Strictly Cheese Sandwiches

MaizieD yes … you’re right about inflation. What’s annoying me is to hear the spin Hunt and Widecombe put on the subject. Also righteous indignation!

nanna8:

'We were all poor then. Maybe you don't remember?'

No, not all of us - we were rich, but didn't realise it. As kids, we just assumed our families were 'normal' and other people were much the same - both totally, completely wrong.

The reason people can't afford the ingredients for a cheese sandwich or other food is because basic staples have gone up by 19% and incomes have stayed the same. On top of that there are the ridiculous gas and electricity prices and increased mortgage rates. It is a sorry state of affairs when outgoings exceed income through no fault of the person(s) concerned. These people like Anne Widdecombe should try living in the real world!

Is this the Anne Widdecombe who got subsidised food when she was in the commons?

When we were kids (late 1940s/1950s) we ate a lot of "scouse" - a traditional Liverpool dish which resembles Irish stew in that the basics are potatoes, beef and onion boiled up together. However you can put almost anything into a pan of scouse and keep reheating it. I always used to prefer it next day when it had gone thick and you ate it with a spoon.

Ilovecheese

Is this the Anne Widdecombe who got subsidised food when she was in the commons?

It would be problematical for me to go there. Yes, the various eateries in the Parliamentary estate are subsided to a point, but not by that much. When I was contracting for BP about 30 years ago I got free meals in the Finsbury Circus canteen, and they weren't rubbish by any means either.

The thing about the eateries in the Palace of Westminster estate is that they don't just cater for MPS and Lords, in fact they are a small minority of the 13,000 people working in there. The great majority of those are low-paid researchers and assistants. It's also hard to get in and out of the area in these security-conscious days – the sealed-off estate covers very much more than the big Victorian-gothic building by the Thames, it extends quite a way down Parliament Street into Whitehall and also along the Embankment a way, and there are long queues to be checked in again once you've left it.

But don't let this distract from the suppurating abscess on the anus of British politics that is Ann Noreen Widdecombe. I bet she never ate sausage beans and chips in the Strangers' Caff, or joined the throng of caseworkers in the Portcullis House canteen. I bet she looked out for every schmoozing lunch opportunity.

Is there anyone who will come and say she thinks Ann N W- was quite right and fair enough?

Chocolatelovinggran

Does Ms Widdecombe have any helpful ideas as to what people might eat instead?

Cake ?

biglouis

When we were kids (late 1940s/1950s) we ate a lot of "scouse" - a traditional Liverpool dish which resembles Irish stew in that the basics are potatoes, beef and onion boiled up together. However you can put almost anything into a pan of scouse and keep reheating it. I always used to prefer it next day when it had gone thick and you ate it with a spoon.

Born and bred in Liverpool. We used to get a lamb bone from the butchers, to make ‘lob’ or meatless scouse. The bone provided stock and the stew itself was mainly potatoes with carrots onion and swede. There was always barley in it too, to stretch it out and thicken it. We used to have it next day after it had thickened, on toasted bread.

‘Suppurating abscess’ That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it? I don’t know anything about the woman but I wouldn’t say that about anyone, it is just rude.

growstuff

You lot don't know how lucky you are! I had to put up with margarine sandwiches.

I was given sugar butties and as a child I loved them. Couldn’t think of anything worse now.

Thank you Pammie - of course.

Traditional Italian peasant food is polenta (maize) which is quite a hazard to cook as it boils and erupts and needs constant stirring. Instant polenta is also available and can be cooked without danger to life. Can be soft or hard polenta, made with sauces and baked, fried or grilled . Once favoured by celebrity chefs. Used to be cheap. More interesting than cheese sandwiches too.

Pammie1

biglouis

When we were kids (late 1940s/1950s) we ate a lot of "scouse" - a traditional Liverpool dish which resembles Irish stew in that the basics are potatoes, beef and onion boiled up together. However you can put almost anything into a pan of scouse and keep reheating it. I always used to prefer it next day when it had gone thick and you ate it with a spoon.

Born and bred in Liverpool. We used to get a lamb bone from the butchers, to make ‘lob’ or meatless scouse. The bone provided stock and the stew itself was mainly potatoes with carrots onion and swede. There was always barley in it too, to stretch it out and thicken it. We used to have it next day after it had thickened, on toasted bread.

