Does anyone else feel like we’re living like a dystopian novel?

How is a government going to produce a healthy, locally sourced, organic meal for £3? When one looks at school meals and hospital food, I have no faith that it’s an achievable aim.

Cheap food always means someone else pays for it, be it your local farmer, immigrants who harvest it for a pittance or families in developing countries who’ve had their small holdings bought over by big business.

Where does the £3 figure come from? I found an interesting article which reveals the cost of subsidised meals in the House of Commons, but it’s not £3.
nursingnotes.co.uk/news/nhs-staff-pay-around-twice-as-much-as-mps-for-food-at-work/

Casdon

Where does the £3 figure come from? I found an interesting article which reveals the cost of subsidised meals in the House of Commons, but it’s not £3.
nursingnotes.co.uk/news/nhs-staff-pay-around-twice-as-much-as-mps-for-food-at-work/

Telegraph 🙄

Norah

Perhaps the minimum wage should be raised, at less cost to taxpayers.

👍. But now of course business owners will cry “fowl” whilst happily being indirectly subsidised through benefits to the low wages by the government for not paying a proper living wage

Sorry, have not read all the posts.
This scheme might work better than food banks if it means children will be able to get a balanced meal every day, including in the school holidays.

And I really don't see why it needs to be organically sourced or organic so long as it is balanced and healthy.
I'm sure that there are families where no real home cooked food is produced, just the poor quality sausages, burgers and the very cheapest ready meals.

Sorry, meant to say "locally sourced or organic..."

Anything that improves the nutrition of people in this country will have a knock on ( and imo cost effective way) of improving overall health thus taking some of the strain away from the NHS.

Norah

Perhaps the minimum wage should be raised, at less cost to taxpayers.

Labour raised it not all that long ago.

cc

Sorry, have not read all the posts.
This scheme might work better than food banks if it means children will be able to get a balanced meal every day, including in the school holidays.

I don’t think it’s just for children.

Suppose it makes a change from the endless banging on about small boats.

How nice it is to be all smug about people who need these iniatives to cope.

Sounds good to me, happy for my tax to go towards it.

I am all for the state providing a safety net for those who find themselves through no fault of their own temporarily unemployed and/or homeless. It is after all the government of the days primary job is to take care of its citizens and keep them safe.

I would rather the money go to helping them into work and in providing affordable social housing, both of which are long term solutions not short term sticking plasters.

MayBee70

Anything that improves the nutrition of people in this country will have a knock on ( and imo cost effective way) of improving overall health thus taking some of the strain away from the NHS.

Yes just like a good early start in a child’s education, good nutrition will pay so many dividends to the country as a whole.

That is a shocking comparison of the price of food and drinks available to NHS staff with that available to the H of Parliament. That is surely part of a dystopian novel.

I would like to see the financial planning for these restaurants. I would like to see the evidence that these restaurants will break even.

Surely it would be cheaper still to give those who would benefit a packet of ingredients and the recipe and charge them £1.50 or £2.00. Even with cooking fuel it would be cheaper than having a restaurant and paying staff. It would help people to learn to cook and they could adapt the dishes they made from the ingredientsto suit their needs.

The government's plan sound like glorified school dinners. Do adults really want school dinners.

Will they take photos of all the paupers smiling and waving their spoons like residents in the workhouse?

Mmm, Snoek and Chips, Woolten Pie and hopefully some real bread? Bring it on. On second thoughts, skip the Snoek. I hear it wasn't very nice.

Why is it than when ever someone on here mentions the horrific costs of feeding a family these days - there will always be those who quickly come on to deplore the fact that
a) people actually have children they cannot afford to look after properly
b) If only all of those people learned to cook from basics all would be well.

a), it does need pointing out that people's circumstances change - sometimes quite quickly. The baby that was easily afforded five, ten plus years ago before an adult became unemployed /disabled/died - cannot now.

b) I wonder how many of those smug commentators actually make all their meals from basics themselves, and even when they do how many do so for months/years on end, always juggling budgets?

