Too poor to eat properly

Well I did use the politically correct term "invited" But yeah I suppose so.

I think most (?) people know that, as they know that having a gas/electric card is costing them more in the long run.
Its just almost impossible for some people to manage to get enough to do otherwise.
I have never had a pay as I go plan, because I realise i'll be charged more, but then I'm very thrifty, plus I have had times when I've had more income.

My understanding is that some people are significantly worse off on UC. Given that they were probably having difficulty managing anyway because payments aren't that generous, in my view no amount of budgetary advice is going to solve the issue. It must be very hard to avoid the tempation of dipping into money that will be needed in the future when you have current unmet needs.

I agree that "food technology" hasn't really been very good in helping young people to cook cheap, nutritious meals. I recall my son coming home with a list of ingredients for pizza which ended up being quite expensive - and I don't consider pizza to be a particularly nutritious meal anyway.

Why would a single pensioner be made to go to a food bank when their money is regular/guaranteed and they can also apply for various " top-ups and health benefit payments ?"

Some pensioners get more now than when they were earning ?

Some pensioners get more now than when they were earning
Well, we don't but then again our outgoings are lower and we don't have children to clothe and feed. We don't have to travel to work, buy work clothes etc.

Exactly Jalima, we don't have the same expenses.

There is 'pensioner poverty' though - particularly if older people still have to pay rent.

Even when I was at school 50 years ago, and had lessons actually called Cookery, we learnt to make lemonade, apple pies, souffle, cakes, biscuits. Never a shepherds pie, or braised skirt of beef or anything that would help us nourish a family cheaply. Or even how to cut and boil a cabbage! But I think they assumed we'd learn those basics at home, so the cookery lessons were trying to elevate our skills. By the time basic skills actually needed teaching in schools, the cooking had been phased out!

Readymeals lemonade and a slice of cake is not exactly a nourishing meal!

If eg shepherds pie had been taught- would you have had to take the ingredients to school because I am assuming that the parents of many children could not afford to do that.

Charley I think that would apply whatever you were being taught to cook at school. Not sure my learning to make a Christmas cake was any use to me or anyone else. I can read so can follow a recipe but the basic ways of stretching a budget are rarely in recipe books or online as far as I can see. DH cooks but always needs a recipe whereas I can look at what needs using up and throw something together. Doesn't work with some cakes but no one needs cakes.

Perhaps nutrition could be taught as an academic subject rather than a practical one. It could include how to make cheap food without the students having to actually make it.
I also think from 16 they should be taught how to live outside the parental home as it would appear that many parents don't teach this either. Learn about budgeting, fuel use etc and generally about how much things cost. I don't remember actually teaching my children how to do all this it just evolved and by the age of 12 one of mine would go shopping for me and come back with things I hadn't asked for which were good value or had a yellow sticker. He would also decide that something was cheaper in a different shop to the one I had asked him to go to.

My point exactly, Charleygirl - so I wonder if schools ever really did teach cooking basics - possibly not. Yes we were expected to take in the ingredients, in the 1960s there were very few people in my area who were really poor- that was a very fortunate decade in our history. I suspect if there was one pupil in that position, the teacher might have sneaked the stuff in for her.

I do remember making stuffed cabbage at school, using mince as a filler. There was a whole variety of recipes and menus. This was the mid '50's. I really enjoyed cookery. The finished meal was enough for mum brother and myself with dad having something different when he came home from work.
Macaroni cheese was an easy cheap and nutritious meal which I also enjoyed doing, with a sprig of parsley on top for effect as well as eating.

Domestic science should make a come back.

Jalima for those pensioners who are paying rent means that they have savings or the wherewithal to do it or that would be paid via the benefits system, rates as well so whatever they received in pension would be theirs to do with as they pleased.
I'm not sure what the cap is on savings before rent is paid but I know there is an exemption if savings don't meet the amount that allows you to pay rent etc.

We did cookery at school and I still use the recipe book we had to have. My family always enjoyed and ate our meals and it is cheaper on the whole to cook from scratch, (not puff pastry) but my grandchildren don't eat my 'home cooked' food without a fuss; e.g. chops have bones in so are hard work, the sausages must only come from a certain shop, stew is unacceptable because they don't like gravy and fish, unless it is coated in breadcrumbs is a no!

In my first domestic science lesson at secondary school we were 'taught' to make cheese & apple sandwiches! Fortunately, my Mother and Grandmother (who lived with us) were really good cooks, making nutritious meals for our family of 6 people. The joint of meat on a Sunday would stretch until Wednesday, adding lots of fresh, but cheap, vegetables - cold meat with 'bubble & squeak', rissoles (remember them?), stews, shepherd pies etc. We were not not well off by any means and lived in a rented house, with my aunt & uncle living upstairs. I believe one of the problems these days is that families don't have the older generation sharing their homes, offering domestic and financial support, plus assisting with childcare. I still love to cook (as do my children) and like the challenge of creating something tasty from leftover vegetables.