Not for the first time I made something very similar the other day - the very scanty remains of a half leg of lamb, strip the shreds of meat off, ditch the fat, simmer the bone, add onion, pearl barley, carrots, potatoes, stock cube - meat to heat through plus peas at the end.
Not because we’re skint - I just hate wasting food.
In any case, it’s very tasty and we like it!

Anyone ever had condensed milk sandwiches? Absolutely delish, and fed to me as a treat in the staff kitchen when my mother visited some rather posh people. Days, eh?

WW2 I was thinking the same. Just stopped myself from joining in.
Reminds me of the Monty Python Sketch “You were lucky, we lived in cardboard box on’t motorway.

Expectations are so high now. As others have said, being born in the early 40’s in London, during an air raid and growing up in the 40’s and 50’s , life was very different. No television, no mobile phones, hardly any toys, one Ideal boiler in the kitchen to heat the water, an open fire in the sitting room sometimes, ice on the inside of the bedroom windows in winter, no central heating of course, no sweets, lollies, ice cream etc. Meals were odd, revolting sheep’s stomach boiled , yuk- loads of spuds, swede which I hated, most foodstuffs were rationed. And yet, I remember, as that was life, being quite happy . We made our own games with friends in the road - that was fun. Therefore, I understand Ann Widdecombes remark, that if you can’t afford something, you don’t have it.

nanna8

‘Suppurating abscess’ That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it? I don’t know anything about the woman but I wouldn’t say that about anyone, it is just rude.

A truly disgusting thing to say about anyone.

As someone else has said this is not a competition.

montymops

Expectations are so high now. As others have said, being born in the early 40’s in London, during an air raid and growing up in the 40’s and 50’s , life was very different. No television, no mobile phones, hardly any toys, one Ideal boiler in the kitchen to heat the water, an open fire in the sitting room sometimes, ice on the inside of the bedroom windows in winter, no central heating of course, no sweets, lollies, ice cream etc. Meals were odd, revolting sheep’s stomach boiled , yuk- loads of spuds, swede which I hated, most foodstuffs were rationed. And yet, I remember, as that was life, being quite happy . We made our own games with friends in the road - that was fun. Therefore, I understand Ann Widdecombes remark, that if you can’t afford something, you don’t have it.

But a cheese sandwich? It's hardly beluga caviar, is it?

Therefore, I understand Ann Widdecombes remark, that if you can’t afford something, you don’t have it.

I'm sure that we can all understand that, but in this day and age, when the UK is so much richer, there just shouldn't be so many people in poverty. The distribution of the nation's money among its citizens is out of balance and desperately unequal.

Anyway, it was Widdicome who was blithely spouting all those lies about food being cheaper after Brexit.. There is some irony in her pronouncement...

If we can’t afford something we don’t have it. We do need nourishment to survive tho’
Cheese is expensive but there are alternatives.
What I really don’t get!
If we can’t afford to live in London, then we move somewhere we can afford where housing and living is cheaper. I’d love to live in London or Edinburgh but had to move to another part of the country. Only because it was cheaper.
I think the government will stop paying housing benefits in expensive areas encouraging folk to live in affordable areas that they can live according to their means.

My brother and myself frequently ate sauce sandwiches. Red for him, brown for me, or even salad cream. No chance of cheese or ham. This was in the late sixties. My father was the only one working. His weekly wage was £22.00.

Widdicombe is a dried up old spinster, never been married or had kids, grew up in some privilege and her whole life was her career. Now that it’s over she has realised how empty her life really is and it’s made her bitter. Just my opinion, for what it’s worth.

LovelyLady

If we can’t afford something we don’t have it. We do need nourishment to survive tho’
Cheese is expensive but there are alternatives.
What I really don’t get!
If we can’t afford to live in London, then we move somewhere we can afford where housing and living is cheaper. I’d love to live in London or Edinburgh but had to move to another part of the country. Only because it was cheaper.
I think the government will stop paying housing benefits in expensive areas encouraging folk to live in affordable areas that they can live according to their means.

Great, but is there any work available in the cheaper areas?

My Dad came home from his shift , had a cup of tea , and then
cycled off to his allotement, we hardly saw him. My Mum came home and started preparing the meal from scratch, we
never went hungry. What they didn't do was sit and watch
t.v. or have Smartphones or drink alcohol .