Can't afford to eat healthy food...

Jaycee5
MamaCaz No people are not given the means to buy a cooker. Councils can give emergency loans but they aren't automatically given and they don't have much money now.
And by 'illegals' I presume you mean people.

jaycee5, it was GabriellaG, not me, who made those comments, as a response to my own post which is on page 2, made at 08.30.

My son is the cook in my DGC’s life . Their mother is not very domesticated ( her words ) . The girls are only 12 and 10 and can already make several dishes ( copied from daddy ) . They can both also bake beautifully .

GabriellaG

"MamaCaz

I don't think you're talking about normal rented housing, more, emergency accommodation which has shared facilities, often on a landing between floors, or illegals living 10 to a room.

Yes I was. I live in what was a council house, and is now housing association, and can assure you that all such housing in this region, and in many others, does not come fitted with white goods.

Anyone on benefits without a cooker would be provided with the means to buy one.
If they are 'lucky', they would be given a loan - paying that back would mean even less money left over for food.

As for those you cite as having been 'put on' high standard tariffs...lol.
There is more info about changing energy tariffs and options than you could possibly shake a stick at, so there is no excuse.

Really? I think you will find that the poorest frequently are given no option other than the over-priced pre-paid tariffs.

People over 60 (depending on their DOB) receiving the guarantee element of pension credit, also receive a winter fuel payment each November of £200 for a single person and £350 for a couple which rises when over 75 or 80 (can't remember which)
They also receive £145 off their electricity bill each year.

Lucky them. That is of little comfort to those struggling to feed a family, as those over 65 (I might be wrong, but I think that retirement age is now about 65 for both men and women) are highly unlikely to still be feeding children!

No-one is poor in this country unless they squander money on Sky, Netflix, iPads and iPhones, takeaways, cigarettes and booze.

Well, I can't think of a polite answer to that so I will bite my tongue and say nothing!

There has to be something seriously wrong with a parents lifestyle if they cannot afford to feed themselves and a couple of kids. They are a small minority which will always be on the margins, they are not the wide spread poor nutrition that children have.
All we can do as individuals is make sure that our kids have the skills to cook properly, if the schools don't teach it parents need do it. No excuses, my wife taught our 3 daughters, they in turn are teaching their kids, boys as well as girls.
I had a surprise last week I was invited to breakfast by my 15 yr old grandson Guy, he did it all himself, which is more than I could ( or would) have done at that age, more parents should teach the next generation.

I do my main shop at Tesco on a Sunday afternoon and they often reduce lots of stuff. I bought a tray of ready prepared veg reduced to 26p and cooked them with a few bits I had left at home, whizzed them in a liquidiser and made enough soup for a week for under 50p! A banana a day is cheaper than a packet of crisps. People, especially the overweight ones, are usually just too lazy to eat well and would rather spend their money on fags, wine and chips.

Maggiemaybe, I completely agree with that, not all of the convenience foods are bad. Fishfingers are a great way of getting fussier kids to eat fish. And pizzas can be healthy. I think it's more that there needs to be an inclusion of fruit and veg, and again frozen is fine! Frozen fruit with some yogurt can be a really quick and healthy pudding for kids.

I don't think it's so much about a divide between generations, more between families. I think it tends to be a cycle you see repeating over the generations.

I'm in my mid 20s, I was raised on frozen chicken nuggets etc and the only meal cooked 'from scratch' in my house was a roast on a Sunday. Most stuff came from the freezer or jars. My nan never cooked as she hated it, my grandad did cooking in their house and it was quite basic as he was disabled, so my mom never learnt and then later had to feed a family of 5 on a budget. I learnt to cook as I love to, but I still use jars/frozen foods occasionally as a time saver or if I want a quick meal. In my family, and the families I grew up with (one of the most deprived areas of the UK) this was the norm, and nans when babysitting would feed their kids the same things. It's very uncommon in my family and social circles to cook from scratch, or to eat 'healthier' foods regardless of generation. That's why I think it is so important for schools food education to be revamped, it's a cycle that needs to be broken in some families.

As others have said, the obesity crisis isn't specific to poor people. Many of us, across the income spectrum, do choose to eat the wrong things but, more significantly imho, we choose to eat them in the wrong quantities. Overeating, coupled with inactivity, is the root of the problem. Food's cheaper than it ever was and we have plenty of choice, so many just overindulge, be that in junk food, treats or drinks, sugary or alcoholic.

There's a lot of food snobbery about, but we don't have to feed our children on home-cooked cassoulets and quinoa. Chicken nuggets - looked down on many times on this thread - aren't always the devil's food. Many of them are made from 100% chicken. Fishfingers aren't bad for children either as a source of protein. Baked beans, tinned and frozen veg, potatoes, bread, are all acceptable ways of feeding children surely? Not everyone is interested in or capable of cooking from scratch, and a lot of children who will grow up to appreciate good food as adults start off as fussy eaters.

