Tory MP blames food bank use on people not knowing how to cook or budge

I do understand about not having a fridge to find bits at the bottom - and I know eggs aren't cheap these days, but they and tinned fish are my main sources of protein.

As I've explained, I do eat frugally, but I have a fridge, freezer, microwave, slow cooker, toaster and an oven/hob. I know lots of people don't or they can't afford the fuel to switch them on. They're are people worse off than I am. That's why I think what that MP said was so ridiculous and out of touch.

The reason many children are driven to school, is because their parents drop their children off at scchool on the way to work because they do not have time to walk them to school, and then walk home to get the car to go to work.

In the 1950s, most women did not work outside the home sp had the time to walk children to and from school. It was in their job description.

All this harking back to 'when I was a child' is ridiculous, when my mother was a child, they did not have electricity and the bath was in the kitchen, in my grandmothers childhood........ It all starts sounding like that Monty Python sketch.

As for economic cooking and 'bottom of the fridge' soup fritttata (needs eggs) and so on. For those in absolute food poverty, there is no bottom of the fridge stale veg etc. This is wat those pontificating on basic cooking and budgetting do not understand. There also isn't any money to budget with once the necessary bills are paid.

Can I just say, again, - Sure Start and other family centres. They ran baby massage, toddler taming, freedom project (for victims of domestic abuse) plus many other helpful enjoyable group activities AND cooking on a budget

Blair was the Sure Start enthusiast. Cameron started closing them, a process continued by every successive Conservative government.

GrannyGravy- like others, we have often posted from different political perspectives but - I can’t recall from extremes. I felt politically homeless in the Corbyn years so I empathise

What planet are people like Maudi on? ALL the cheaper foods seem to be the kinds that put on weight. When , due to avoiding diabetes I followed the health diet recommended by the Walk Away From Diabetes NHS course my food bills went up , and I already ate pretty well ( just too much!) It is shameful that those who are struggling are then shamed and denigrated by those completely ignorant of their plight

Thank you.
I'll have a look.

MissAdventure

His expenses were over the allowance, weren't they?
I'm sure I read that somewhere.
Do they have a set amount, even?

There is quite an interesting website theipsa.org.uk which gives a breakdown of MPs expense claims. There is no set amount and the majority of their expenses are down to staffing costs which from the few I have looked at seems a pretty even amount across the board give or take a few thousand

MissAdventure

I'm not sure what the implication is amongst those who denigrate food bank users.
Is it that they think these people eat a load of junk food then lie in order to be given more?!

There's a misconception among some that it's simply 'free food' and they believe that's why people use food banks.

I don't know whether they are aware that you cannot just simply walk into a food bank and pick up what you fancy. Another fallacy.

If you look at a typical food bank parcel, it contains ingredients like soup, pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes, pasta sauce, etc. Staples on many people's shopping lists.

And I'm sure if the food bank users have the money to pay for the energy required to cook these items, they know exactly how to make a meal "from scratch", and do... probably many times per week.

I know one food bank user who is adept at providing beans on wholemeal toast for her children. She varies it with the addition of chopped tinned ham - which goes a long way when you incorporate it into a meal instead of making it the main ingredient. And sometimes adds curry spice (a big tub which she bought when it was 'on offer') to vary the taste. And then varies the 'meals on toast' with cottage cheese as a topping mixed with a jar of mango chutney which I gave her. She works, she budgets, she manages - just. She simply does not earn enough from the job she does - a job which has to fit in with her duties as a mother. And that - apart from any other reason, is why a lot of people are using food banks. They are just not paid enough money to live on.

His expenses were over the allowance, weren't they?
I'm sure I read that somewhere.
Do they have a set amount, even?

If he thinks he could make a meal for 30p then he might like to start calculating just how many meals he could make to feed hungry people from his £219,703.44 expenses.

I'm not sure what the implication is amongst those who denigrate food bank users.
Is it that they think these people eat a load of junk food then lie in order to be given more?!

Audrey from Buckinghamshire - sounds like a spoof!

