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

Oh, Daddima and Grandmabatty- great examples of a picture painting a thousand words! Thank you, both.

Thought this might appeal.

Except from leftovers from the previous day ! Like us.
Just joking I shouldn't be on this subject. We're a retired couple used to "if you haven't got you learn to do without"
But most of my friends with families say their children wouldn't eat 'leftovers'.

This says it

I appreciate that there is no way of making an experiment like this 'real', but there is a massive difference between living something for a weekend knowing that it is your life for the foreseeable future. Apart from the fact that it's unlikely that your shoes will wear out that week on the same day that the washing machine breaks, you won't have the constant underlying stress of knowing that you might be evicted from your home, or that you might accidentally miss an appointment and get sanctioned.

It's a bit like those house swap programmes where a rich family swaps with a poor one - yes, they might experience a trip to the supermarket with an empty purse as part of their poverty tourism, and their children might miss that week's pony riding class in favour of a walk in the park; but as Jarvis Cocker put it, they'll 'never live like common people do'.

In 1984, with unemployment at 3.5 million, the then Tory MP Matthew Parris attempted to live on the dole for a week. He couldn't. The World in Action programme is here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDb4G8ZikHM

Was there not a Tory MP years ago who tried to live on unemployment benefit for a week and couldn't do it?

Many of those using food banks are in full employment. Many live in areas with few supermarkets.

When you work all day, you do not have time or energy or, money for bus fares to go from shop to shop seeking bargains, after you finish work. Especially if you have young children who also need caring for and nurturing.

I have never been anywhere near the breadline, but when I sopped work when I had children our income virtually halved as I earned nearly as much as DH. We lived on the edge of a town centre and once a week I would bung the babies in the pram and amble down to the townentre and price check my shopping list at International, Sainsbury's and Tesco. I would then go onto the market and get fruit and veg and wander back through the three supermarkets buyingthe items they had at the cheapest stores. All this took all morning, but it helped us cope with the growth in family sixe and rop in income.

The moment I went back to work, that stopped, quite simply I did not have enough time to shop like that. I just opted for the supermarket that usually worked out as cheapest and shopped there.

I do wonder why so many people who have never been on the breadline at the level most Food Bank clients are demand that they reach standards of budgetaru control and cooking prowess, which few, if any of the most censorious could reach, if their positions were reversed.

You need time to reduce costs. Then you can probably get to a market for veg/fruit. You can then shop around and take advantage of any reduced food. You can do all your own cooking (if you can afford the gas/electricity) and waste less by making soups etc. That is fine for the retired or those who are not working but there is only so much energy when you go to work and have a family. I am 80 and been married for 62 years and I have experienced real struggles with just feeding the family, also coming home from long hours so tired I can hardly put one foot in front of another. I would have given my right arm to have been able to buy a ready made meal but there was nothing much available. However, if you are fortunate enough to have a freezer it is possible to conjure some bits up to help the situation. Meanwhile I am so sympathetic with all young mums facing the situation today.

Me too. Also, I know it’s been said before, but I can’t help thinking that all MPs (or maybe cabinet members) should have to live on benefits for at least a month before they can take office. No added extras, such as full cupboards and wardrobes, no expenses, no loans that can’t be paid back out of their allowance. They should maybe have to start by living on the average wage for a month, and then have to wait 5 weeks to get their first benefit payment.

It wouldn’t be the same as living it for longer, but it might give them an idea of the lives their policies force others to live.

Dickens I am in complete agreement with you.

Farzanah
Sun 15-May-22 20:35:05

I wonder if those who have never suffered grinding poverty can really understand how soul destroying and stressful day to day life can be, without being lectured about how to cook and manage finances better.

Good post Farzanah

It's quite possible that many of those trapped in poverty know how to cook and manage their finances.

They just don't have enough money to pay for the food and fuel - and they manage their finances as best they can by cutting down on everything or doing without, because they have no other options.

I wish all those who judge them could spend one year working in a job that doesn't pay enough to live on - or doing a 'gig' job which makes budgeting virtually impossible.

Farzanah

I wonder if those who have never suffered grinding poverty can really understand how soul destroying and stressful day to day life can be, without being lectured about how to cook and manage finances better.

When you are constantly worrying about where the rent money is coming from, or how to feed and clothe the kids, how to juggle work and childcare, you can do without criticism from judgemental folk who do not understand that a cigarette or takeaway may be something that just makes life bearable for you.

Easy to judge without real understanding or empathy.

Agreed. This notion that freely donated goods can only be give to the poor on condition that they do compulsory courses on money management and cookery is abhorrent. When we donate clothes to a charity ship to sell for a couple of quid, or buy charity shop goods ourselves, we don’t expect to have to do courses to improve our money management and sewing skills. Why aren’t you making a frock from a bit of old curtain like women did in the war or turnng that old garden hammock into something to wear like they did on Sewing Bee? Food, like clothing, is a fundamental need. People shouldn’t have to perform for an unpleasant, self-promoting MP in order to be eat.

This letter sums it up:

Lee Anderson’s comment has made it totally clear to me: the Tories have all the right policies, it’s just that the UK has all the wrong kind of poor people.

www.theguardian.com/society/2022/may/15/tory-mp-lee-anderson-serves-up-a-30p-recipe-for-ridicule

Wheat

Duh

I've had an aversion to Shredded Whaeat ever since!!

westendgirl

I heard the interview between Jane Garvey and Mr Anderson on Radio 4 this morning too, OakDryad.Bombastic in the extreme he came across as a know it all with no time for anyone else.
Dreadful.

