Too poor to eat properly

I agree that many people nowadays could benefit from eating and cooking as we used to. (However I wouldn't want to eat mince all the time. ) Fresh cooking is always better, although I do remember our weekly menu included sausages, vegetable roll, liver and corned beef - all full of fat.
buying frozen rubbish is all some people can afford. And it can be cheaper than cooking fresh food.
The poverty in the UK is a disgrace. So many people have so much while others haven't enough for the basic essentials. To have so many relying on food banks is inexcusable and just so shocking. I know we have some good caring politicians but I don't believe the government cares about the ordinary person. Most of them haven't a clue about ordinary day to day living. The queen's grocers are Fortnum and Masons for goodness sake. I buy special biscuits there as a treat when I visit London.
Nannyto3 my daughter is highly intelligent but is forced to work part time and claim Universal Credit (and don't get me started on the stress that causes her). Luckily she has me. She knows how to budget, cook fresh, freeze soup etc. She shops in the cheaper shops now and does her best. The problem of not eating proper nutritional food is not peculiar to those on U.C. Plenty of folk earning good incomes don't cook nourishing food.

I totally agree with your comment about the the needy MissA however, there have been instances in that area, of sub-letting, indeed, one 3 bed house was turned into 5 bedrooms and a communal kitchen and bathroom and sub-let to 10 builders. The Canadian owners had no idea, not did the agents check. Rents were £600pm per room and £20 per person pw to cover gas/elec/ broadband/water.
The council were paying the original family of 6, £1,255 pm rent and paid council tax.
Admittedly, it's more of a concern in London and a smaller number here, but it's taking the Mick.
The family stayed with relatives in Portsmouth and only came up to collect the rent in cash.
Someone next door eventually dobbed them in to the agents after a fight broke out.

What a desperately sad state of affairs this country is in. The division between rich and poor is obscene and how the poorest in our society can get themselves out of it is beyond me. I have 3 precious grandchilden who have wonderful, happy, healthy homes. I watch them grow and thrive so happily. My heart bleeds for so many little ones who don't stand a chance. And most likely are hungry as we read this.

My bible when we were first married was Jocasta Innes "Paupers' Cookbook" and still use it now -however, can understand how people get into difficulties - I changed jobs a couple of years ago and ye jolly tax authorities kept changing my tax code so that 3 months on into the new job they took 50% tax off me! Now, had I not been in the situation of having no mortgage/rent to pay and not reliant on my salary I would have been totally stuffed that month - imagine £450 instead of £900.

I was going to ask if you could take a lodger, moggie, but you like to have your DGC to stay, which is only natural.
So do I.

moggie asks what about the other bills?

The other bills ie rent, gas, electricity, council tax, tv licence etc have to be paid.

No-one penalises you if you don't buy food.
The only one (s) being penalised are you and your family.

I think the answer to that is becoming clearer and clearer..

Promised myself I'd come back to this thread, and have read a few more pages, but I can't cope with assorted people's strange way of looking at their fellow man, so I stopped.
Benefits are a nightmare in 2019, and once you've got them, they can be cut off at any time.
Food banks are demeaning, and are not open to all for anything you want.
Bus/train fares are extremely expensive if you're on a low income.
Teachers are talking about feeding kids, washing their clothes and providing them with shoes because their old ones are flapping or too small.
Benefit fraud is about 0.3%, but £millions are not claimed in benefits because the claimants cannot wade through the massive booklets they are expected to fill (48 pages was one I heard of recently), or get to the Job Centre because their local one has been closed.
Mobile phones/internet access is required to claim benefits.
What is this doing to the mental health of our children?

I dont mind at all what my taxpayers purse spends out on the needy, those who are vulnerable and people who need help, Gabrielle..

I do find it slightly galling that greedy 'landlords' benefit the most from the broken system though.
The rent on the flat above me is the same as you're paying, so you have a good rent.

please dont crirtisise people that you know nothing about

well said.

sorry to rant...but at least got that off my chest.i would like to downsize but cant afford too and i want to stay near my grandchildren and daughter(whose husband died last year aged 37 from heart related problems) my spare bedroom is used by grandchildren. but the government dont care about that ,they still charge me £60 extra each month for my "spare" bedroom.

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'.

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.