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I do recognise that scenario, Oopsadaisy
I can remember my DD, then about 5, saying "Mummy needs a new dress, Daddy, she never buys anything for herself".
I will say that I wouldn't criticise anyone for buying a laptop - children have been struggling to do any schoolwork because of not having access to one recently.
I know that I’ll be shot down in flames for this, but ‘back in the day’ I was a young Mum living in a tower block, I had basic cookery lessons at school, but I had a library card and looked up cheap recipes of things to cook with very little money ie. breast of lamb, then sausage, minced meat etc. with fresh veg.
However, we did not have
A telephone
A car
A fridge or freezer
A television, just a battery transistor radio
No hair dos
All money for clothes went to the children ( because they grew so quickly)and DH for work clothing.
When I see a family who claim that they are unable to feed their children healthy meals (with the abundance of cookery books with 30 minute meals in them, plus shopping delivered to their door) for a reasonably low cost who also don’t have any electrical appliances, phones,computers , televisions or cars, then I will feel that it’s the Governments fault.
Until then it seems to be a matter of priorities and idleness.
I will now go back into my cupboard and put on my hard hat, ready to be told that ‘times have changed’.
If people had reasonably priced decent housing they'd have more to spend on decent, reasonably priced food.
As long as manufactured foods are filled out with cheap ingredients such as palm oil and corn syrup which cause obesity, people will buy them.
Many people, not just people who are poor.
Callistemon I am with you on cheap food. We are being programmed to want the lowest price for everything. Cheap food is very often poorly produced or comes with much lower welfare standards. We all need to rethink our priorities!
It is not just poverty though, is it. The problems are complex.
Many people were poor in times past but still managed to eat fresh food, although perhaps limited, because there was no junk food available.
We spent a higher proportion of our income on food then too.
This country spends a relatively small proportion of income on food and food is relatively cheap.
Housing is very expensive, both rented and owned and takes a disproportionate amount of income leaving less for food.
Fast food chains, food manufacturers are guilty of marketing foods full of sugars and unhealthy fats but which are cheap, easy and readily available. They are also helping to destroy the planet by their use of cheap palm oil.
Studies of aspartame have shown that it causes, not prevents, obesity.
It's not always a question of how much people eat - there may be links between some of the ingredients eg palm oil, corn syrup, in cheap, fast foods and the type of fat produced in the body. Corn syrup is far worse than sugar yet sugar has been labelled the evil ingredient.
Franbern thanks for that article. It is so true. I don't read posts about obesity so I haven't seen the other thread. It isn't a problem that is easily solved. But it is good to know that there are local councillors who fully understand the problem. Perhaps it will only be solved if the food industry chooses to manufacture food items which are low cost, nourishing, low calorie, filling and tasty, because unfortunately I can't see the Tory government we have for the next 4 years increasing benefits or dealing with poverty.
I pointed out on the other thread that anyone needing to use a food bank would have a more limited diet because food which is suitable for donation has to have a shelf life therefore is tinned and packeted food, not fresh.
This is an excellent article, says what I was trying to say much more eloquently.
If we stuck to one thread per subject GN would be very quiet.
Already a thread on this - Obesity and Poverty.
ARTICLE BY ONE OF MY LOCAL COUNCILLORS-
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Porridge and potatoes are being lauded by wealthy and privileged commentators and politicians as the answer to the country’s obesity crisis and food poverty problem.
People who actually know what it’s like to live with food poverty or work closely with those who do, have tried so hard for so long to make others understand what the real issues are but once again those with privilege are trying to make the debate one of personal responsibility.
I grew up in a poverty and this was most keenly felt around food.
My relationship with food was very much feast and famine depending on how close to pay day we were. Buying fresh fruit every week just wasn’t affordable.
The cost of eating healthily isn’t as simple as privileged people logging on to Tesco and pointing out how “cheap” fruit and veg is.
Sure, I can get cheap apples in season but apples aren’t going to fill up 4 people.
Five small apples costs around 80p and as a snack would last a day in my house with two children under the age of six.
Let’s not forget that as a minimum, we should all be eating 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. Throw in different coloured vegetables, a banana and an orange each day and you’ve easily spent a few pounds and no-one has even had a proper meal yet!
So it really rankles when privileged people think tackling food poverty and obesity is sneering about how much Pepsi and Pringles people buy.
Privilege isn’t just about family wealth. Privilege can be having your own transport, time to shop around and the knowledge and confidence to cook from scratch.
Having those things will help bring food bills down and give you better balanced meals but not everyone has that privilege.
If you want to tackle food poverty and obesity then you need to consider convenience, affordability and skills.
Give people the financial security, time and knowledge to shop/cook from scratch and they’ll do it. People aren’t eating chips and beans every day for the sake of it!
For example, I am privileged to no longer be in food poverty, to have my own transport, a stable modest income, and crucially the skills and confidence in the kitchen to cook from scratch.
So last night I made roast chicken with patatas bravas, baked feta and minted peas for 4 at a total cost of £8.21.
We have enough leftovers for dinner if I bulk it out with rice/veg for an additional 80p.
£9 for two dinners for four people. Sounds cheap, right?
Well for £9 I could buy enough beans, frozen chips, frozen veg, fish fingers/nuggets/sausages to feed 4 people dinner for 6 nights plus 2 packets of biscuits.
Nutritionally it wouldn’t be great but 4 people would be fed for almost a week on what I spent on two meals.
Cheap, calorie rich food is filling and people are feeding it to their children out of necessity.
Googling the price of fruit and vegetables to shame people is performative othering. It’s a way of saying to ordinary people that the issues we have aren’t structural but caused by a lack of individual responsibility. “THEY don’t buy fresh food because THEY are lazy and YOU are proof that THEY are lazy because YOU can cook and YOU don’t buy junk”.
I’m a very confident cook and I involve my children in my cooking so they can gain the knowledge and skills. Yet I know people from very privileged backgrounds who are unable to cook because they were never taught. They can afford Tesco finest dinner deals and Charlie Bigham’s ready meals and no-one criticises them for it. Yet the single parent working two jobs buying nuggets and chips is lazy and feckless.
These issues are often down to benefit cuts, freezes and sanctions, delays to universal credit, low and stagnant wages, zero hours contracts and insecure work.
Until the government and their commentators are willing to focus on the real causes of food poverty and obesity instead of labelling people as lazy and feckless they need to stay in their lanes.
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