I detect a man having a crisis of cognitive dissonance; no idea who he stands for or what he represents other than himself.

In the Michael Crick film, the woman who challenged Anderson said he is very good at whipping up intolerance in the local community. The more I learn about this story, the way it has unfolded over the last few days, particularly Anderson’s collaboration with Laurence Fox’s Reclaim party to slander Jack Monroe, the more I read about Anderson, I realise this is all about publicising himself and his views and very little about his local community.

When Labour MP for Ashfield Gloria de Piero decided to step down, Anderson who was a Labour councillor wanted to be selected in her place. He was rejected by the party because of sexist behaviour; inappropriate remarks about women's breasts and saying that women with children shouldn’t be councillors. Along the way he also collected an ASBO. So he defected to the Tories and was and is supported by substantial donations from the Cayzer Trust, the wealthy family who put up cash to get and keep Tories in northern “red wall” seats.

www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=25894

Anderson criticises Monroe but I suspect that since being elected in December 2019, he has never been so well off in his life: MPs salary and the ability to claim expenses for things that ordinary folk have to pay out of their own pocket. His expenses claims, 220K and counting, are considerably higher than the average MPs.

He is alleged to have bought a very expensive house in the summer of 2020 which he says he was forced to do after he was persecuted because he did not support footballers who took the knee. From March 2021 he also declares a rental property worth over 100K which he rents out for over 10K a year. That and the substantial income from the Cayzer Trust will make him very comfortable.

His wife was elected as Tory councillor for Eakring district in 2019 and is currently deputy leader of Mansfield District Council.

There is plenty of media evidence to suggest that this is a man who, apart from his 2019 election win, is not popular in his own consituency. I doubt stigmatising people who need foodbanks is going to help much nor is making outdated and hard to substantiate claims about being able to cook meals for 30p based on a college Ready Steady Cook challenge eight months ago.

Call me cynical, but just like North West Durham “red wall” MP Richard Holden, the man who (also aided and abetted by Laurence Fox) stirred up the Beergate story, I detect two men who fear for their seats and their lifestyle come the next general election. That is what is behind all the noise.

I wonder if those who have never suffered grinding poverty can really understand how soul destroying and stressful day to day life can be, without being lectured about how to cook and manage finances better.

When you are constantly worrying about where the rent money is coming from, or how to feed and clothe the kids, how to juggle work and childcare, you can do without criticism from judgemental folk who do not understand that a cigarette or takeaway may be something that just makes life bearable for you.

Easy to judge without real understanding or empathy.

Callistemon21

^We were posh, we had Weetabix an Shredded Wheat.
You can tell I came from a privileged background (not).^

... Weetabix and Shredded Wheat?

You were lucky, we only had Corn Flakes. And we had to eat them out of the cardboard box because we didn't have any bowls. Or milk.

Do you feel a Monty Python sketch coming on

Indeed Doodledog. Well I'm not going to look back and I'm glad I got busy when I did.

It sounds as if people have forgotten "there but for the grace of God (or the turn of fate) go I."

DaisyAnne

Re: Doodledog Sun 15-May-22 16:51:50

I cannot agree that "Those who are able to cook think everyone should be able to cook." is being said here. Those who can cook understand that there is no way you can produce a meal, from scratch for 30p. Because they can cook they must understand that.

You make it sound as if none of us can and do think this through. That is far from what I have been reading on here. Some make such remarks but most people are simply concerned and do not agree with the comment this man made.

Or have I misread this?

You've missed the gist of the post, which is that people are seeing all of this from the perspective of their own lives, which is what most people do. I didn't mention that those who want to find fault with posters they like to find fault with are doing so, but that is happening too, of course.

People are leaping to unfounded conclusions and misinterpreting what is being said at times, too. I don't think that you have to be able to cook to know that you can't make a meal for 30p. You just have to have been in a shop once or twice.

I have to have butter ......

But that doesn't count, obviously, as it was just there courtesy of the fridge fairy.

One slice toast = 10p
half a tin of baked beans = 20p

Easy peasy

OK for lunch now and then but you would not to eat it for every meal.

Chocolatelovinggran

Blondiescot, how much is gruel these days??

What is gruel?

Oh, it's thin porridge.

We were posh, we had Weetabix an Shredded Wheat.
You can tell I came from a privileged background (not).

Re: Doodledog Sun 15-May-22 16:51:50

I cannot agree that "Those who are able to cook think everyone should be able to cook." is being said here. Those who can cook understand that there is no way you can produce a meal, from scratch for 30p. Because they can cook they must understand that.

You make it sound as if none of us can and do think this through. That is far from what I have been reading on here. Some make such remarks but most people are simply concerned and do not agree with the comment this man made.

Or have I misread this?

Doodledog

Very true .

I don't know how they have the nerve to come on TV and say things like that, knowing that we know that they claim so much on expenses alone.

I love the idea of limiting their expense claims to 30p per meal per day.

It's simply not possible, but...

... .I'm sure we could find them a catering company - similar to the ones that supply our hospitals - who can rustle up a 'BOGOF' type meal for about £1 per head.

And that's generous - 70p more generous than the 30p the poor are expected to live on.

Looking at their menu - and their expenses claims - I honestly marvel at their nerve sometimes.