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

Jack explains it better than anyone:
cookingonabootstrap.com/2022/05/12/whats-the-difference-between-jack-monroe-suggesting-budget-recipes-and-a-tory-mp/

My kids - aged 33 to 45- all cook better than me. To be fair, that's not too difficult ?.
None of them did food technology at school.

I didn't say that young people can't cook - mine both do, but they didn't learn at school. Neither did I for that matter, but that matters less when you can afford to buy things that are easy to cook, or to learn by buying parts of the meal ready made.

People who are on very tight budgets are being expected to cook, to budget and to understand nutrition when nobody has taught them, and in many cases they are doing precarious jobs for very little money. If a school can spend an hour a week teaching cutting skills, why not spend it talking about nutrition instead, or about budgeting? I just get sick of hearing that people (usually young people) can't cook, or don't bother to cook, and that this is because they are lazy. If nobody has shown them how to do it, how are they supposed to know?

The problem, IMO, is not that at all - it is that people are not paid enough, rents are too high, and the safety net that used to be there has far too many holes.

Blondiescot

Jack explains it better than anyone:
cookingonabootstrap.com/2022/05/12/whats-the-difference-between-jack-monroe-suggesting-budget-recipes-and-a-tory-mp/

That's quite a forceful, and harrowing, read.

She's done the very thing that these mealy-mouthed politicians bang on about. She's learned to budget, and cook on a shoestring. And anyone with a computer can access her recipes.

... yet she receives rape and death threats, regularly (I'm not suggesting it's the pompous, patronising politicians doing this, I'm sure they're not).

She's outspoken about Tory ideology - but no more so than the Right Wing are outspoken about the Left.

Who are these people who hate her so much. Katie Hopkins for one. Hated her so much she tried to damage her reputation. And lost. Heavily.

I'm full of admiration for Jack. She fights depression and the stigma still applied to those with autism. She won't give in to her detractors. And she really does help those who need to know how to shop and budget for their food.

If I needed to know how to budget and cook from scratch... I'd listen to her, not these Tory MPs who keep being wheeled in to tell the poor that the reasons for their poverty are basically all their own fault...

Baggs

^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.^

In the 1950s most kids walked to school on their own, or with other kids who lived near them.

I walked to school from the age of 5 or 6 (infant school wasn't far away).
Mum used to wave to me through the cloakroom window on her way 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.
I don't think my Mum read the job description.

Callistemon21

^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.^
I don't think my Mum read the job description.

Neither did my mum (or my gran for that matter).

My Mum was a great Mum but she worked part-time, so she did read the job description but adapted it.

My mum worked part time from when I started school and full time when I was seven. She somehow managed to cook a lunch until I went to grammar school at 11. She did do jobs that enabled her to be out and about. She was a brilliant sales rep and probably I think one of the first women to do it.

The fact that some mothers, including my own, worked in the 1950s does not invalidate the fact that most women didn't. In 1951 80%of married women did not work [[www.historytoday.com/history-matters/rise-working-wife ]]

why not spend it talking about nutrition instead

Because pupils wouldn't listen and, even if they did, would forget it by the time the skills were needed.

PS. What are "cutting skills"?

Chopping skills are learning to chop a cabbage, or carrot, or onion - not with a particular aim in mind, which is what I thought was pointless. They came home with a chopped vegetable that had been carried around all day, so was difficult to use, and they couldn't see the point.

If children aren't going to listen and would forget everything, what's the point of teaching them anything at all?

11:50DaisyAnne

A calorie is a calorie how ever you consume it, eat too many calories and don't do any exercise and surprise surprise you might wake up one morning and find yourself fat. No excuse to be fat or call other posters names because they don't agree with you. Perhaps getting out into the real world instead of spending all day on GN and Google might be an eye opener ?

... if MPs learned how to budget and cook from scratch - maybe they wouldn't need us to subsidise their food bill at work...