Maudi

Why are we are third in the obese table if according to some they hardly have any money to eat. I've never seen so many obese people young and old and I travel all over the UK and don't tell me they can only afford junk food.

Do you shop in a food desert or a food swamp? The poorer you get the more likely you are to be doing so.

Don't know what it means? No? Then look it up and find out. Ignorance is not an excuse for making such crass remarks. Poverty and inequality are not about morality. They are about poverty and inequality and that is what needs to be dealt with. Any actual immorality is fairly and squarely on the shoulders of those who chose not to educate themselves and then just blame the poor for their poverty.

I will say it again. These posts are disgusting.

Zoejory

I was utterly useless in my domestic science class.

For my O Level we had to make a chicken dish. I made a chicken salad. My ginger cake had no ginger in it and I presented my orange juice with steam coming off it. I'd made it far too late. I got an E. Apparently my theory was excellent.

As for this absurd man, he is obviously clueless. Is this the one that said you can make a meal for 30p?

The Jeremy Vine panel did think he might have made an error. I just can't see how anyone would think 30 pence a day was enough. Maybe he meant pounds. Which would have just as nonsensical.

No, he really did mean 30p a day. He's made a video about it.

Well, it must be the children of the better off car owners who are overweight then.
Perhaps their parents need advice on how a body needs less to eat if it is less active.

Of course Dinahmo the roads were significantly quieter than now. It was safer to walk to school from a younger age.

That's the thing with budgeting.
It rarely involves "take 2 tablespoons of self raising flour" type ingredients.
Its more of a "take whatever needs using in the bottom of the fridge, then check out the canned food you have".

Maudi

Why are we are third in the obese table if according to some they hardly have any money to eat. I've never seen so many obese people young and old and I travel all over the UK and don't tell me they can only afford junk food.

When we were young we walked almost everywhere. In the fifties, when I was a child my Father had a motorbike for work, with a sidecar which was attached for us children when we went out for the day. We walked to and from school more than a mile each way, taken by my Mum and accompanied by the younger siblings who weren't at school.

These days children are taken to school by car.

When I lived in London I walked every day because it was often quicker than waiting for a bus. I also walked every lunch tine. Moving to the country was one reason for my weight gain because I drove every time I needed something. There were no corner shops or post boxes within a short distance. I'm sure this is one reason for the obesity in the UK.

I was utterly useless in my domestic science class.

For my O Level we had to make a chicken dish. I made a chicken salad. My ginger cake had no ginger in it and I presented my orange juice with steam coming off it. I'd made it far too late. I got an E. Apparently my theory was excellent.

As for this absurd man, he is obviously clueless. Is this the one that said you can make a meal for 30p?

The Jeremy Vine panel did think he might have made an error. I just can't see how anyone would think 30 pence a day was enough. Maybe he meant pounds. Which would have just as nonsensical.

MissAdventure

I wouldn't imagine that was based around budgeting?

If I were teaching somebody about budgeting, I'd teach them how to make "bottom of the fridge left overs" soup, frittata and veg curry. My children did a couple of years of "food" at school, but I don't ever remember them learning anything like that.

There are now breads that can be made using just 2 or 3 ingredients, some without yeast.
That would be more beneficial for people to know.

First thing I made was vegetable soup. I put it in a glass jar as we had no Tupperware and the bottom fell out of the jar. Soup and glass everywhere. We didn't make cakes. There are a few posters on here who have no understanding of poverty and who pontificate about how they managed in a different time.

That all sounds very 1950s!

I wouldn't imagine that was based around budgeting?

PS We also learned to make bread and rolls and other yeast bakes. Very few cakes were made.

MissAdventure

Were they ever?
Lots here from all walks of life have said they made cakes, and set out tea trays.

In my first year of cookery classes at grammar school we made a beef casserole. unfortunately during my journey home by train, bus and walking, the casserole dish leaked and the resulting mess was given to our dog. I seem to remember that my mum had bought quite expensive beef.