Too poor to eat properly

Think it comes down to managing your money , never been a big smoker or take drugs or drink alcohol. At one point in my life I would by cheapest and the best and buy stuff that would be used a couple of time or could make two separate meals .Eggs omelet, boiled on toast , fry up sausages mash and gravy.

To me poverty is having no choice.
The poster who said they lived on £1 a day ( along with colleagues) for a month is to be applauded. Perhaps we should all try it to educate ourselves. Of course it is different to being poor but provides some insight.
I think Monica's point is very valid as both a retired GP and I worked with the drug and alcohol team. I don't know who you have talked to Seakay.

Have you quiz queen never made a poor choice? Also disagree that they are the ones with many children. There are also self employed people coming to the food banks now as they have seen their income drop and now get no state aid. Would you say working for yourself is a bad choice and how does he manage if he wanted to get work, where would the money and help come from until he got his first months wages? It could happen to any of us.

BRedhead what market? Most estates are nowhere near a shop or a market. Very little rural housing is on a regular bus route let alone in walking distance of a shop. Glad to read that you are teaching as well as helping (do tell us the details) but perhaps you should learn a little as well

M0nica I would be very interested to know where you got your information that "many of the children going unfed to school, are from families with substance abuse or with other other social management and mental health issues". I have never heard this from headteachers, social workers, GPs or foodbank assistants.

I so love my slow cooker wouldn't be without it. Often find I have cooked far too much so I freeze the remainder for another day.

To some people if you can't microwave it or its not fast food they can't be bothered

The trouble is quizqueen too many people these days seem to think it IS someone else's (ie the state) responsibility to provide for them and their family.

There was a similar thread some months ago and I made the point about how so many of those on benefits seem to have numerous children. Someone actually asked me "so are you saying we should only have the children we can afford ?"

I initially thought it must have been a wind up, but no, the person was genuinely querying whether that was what I believed!!

I think the answer is for poor people to buy smallholdings.

101 recipes with minced meat - essential education. Herbs and spices?? - salt and pepper will do.
As well as a trip to the food bank why not go to the market at the end of the day to pick up cheap fruit and veg?
There are ways but they need to be taught.
We are in danger of creating a dependent group. We should help but teach as well as give.

Many of those who claim to live in poverty are the same ones who keep producing more children or move from one bad relationship to another or won't shop and cook cheaply and so on. If they can't cook then tomorrow is the time to learn. They all seem to be able to afford smart phones and there's a You Tube video for everything!

There is no excuse for those who just expect someone else to go out to work to pay for their poor choices, especially when they keep repeating them. If one parent decides to leave then money should be taken at source by law (from their pay packet) to ensure they pay for their own children's costs. It should not be the responsibility of other tax payers to fund them.

If independent accommodation can't be afforded then stay at the parental home till you can or flat/house share or rent a room and most certainly don't have children, pets etc. until you can afford to pay them yourselves.

The only genuine people in need should be those who need a temporary helping hand if they lose their job because their place of work shuts down unexpectedly or those who have such terrible disabilities, or care for those who have, such that it is impossible for them to work.

Everyone else can work and should, in my opinion. This country makes it far too easy to rely on state aid. By giving housing benefit etc. all it does is give profits to landlords. If no one could afford high rents, they would have to come down.

Marieeliz you live in cuckoo lad, £19,99 is a vast amount of money to someone with little or nothing. A choice between heating, food, clothing, rent or a slow cooker.

what a bargain!
When someone is managing with no money it may as well cost £100.

Jalima1108 Slow cookers can be bought quite cheaply. Mine was £19.99 and is a godsend.

Paddyanne you talk a lot of sense. Its is a terrible, terrible struggle to be so poor you have have no money whats so ever for the basics. Its all very well saying people should manage better, shop better or cook basic meals but it is not so simple. To have the need for food banks and baby banks is a disgrace to this this country and the government should hang their heads in shame. Also their will always be people who take advantage of a system but that doesn't mean we should punish the rest. Lets show some compassion to those less well off than ourselves.

I am just wondering how these food banks work.

Do people on benefits get vouchers to hand in, or can anyone just wander in off the street and go home with free food?

I can't help wondering if the system is abused by some who would prefer to spend their money on alcohol and cigarettes etc.

I know the reasons for being poor are varied, and of course some people fall on hard times through no fault of their own and it's right that they should be helped, but it is puzzling as to why there appear to be so many recently who need state help to survive.

UC initial claims involve 5 weeks with NO money. Imagine having children, both of you are working on zero hours contracts, then have that built in 5 weeks with no income.

It’s not a case of bad meal management. It’s cutting families off for 5 weeks.

Another point, not that some people care, but the last time I sent money to the school for a day trip (only £16!) I was phoned by the school who told me that I needed to make an account with parentpay, which is an online method using an app.
I also have to have a parent something or other account in order to receive school letters, notices, and whatnot.

I'm not advocating that people don't receive support, just that when funds are low, cheap meals would help.