Not original. I saw this on Facebook.

growstuff

*why not spend it talking about nutrition instead*

Because pupils wouldn't listen and, even if they did, would forget it by the time the skills were needed.

PS. What are "cutting skills"?

I don’t think that is true. I opted to do domestic science to O level amongst other more academic O levels, and I have never forgotten a huge amount, like nutrition, health safety, economy and of course cooking. Not just cooking but why different foods reacted under heat (chemistry really) how to conserve foods and ensure vitamins etc were kept at the optimum level.

We also learned how to wash clothing and linen and at what temperature to ensure the bacteria, dust mites etc were eliminated.

It was a comprehensive and thorough course which has stood me in good stead throughout my life.

Whatever else people learn what they will always need is the knowledge that keeps them healthy.

A calorie is a calorie how ever you consume it, eat too many calories and don't do any exercise and surprise surprise you might wake up one morning and find yourself fat.

Couldn’t agree more Maudi

Robin49

A calorie is a calorie how ever you consume it, eat too many calories and don't do any exercise and surprise surprise you might wake up one morning and find yourself fat.

Couldn’t agree more Maudi

We are talking about poverty aren’t we?

The issues are very different

So, will you be visiting the thread about making £1 a day, nutritionally balanced meals?

Why do some people think teaching cooking or nutrition at school would be a waste of effort and children would forget it all?

We do not say that about other lessons, like English, maths or French? if that was the case why would we send children to school at all.

Maudi. I am sorry but once people using phrases like 'getting into the real world' (is there any other?) then I know I am dealing with someone living in cloud cuckoo land.

Maudi

11:50DaisyAnne

A calorie is a calorie how ever you consume it, eat too many calories and don't do any exercise and surprise surprise you might wake up one morning and find yourself fat. No excuse to be fat or call other posters names because they don't agree with you. Perhaps getting out into the real world instead of spending all day on GN and Google might be an eye opener ?

Calorie dense foods are comparatively cheap which is probably why people on a limited income fill up on them.

Short-term deprivation is something most people can handle. But consider those with limited ability in the workplace, learning difficulties, ill-health (but not ill enough to not work), mental health problems, those caring for others having to work at a job fitting around their responsibilities - all the variations that put some in a position where they are destined for a life-time of impoverishment, and ask yourself how 'gung-ho' you might feel about things if you were faced with such a bleak future.

It's easy to criticise from the side-lines, but continual poverty is soul-destroying, and it saps your physical and mental energy.

growstuff

*why not spend it talking about nutrition instead*

Because pupils wouldn't listen and, even if they did, would forget it by the time the skills were needed.

PS. What are "cutting skills"?

The other things you could not forget are how to make every different sort of pastry, from rough puff to choice to pate Sucre etc. the different cake making methods, cuts of meat necessary for different dishes. Seasonal cooking, fish seasons, even meat has a season! Rechauffe and safety. Stock making, sauces. Etc we did lessons on the preparation of baby and young childrens food.

It was outstanding

I have never forgotten any of it. It is probably the best most useful and necessary course that I have ever done.

Pastry? You were taught at school to make pastry?And baby food? And this was the most necessary course you did?

No sorry. French. Maths. English. Etc. Not "how to be a housewife."

Obviously it’s not my subject but for gcse food technology with todays class sizes I can’t imagine you would ever be learning all that . A bit more for A level of course.

volver

Pastry? You were taught at school to make pastry?And baby food? And this was the most necessary course you did?

No sorry. French. Maths. English. Etc. Not "how to be a housewife."

I did those as well. I have been educated to post degree level But that course has stood me in good stead throughout my life.

Don’t denigrate those oh so necessary skills.

Lucca

Obviously it’s not my subject but for gcse food technology with todays class sizes I can’t imagine you would ever be learning all that . A bit more for A level of course.

I think that Os equated to a bit more than whatever it is these days at age 15/16