My DGD's secondary school teaches cookery. In the last term she has made spaghetti bolognaise, soup, apple pie and a range of other staples. next term she will do a textiles class including practical sewing.

I'm not sure families would want to eat or know how to cook the food our parents and grandparents ate. Tripe, liver, kidneys, chitterlings, trotters, brains, rabbit, pigeon, sprats, winkles, stewed eel, bread pudding,spotted dick, steamed roly poly etc etc. I was used to seeing a pig's head on the draining board after my mother had made some brawn. Seeing pigs' trotters in the butcher's window. Also women didn't work and and a lot of this very cheap food takes a long time to cook. My grandmother cooked on a range, she heated her water on that as well... they grew veg and gooseberries in the garden. My grandfather used to help people with their written forms etc because some couldn't read...they paid him in rabbits. A completely different way of life, now long gone.

There is a cap on how much can be paid towards rent, so I presume that pensioner or not, someone would have to pay the shortfall?
I pointed out upthread that its sometimes well over £300 pounds a month, here.

Lilylilo I saw pigs heads usually before Christmas along with the biggest ox tongues when mum made brawn, which was delicious with home-made pickle/chutney.
They were boiled in an old gas boiler then pressed. A large hare hanging up in the pantry ready to make jugged hare.

EllenVannin off subject but I went to a restaurant in London this week and it had jugged hare and beef daube on the menu.

ReadyMeals
People use calculators on their mobile phones nowadays. You'd have to have an IQ far below 100 to not be able to add up and do very simple +×÷- sums.

I think the savings cap is £16k below which help can be accessed.

can i point out a lot of people are on welfare benefits and disabililty welfare money. me being one of. i worked for 35 years and pay my taxes still , and top them up when asked for my pension. i only stopped work when my balance was affected and several other health problems like hernia/one working kidney/muscleskelton probs/osteo arthritis/mild epilepsy /mild autism.oh and not forgetting two fractured skulls yes all these discovered at menopause years. and incontinence. i was put on disabilty welfare. and i have IBS. so yes i do cook all my own food from scratch due to my very irritable stomach.am dairy intolernce too as well as palm oil.(which is in almost everything these days.)..not everyone can go to food banks .you have to get a referral or a food voucher. i went to one over christmas because i was not eating properly..so my housing officer who i met at christmas party get together.and told her of my situation/. i too do not have a cooker ,just a microwave and a griddle pan....i cant eat processed food as its has onion is everything these days.so just bland food...people dont realise the hardship that people between the ages of 50-pension credit age have. i pay for rent/bedroom tax(i have a "spare" bedroom £60 extra a month)dont say downsize i cant afford to move... gas/electricity/broadband and telephone line/mobile for emergencies/life insurance/oh and food musn't forget that. heating is not on .only put it on weekends with 2 hours of hot water.. what money am i on. why £79 a week.. each month i am left with minus £10-£20 .so its less heating /eating .hence the food banks. i applied for another food voucher but was turned down... why ?? who knows. so its back to the ready break cereal for most meals. i do allow myself £10 of fresh fruit and veg every two weeks....... i eat mackeral (tinned)....cant eat eggs /spicy food. doesnt leave much options.so yes i cook everything from scratch.tea tonight was cup of decaff coffee. coffee bought as xmas pressie...by my brother...and 4 slices of malted bread...pot noodles oh yuk.....i am vegetarian.. so i do like linda mccartney sausages and buy them when they go down to a £1 a box.Last week i bought 5 boxes.!!!! now have to cut down on something else. shopping is about £20 a week .i always wait for the end of day cut price stuff.....i want a new toaster but cant afford that yet.....UC have not been transferred over to it yet. i dread it ,as my sister had to wait 4 months for any money to be paid to her. i would never cope with that....please dont crirtisise people that you know nothing about., i do voluntary work at salvation army charity shop ,west wickham kent. it keeps me busy. and there's heat and as many cups of tea/coffee and biscuits /sometimes cake too. as i want. i prefer herbal tea so they bought that for me...... anyone could live on £1-£3 a day on food. but what about the other bills?

MissAdventure
In each area's website, there can be found the housing allowances for those whose income falls short of the minimum living wage.
It's called the LHA, local housing allowance.
If your borough has many areas, each area within a borough may have a different LHA as it depends on the type of property, average house/flat prices in that area and how many are in your family.
I live in the wider Guildford area and, after looking on the website, I see that there are two distinct levels. Some amounts are quite high, over £1,000 pm. I should think only a larger family of 5 in the most expensive area would qualify for that allowance. Couple that with free council tax and it's quite a lot out of the taxpayers purse.
My own privately rented 2 bed property costs me £850pm which, given the area, is very acceptable and for me, affordable as my own house is 'let'.