat more healthily, and make savings. Plus you get to keep your eye on the sustainability ball.

So, is there a problem with cheap food? Well, to rephrase that, is there a problem with affordable food? The answer is ‘No’. It is essential to our standards of living that we can afford to feed ourselves, and while hidden environmental and animal welfare costs are most effectively addressed at government level, we can all do our bit for sustainability within reason. The long-term shift in our food culture that the report wants to see is achievable, and we can all play our part with small, realistic steps.