The problem for me is that I can't work out who will cook these new Delia recipes. Eitehr you like cooking or you don't. or you have time or you don't.

If i didn't have the time or the inclination to cook a cottage pie from scratch, why would I want to make one using pre-prepared ingredients? Why not just buy a cottage pie ready meal? If I'm going to bother opening tins, mixing stuff up in a saucepan, I may as well just cook the thing from real ingredients..

I'm not snobbish about pre-prepared ingredients and microwave meals. We always have a few in the freezer for those evenings when we're in a hurry or just can't be bothered. But if we're in cooking mood, and have enough time, there seems little to be gained by not doing it properly.

Peter Greenley, Hemel Hempstead, UK

Delia-bashing is just the latest piece of evidence that the Left has lost touch with the masses--and does not even want to be in touch with them.

This is the result of decades of political vanguardism. A Green I used to know well once sneered, "the problem with the common people is....that they're so common." This same fellow loved to call himself a "flaming liberal."

The masses don't necessarily love the Right, but they will pay attention to anyone who pays attention to them.

Tikhon Gilson, Lakewood, Washington

I must applaud Delia for what she's doing, showing those people who don't let food rule their lives, how to create some good, wholesome meals without all the laborious preparation and fancy ingredients.

Good on you Delia!

Steve, Warwick,

My Mum used to say that life was too short to spend stuffing a pepper - I would add that its also too short to spend paying a pound for an organic tomato.

Steven, Sydney,

It woud require even less effort to attach yourself to a drip - you wont even have to chew your food any longer.
It is because we are such lazy creatures that our planet is going to the dogs. All the sensible things take more time and effort, especially the physical exercise that used to banish the love handles.

Esther Phillips, Leatherhead,

I haven,t read the book or seen her program,as it only got one recipe in it as all her critics have only attacked her use of mashed potato and tinned mince.Or have they not read it?

Steve Riley, Puerto Del Carmen, LANZAROTE

A lot of comments have stated that fresh food is cheaper than frozen or tinned. We often come to Great Britain and cook our own meals, but I find fresh vegetables a lot more expensive than frozen or tinned., so we tend to eat a lot of frozen vegetables. I wonder what is wrong with that, as many nutritionists tell us that there is no difference in vitamin content. As to making your own mash, I would say that thawing a frozen packet is a lot less work than making it from scratch. With food prices as high as they are in Britain it would be very difficult for average earners to feed their families on organic food, they would probably starve on the amount that their budget would allow them to buy.

Wilma Prince, Vossemeer, the Netherlands

I used to be a big fan of Delia, I used to watch all her shows and I have a few of her books. After hearing all the hype I thought I'd watch the new show. I lasted 10 minutes before i switched off. It was horrid. Delai herself has often said that cooking is part about the food, part about the preparation. Now she's decided to throw all that out of the window and pander to those who can't be bothered to take the time to prepare food themselves.
And before you start, I'm not a snob, I'm a working class Yorkshireman who simply likes good honest food, and I like to know where it comes from.

Trevor, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

I love the way "pan-fried" has crept into the vernacular to add cachet (and a couple of quid) to items on the menu. If it isn't deep-fried, I'd always assumed it was fried in a pan. Have other people been using their vacuum cleaners to prepare fish-fingers?

What next? Saucepan-boiled potatoes? Grill-grilled bacon?

Simon, Brussels,

The cheapest way to cook is from fresh ingredients; tinned food rarely works out cheaper , especially with vegetables.
I bought "How to Cheat at Cooking" in 1975 as an impoverished student who liked eating - and wasn't impressed, barely used it. I then bought Jocasta Innes' "The Paupers Cookbook" and at college & beyond (I still use it it!) fed myself & my boyfriend on £4 (or was it £8 p. week) :varied, delicious. It included 1 major meat purchase eg chicken, gammon which one turned into 3 or 4 meals for 2 - Ok it 's a while ago but included the odd bottle of wine....
A lot of families find feeding the family expensive because they no longer know how to cook fresh ingredients. Instead of this cop-out exepnsive solution, Delia's energies & considerable talent could be used in educating people how to do basic cooking, or reintroducing it into schools etc. She produced an excellent basic cookbook - "How to Boil an Egg" (?) many years ago - this would be the book to relaunch.

Anne Wiliams, Vaour, France

There's nothing wrong with quick easy meals as long as they are truely quick and truely easy.

if I wanted to make a pesto for instance, making one myself is just as quick as going down the road and buying a jar.

Now we have Delia telling us that we have to traipse round from one store to another to buy those quick and easy ingredients, sound a bit long winded to me, not to mention the unpleasant additives, food miles and the result of course which could not be better than using fresh ingredients

Charlie, Avignon, France

We can all trust Delia to judge the mood of the working nation.
This book and series is ideal for "real life" where food must appear day in day out to feed hungry families. I love it when i have more time. But mostly i don't! Great ideas from the Queen of Cookery.

Helen Warnock, Doncaster, South Yorkshire

For those defending Delia saying she is showing time squeezed familes how to cook cheaply, have a go at costing up one of her dishes.. to buy the 'premium' ingredients needed for a single recipe costs over £15... and the 'time-saving' is dubious, e.g. her 'cheat's risotto takes 40mins, a simple risotto from scratch can be knocked up in about 25 mins. The idea is a good one, but Delia has missed the mark badly.

Susie, Warwick, UK

Gemma from Liverpool:

Buying items such as frozen mashed potato and pre-cooked fish and pre-crisped bacon will cost a lot more than buying the fresh products as manufacturers seek to add value to their products by cooking or preparing the food for the customer.