I've never inderstood the mindset of "we had it so hard so why cant you just deal with your lack of money/housing/heating" etc.
When we started our business we were very young ,we lived on toasted cheese for over 2 years while we workd on building up our business.I wouldn't want to see anyone live how we did,the sheere terror of an unexpected bill still haunts me.That of course was OUR choice ,most people who are struggling dont have a choice ,its just what life has thrown at them .A little compassion for those in dire straights wouldn't come amiss.

Our parents and grandparents didn't have store cupboards full of 'tasty' additions. The only veg I knew in childhood were onions, leeks, carrots and turnips, and Brussels sprouts in the winter. Fare was very plain, but we didn't know any different. They would add skirlie ( oatmeal stuffing ) and dough balls to bulk up meals. The only flavouring would have been salt and pepper, and from any meat that had been cooked. It would be good if people on lower incomes could make cheap(er) meals. Soup and stovies don't cost too much, or liver and onions - an acquired taste of course. A banana sandwich is inexpensive and relatively filling, as are eggs. I know, unfortunately, that these would not be to everyone's taste. Where I lived until recently, there were a number of Filipinos living and working on local fishing boats. I saw them more than once at the local butchers' shop, buying large quantities of liver - a fairly cheap source of protein for them.

That WAS poverty thenchicken its a different poverty now,people NEED their phones or laptops if they are unemployed,its how they look for jobs and make appointments etc.They have their whole lives on phones.Children are going hungry people cant heat their houses ,energy companies are making vast profits and (some) taxpayers are up in arms about free school meals .
We shouldn't /cant compare your GM's day to now and surely you dont want to see that kind of poverty before any help is offered/given ?

My Grandmother was left a widow with 7 young children and no money. She found a part time job in a café and as a perk was allowed to take home the crusts cut off the sandwiches. Sometimes there was a hint of butter or filling on them. The main meal when she got home was often "Tinker's broth"--the crusts were put into a large bowl, liberally sprinkled with salt and pepper, then boiling water was added and the whole lot stirred to a mush. That is poverty.

It’s no good saying that one can live cheaply if careful. Most of us know that.
To live with hardly any, or no money at all is impossible and no one should be suffering this in our comparatively wealthy country.
There will always be those who are improvident or bad at managing their household budget, which is unfortunate, but that so many poor souls should have nothing at all is disgraceful and beyond comprehension.

In the 80s after my husband walked out, and I had to move a long way from friends and family to afford a house for my daughter and I, I luckily got a full time job in the NHS ....no child care allowances then, just pillar to post child care from friends (daughter was 8 when we moved from the South to the Midlands)....reciprocal child care ...i.e. after school then I would do an overnight at a weekend, or similar in return .....I was left, after payment of bills, fares, etc etc, school trips, et al, with £20 a week for food ...school lunches, my lunches (sandwiches and an apple usually but we managed ..I had a slow cooker, and did a 'cook in' on a Sunday of all the meals for the week ...used to buy a whole chicken from Farmfoods for not very much, which we would have roast on a Sunday, pie on a Monday, cold on Tuesday mince meat also figures largely in our diet ...shepherd's pie, home made burgers, spaghetti bolognaise, and a pork chop which would made two lots of sweet n sour (my daughter's favourite) and sometimes these menus were varied ....gets boring, but cost effective ! Always had fresh veggies, and fruit. Cereal and toast for breakfast ...very large bottle of milk, things like Coca Cola and fruit juice were a luxury, but we were ok and had enough to eat. If I had bought ready meals, or fish n chips (a treat if there was enough left at pay day !) THERE WOULD not have been enough money to fee us both on. The only benefit I received was child benefit for a single parent. No maintenance from m y ex husband ...and nothing else ! I guess I was lucky in that I had no housing costs as in rent, as I owned my house outright ...still had all the usual bills though ..council tax for one as my daughter was small .....heating and water paid for monthly, as well as electricity and insurance. House maintenance was difficult but I had a lovely couple next door for whom I baby sat sometimes at weekends, and dog sat on occasion ...reciprocal agreements ! and the husband would do any odd diy jobs for me...maybe I was lucky, but it was still difficult ! My daughter was able to cook basic meals when she was older, and would take one of our meals from the freezer and defrost and cook it for when I got home from work .....missed that when she went to Uni !!!!

GMA99 Your point about school holidays struck a chord - I remember reading a report a while ago by the Children's Commissioner for Wales in which he mentioned a young lad he had spoken to. The boy was dreading the long school holidays because he wouldn't be getting his school dinners.

Not all of us did Domestic Science at school but many of us probably had mothers who cooked economically and learnt something from them. The rest, for me at least, was trial and error.

At DGS' s school, parents go in to do cookery with the children; however, that is not in this country.

The point someone made about cheaper food taking longer to cook therefore using more fuel is a good one. That is why slow cookers are so good as they are so economical, only need a socket - if you can afford one in the first place.