Until you have actually 'walked in the shoes' of those you moan about - I would suggest you stop the moaning.

I can remember British Restuarants. My Mother was seriously ill around the end of the war and my father found it difficult to look after a young child (me), For much of the time I was farmed out to relatives, but at weekends I would be at home with Dad and he would take me to the local British Restaurant - I can remember thinking it was great.

Excellent idea to bring something similar

Franbern I for one have always cooked from scratch and always cooked to a budget, especially when my children were young. it was just so much cheaper and not very time consuming.

I understand that some people may well be excellent cooks, but that only makes the plan of giving them the ingredients to get on with the cooking themselves more cogent. If my experience of school meals and hospital meals is anything to go by, cooking my own meals from donated ingredients would be much more pleasurable.

The ability of many caterers to turn perfectly good food stuffs into inedible food has always amazed me.

I see nothing bad in this. In my country the university canteens still sell full course meal for few euros and as the portions are not selling to students always, the local community got invited to come in for lunch or dinner and many lonely people or working people do. Instead packing sandwiches I had hot meal with soup , fruit for dessert and even a lemonade for 3 euros or less. Some lonely people could even purchase a beer from the cafe shop next to the canteen which was licensed.

When I first came here and was an aupair, I had a Salvation army canteen next to us and instead eating me aupair mum's food for free, had their food for a change

The government's plan sound like glorified school dinners. Do adults really want school dinner

Virtue Signalling Alert. Read no further if easily offended.

At the 2 centres I help out at, most families really enjoy the treat of a home cooked meal. One is run along the lines of a supper club. The tables are set nicely, we take orders and serve.
It is much loved and appreciated by all. Those seeking to up skill ,work in the kitchens, volunteers are able to get a reference and go on to work.
Parents get a much needed break and isolated people are not eating from their laps alone.

In the other setting people are asking for pot noodle and so on because they have no cooker.

I suspect both these examples are a world away from that which some inhabit.

Bad girl. Sometimes I even had a pub lunch meal 3 days in a row and was very lonely. So was out every day if I could. This is why did not any savings after being an aupair, LOL

wondering: why free or cheap things for the people on low income would bother anyone who has not got that kind of problems. We are only humans. Don't hate if you cannot love.

Do really adults want that kind of food. It is food, dear. What are you on about? Sorry guys, you all got nice cosy homes right and good pensions. Or is there any down to earth soul on here who know a financial struggle as I did

Milsa

Do really adults want that kind of food. It is food, dear. What are you on about? Sorry guys, you all got nice cosy homes right and good pensions. Or is there any down to earth soul on here who know a financial struggle as I did

In a word, yes. And still struggling.

Namsnanny

*Gg13*🤣 and they say we have free speech.

I agree Fgt it's almost as if all our political parties serve the same master, and it isn't the tax payer.....🤔

I've just read that our MPs have had the 'rules' if their job requirements changed, to omit the need to represent their constituents requirements!
What role (other than supporting the will of the gov) will they be serving now then, if no longer epresenting the views of those who gave no other redress?

Pigs in the taxpayers trough.

Have you got a link to that article re the job "rules" for MPs please? I'd not heard of that - but I'm afraid nowt much would surprise me these days. Sighs - remembering the way we were taught back at school that MP's are our representatives there to do our wishes.

I see all too many cases these days where it's quite blindingly clear our MP's are responding to someone else's wishes, rather than ours (lobbyists for someone or other else).

The actual £3 a meal plan is something I'd not heard about before - but it sounds like one good idea for once that someone has had - given that quite a few people who are doing their best genuinely don't have enough money for basics even. It may well save our NHS some money too - as a poor diet is a contributory factor in so much illness. I read the shocking statistic recently that people HAVE to be eating a healthy diet by the time they get to 40s/50s at the latest - as otherwise there are, for instance, only about 8% (yep - eight!) of women that will go over 70 and still be healthy with it.

I guess they have to try something new to counteract obesity. It might well work. Those who can’t cook, won’t cook, might be able to use these community meal kitchens and eat better as a result.