Delia's latest direction annoys me a great deal. The frozen mashed potato she recommends is laden with salt and the tinned mince is packed with preservatives. How long does it really take to fry off some mince? Her recipes work out far more expensive, and probably just as unhealthy as buying a frozen ready meal.

Emily, Southampton,

Lazy food for lazy people! I can't believe all the people that say I haven't got time, or it's too expensive. Absolute rubbish! The quail egg and salmon pie which Delia rustled up for the masses was ridiculously expensive. The shepherds pie was far from a bargain as well. Why not buy a pack of mince and make a big enough meal to allow you to freeze portions. Yes you have to cook for half an hour one evening(oh the effort), but the next few times you want to eat this meal, it's in the freezer ready to be re-heated, but it hasn't got a load of processed rubbish in it. People are becoming increasingly lazy, and Delia is encouraging them.

Rob, Bristol, Avon

Why do we need permission from a "celebrity chef" (Delia) to eat tinned food? Surely the point of Chefs writing cook books is to show us how to cook their way (properly?). For those in a hurry, on a budget, lazy etc read the label.

Ant, Limousin, France

No - the liberal foodie who burnt the cookbooks is surely Alex Renton - here's his article: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/food/2008/03/delia_goes_to_the_dark_side.html
To be fair, he did later say he wished he had composted Delia instead.

Lulu234, Edinburgh, UK

Having read a copy of Delia's "How to Cheat at Cooking" book I would make the following observations:

Nowhere does she mention "packet mashed potato", only frozen. Though how much time and effort one saves by using frozen mash rather than making one's own is, to me, debateable. I wonder how much "Aunt Bessie" paid for the promotion.

I cannot see that she is promoting "cheap" food, surely buying and cooking ingredients is cheaper than buying prepared food?

I will cook many of the recipes but will, almost without exception, use fresh ingredients, if I have to go to M & S for something, Sainsbury for something else and Asda for a third item, and order stuff from several different websites, that makes it all rather time consuming to make one dish.

Delia has come up with a clever and profitable gimmick but certainly not cheap and time saving recipes.

However, if it starts getting people off their backsides and back into the kitchen it could well be a good thing.

Deejay, Reading, UK

I couldn't have put it better myself - great article. What's wrong with quick easy meals? She is advocating using the best of the pre-prepared ingredients in any case. The objections are all to do with snobbery. There is nothing wrong with good quality frozen tinned and packaged ingredients. Three cheers for Delia for talking common sense. If people don't like it why are they watching the series or buying the book?

JW, Boston, UK

In this day and age, there are many people living just above the 'bread line' and need to feed a family very cheaply. Well done Delia for atleast trying to make wedges and chicken nuggets a bit more exciting and healthy.

The one thing that Delia can never be forgiven for is of course Norwich City FC ;)

Norman Pitkin, London, UK

Well done Delia!!!
We are not all food snobs with all day to prepare food on an unlimited budget.

Alan Kidd, Perth, Scotland

She will outsell her critics ten to one and that is the basis of the fuss.
Would you belive it,our TV chefs have egos.

robert everitt, wolverhampton,

As a vegetarian I can state that chicken, cheap or otherwise, is not an essential.

ben foster, penley,

Delia is being realistic. Everyone wants their food to taste great but not everyone wants to spend hours cooking it. She shows people how to take the necessary shortcuts and she isn't snobbish. Good for her.

Albert Lampwick, UK,

Millions of people do not enjoy cooking at all. Of course it is nice to eat out now and then at a 'posh' restaurant but quite a lot of us just want fuelled fast and, if not as wealthy as those who patronise all the posh joints, cheaply. Delia is just pointing out how this can be done.

Bergman Coffey, Belfast,

I think the food writer you mean is Michael Booth. I'm just reading his book Sacre Cordon Bleu right now. It's very funny, even if you aren't a foodie, but he actually has an important point that we have all become lobotomised by TV cooks, and Delia's new book is the ultimate example of this. How about a cooking show for people who actually like to cook instead of all this 'open the packet and shove it down your gob' cooking?

Keith Fold, London, UK

Hurray for Delia,
Bored with the same old winter supply of carrots etc. I recently went against my 'principle' and tried a summer stew consisting of a frozen packet of mixed summer vegetables. It was extremely tasty ( low priced) and had the husband and kids lapping it up in delight!!
I will buy frozen again. In bulk this time!

R. Ince, Istanbul, Turkey

Sarah is right to some degree. It's all but unfathomable that anyone would buy ingredients for something as simple as shepherd's pie as anything other than raw and natural. No need for anything processed until you cook it yourself.

She is wrong, however, to suggest that processed foods are all packed with additives. For example, McCain are producing oven chips that are very low fat, very tasty and with nothing but potato and sunflower oil being used. Similarly, most frozen veg and fruit is additive-free, convenient and as good a fresh stuff when out of season.

And, of course, we walk into the difficulty of what additives are. Some may be less than wholesome, but processing food in the home involves putting many additives into the raw food we start with.

But Delia is right to have a pop at the food fascists, the drizzlers and pan-fryers, who seem to think that arranging small bits of barely edible gunk into a pretty pattern on a plate means they're providing good food.

Chris Palmer, Southampton, England

I would question the wisdom of someone with Delia Smith's influence advocating using packet mashed potato in cakes, tinned mince in shepherd's pie or basing an entire meal around frozen potato wedges - these things are packed with additives and it is not difficult or time-consuming to use their natural alternatives. However, many people simply don't know how to cook and Delia's programme will hopefully encourage people who lack confidence to knock together something approaching a decent meal. The whole things smacks of a TV producer somewhere needing desperately to find a new angle for Delia.

Sarah, London,

delia is great other celeb chefs need to realise were not all on a 500,000 a year and buget food is all some can afford.

gemma, liverpool,