When I was teaching there was a “free fruit in schools scheme”. It applied to all primary age children but was later cut back to just 4-7 year olds.
At first many children said they didn’t eat fruit and refused it. The school banned snacks brought in from home at break time.
Gradually the children started to try the fruit offered. After a few months, it was the most deprived kids who had said they had never eaten fruit, who were the keenest, coming back for as much extra as was available!
Eventually every child was eating fruit and the deprived group was particularly keen.

It was fantastic to see these “fruit haters” become so interested in fruit.

Sadly the funding was taken away for the over sevens. Some schools decided to pay for it themselves as it was so beneficial. I’m not sure what has happened to the scheme now, but haven’t heard of my grandchildren receiving it.

I usually recommend frozen fruit and veg to people who say they cant afford the fresh ones - they have almost as much nutritional value.
Apparently they often have more because they are frozen very quickly whereas some fruit and veg can be left for a while on the shelf in the shop and lose nutritional value.

Anniebach when it's taking the food out of a child's mouth because mums got to have a cigarette then it's got everything to do with it or don't you agree.

SpanielNanny I grew up in London I also know what it's like to watch people who have gone without and still see it now not all mothers or fathers do it but there are a certain amount that do! Whether it was the way they were bought up and to them it's the norm or the lack of education your guess is as good as mine like I said I don't sit in judgement of them because there are mothers and fathers that go without for their children but there are some that don't

It's demeaning for children whose parents can't or won't provide ingredients for cookery lessons. School budgets don't run to providing them for all. Also, if 'food technology' is still masquerading in school as cookery lessons then children can get A* and still know very little about cooking a healthy meal. My daughter learned more about the commercial aspects of large scale food production, marketing and packaging than about feeding herself or a family. She got an A* because she turned in a grade busting course work file.

I learned how to shop, cook and clean, sew and knit from my mother and how to tie laces, clean my shoes, knock a nail, change a plug, paint and decorate, garden and check oil and water etc. from my dad. We had cookery lessons at school (all girls) but I would have loved to learn woodwork.

Nowadays school is all about academic targets and league tables.

I agree annie and missadventure (and others). The reasons for not cooking “proper” meals are complex.
Many parents lead stressful lives, working two or more jobs perhaps, or long hours, others have health issues, or anxiety issues, others have low income and lurch from crisis to crisis, others are dependent on drugs or alcohol.
They may not have proper cooking facilities, may not have experience of home cooking, or simply (as illustrated in Hugh Fearnley Whittington’s programme) have no nearby shops selling fresh food, but plenty of take-aways.
Some don’t plan shopping or cooking, they just find themselves with a hungry child at teatime and give them money to buy chips.
Education has an important role in teaching children about healthy eating and giving them the skills to cook simple meals. (Not fancy showstopper cakes!)

sweetcakes, you connected smoking to diet, what else has the cost of cigarettes to do with this thread

sweetcakes I lived in an exceptionally deprived area of Liverpool for a few years, I saw deprivation that haunts me. But what I also saw was mothers who frequently went without food to feed their children, and parents who worked 2/3 jobs just to keep the roof over their families heads. Vilifying them, in my opinion, exasperates the problem by creating a ‘them and us’ attitude which makes it easier for us to not feel guilt at their suffering. It’s much easier to ignore it if we can find a way to blame them.

Spaniel Nanny you have your opinion and I have mine have you been to some inner city areas and seen the deprevation that happens there it may not be vast but it is true.

Chicken livers in cream and paprika are relatively cheap. They are off the list at the moment as I need to reduce my cholesterol. A vegetable curry is cheap. I spend an hour a day making a big bowl of salad chopped into cubes with a dressing of lemons, extra virgin olive oil and seasoning. I understand how people on a low budget couldn't afford either the lemons or the olive oil. Baked beans on toast is probably nutritious. My friend is married to an Italian and she makes home made pizza most days. I don't feel the dough is a healthy base eaten daily.

I really don’t think smoking is the problem. Fewer people than ever smoke, certainly far fewer than when we were all young. Studies have also shown that it is the older middle class who consume the most alcohol. Accusing families of prioritising these items over their children is unfair, and untrue in the vast vast majority of cases. It creates a further divide between the generations, because here we are again, using every excuse possible to badmouth young families.

Anniebach all I was try to say was how much it costs to smoke these days and how that money could be put to better use. I wasn't being judgemental just stating a fact I am also on a limited budget and could not afford to smoke (not that I want to) or drink copious bottles of wine either.

Actually, FROZEN vegetables and fruit are more nutritious than fresh

Lazigirl excellent post, the lack of tolerance on this thread is quite upsetting. I do wonder how all these useless mothers came to be, since our generation were apparently so perfect when raising them.

My son & dil (both good cooks) certainly didn’t learn how to chop vegetables, it is wonderful that children today are.

Good post Lazigirl

Lazigirl excellent post, the lack of tolerance

Well said Lazigirl