Another food bank opens. Hurrah!

Ooh, Maybe 70, I look forward to that programme/ series? You'll let me know when it's on , won't you?!?

good idea Growstuff They could at lease try it for one week.

Farzanah

Food banks have now become institutionalised and a socially accepted response to declining welfare provision, and naturally Tories champion them because they are a substitute for adequate state support.
I think provision of food banks is only acceptable in a crisis but as a permanent provision does not solve the structural issues of poverty in a relatively rich country.

Agree.
Way back I objected to Foodbanks because I could see that they would become a way for government to wash their hands of their obligations. It was obvious that the more Foodbanks were supplied by charitable donations, the less the government would have to do to address the issue of food poverty. Yes, I realise that people need to use them, but they shouldn’t be acceptable as a means for people, in an affluent country, to be able to put food on the table for their children.

I don't think it sounded rude JaneJudge. I sometimes wonder the same thing as you. An apple or orange would cost nearly 30p anyway. Maybe we could make a start by limiting the subsistence allowance for MPs to 30p a meal (without subsidies).

sorry that sounded a bit rude I just wondered if any of you knew how hard it was, I imagine some of you do. I am hopeful those of you didn't know now understand or are in any way appalled
that was all

I'd like to see him work in the factory I work in for 8 hours and meet the targets and 2 x 15 minute (ie 5 ish) either side of the day and get the money for the bus home let alone planning a lunch etc and yes people bring in apples/oranges etc but you don't get time to eat much else and everyone is just exhausted

I wondered if there have been changes o employment law since some of you did a full time job

if he is going to be properly poor, not just poverty holiday poor. He needs to be on an electric meter and do shopping between unreasonable work shifts and plan and cook on budget which will keep food in condition to eat

It has sod all to do with knowing how to cook from scratch

Riverwalk

I like to cook, am a good cook, have a reasonable stock of basic foodstuffs, hate food waste, buy few convenience and highly-processed foods and could definitely cook a meal for 30 pence if I had to.

What I couldn't do, even with all the above attributes, would be to produce 30 pence meals day in, day out for a family - it's just not possible and would destroy my soul to have to do so.

I hope his arse is kicked to the kerb at the next general election.

This is exactly what Jack Monroe keeps highlighting. Yes, you can probably produce a meal for 30p if you have to - but try doing it day in, day out when you don't have a decent store cupboard to rely on and maybe not even access to decent cooking facilities or equipment. Those Tory MPs do not have a clue what it is like to survive like that...

I like to cook, am a good cook, have a reasonable stock of basic foodstuffs, hate food waste, buy few convenience and highly-processed foods and could definitely cook a meal for 30 pence if I had to.

What I couldn't do, even with all the above attributes, would be to produce 30 pence meals day in, day out for a family - it's just not possible and would destroy my soul to have to do so.

I hope his arse is kicked to the kerb at the next general election.

Is this the same Lee Anderson?

www.mailplus.co.uk/tv/the-michael-crick-report/653/caught-in-the-act-how-hot-mic-exposed-would-be-mps-fake-news-ruse

volver

^Conservative MP Lee Anderson says there isn't a massive need for food banks in the UK, it’s just that people “cannot cook properly, they can't cook a meal from scratch, they cannot budget.”^

They're out in force today.

I’ve emailed him and asked him to go on national television and do a programme about cooking on a limited budget, preferably using as little energy as possible given that people can’t afford their energy bills….

Another issue is that it was shown (by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation I think) that the poorest often don't have easy access to a cheap supermarket or market. They often depend on expensive corner shops.

Dinahmo

PS I've tried to think what I could buy for 30p and can't. Maybe a soup made of a potato, a carrot and a parsnip and a stock cube - if I could buy just one. And go foraging for dandelion and other leaves. Which would be OK if I lived near the countryside I suppose and I had the energy after my 30p meals.

How much would the fuel needed to cook the soup cost? I guess you could pick up some sticks when you go foraging and make a little fire for cooking.

We have a government that has absolutely no concept whatsoever of what real poverty is - they are even beyond imagining it.

To the Tory who said people do not know how to cook - they may or may not know, but even if they did, can they afford the fuel to do so? Cooking for yourself is not necessarily cheaper.

twitter.com/kercle/status/1524354863668334593?s=21

In a nutshell (scroll down)

PS I've tried to think what I could buy for 30p and can't. Maybe a soup made of a potato, a carrot and a parsnip and a stock cube - if I could buy just one. And go foraging for dandelion and other leaves. Which would be OK if I lived near the countryside I suppose and I had the energy after my 30p meals.

I've just read his comments. How dare he say that people can cook a meal for 30p. He's a stupid, thoughtless cruel idiot and I hope that he gets kicked out at the next GE. I doubt that even Jack Monroe could cook a meal for 30p.

It can be called The Unnecessarily Poor Guide to Cooking From Scratch £25 at all good book shops.

30p? Including the fuel costs and assuming a good stock cupboard containing all the things that give flavour to cheap, bland food? I will put my name down for a signed copy. The man’s a miracle worker.

Mr Anderson, MP, cost us £223,000 last year, apparently. I understand that he is happy to explain to my foodbank clients that,"cooking from scratch " they can eat on 30p a day.
Celebrity cookbook, out in time for Christmas, perhaps?

Monty Python's Flying Circus -
"Four Yorkshiremen" from the album Live At Drury Lane, 1974

The Scene:
Four well-dressed men are sitting together at a vacation resort
'Farewell to Thee' is played in the background on Hawaiian guitar

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
Nothing like a good glass of Château de Chasselas, eh, Josiah?
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
You're right there, Obadiah
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh?
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
A cup o' cold tea
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Without milk or sugar
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
Or tea
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
In a cracked cup, an' all
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
The best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor

volver

^Conservative MP Lee Anderson says there isn't a massive need for food banks in the UK, it’s just that people “cannot cook properly, they can't cook a meal from scratch, they cannot budget.”^

They're out in force today.

Which party was it that removed sure start centres that amongst many things taught basic cooking skills?

And reduced cooking in the school curriculum?

Maybe she means people like nurses that should be paid a wage that wouldn’t necessitate the need for them to use food banks.

Oh I thought it meant the undeserving poor.

Yes. I’d like to know who the unnecessarily needy are

I think they are the 'deserving poor'. If we're going to resort to 19thC charity, we might as well use the correct terminology...