Too many British families are hungry!

Please understand with the whole smartphone, TV etc., many “poorer” people sadly resort to money lenders, payday loans, catalogues etc to purchase these things because they have children and don’t want them to miss out. However I’ve been in some homes where there is a very old TV, older phone (which DWP insist you have if looking for work), and just the most awful living conditions. I’ve been in homes where domestic violence survivors have been rehoused but the council no longer provide carpets and curtains and furniture has to be begged or borrowed. Honestly I’ve seen things and heard life stories which are completely horrific and having worked in London in financial services before moving to the public sector and it truly opened my eyes. This, combined with my daughters tales of her pupils in a very deprived primary school has made me open my eyes to entire section of our society I didn’t really understand existed and certainly not in the numbers we currently have!

I also think that a lot of people just don't know how to cook or budget. Nutrition and cooking (domestic science as it used to be called) doesn't seem to be taught any more.. This lack of experience and knowledge must surely exacerbate a lack of money and rising food prices.. I wonder if food banks could help people with cooking skills.. I know that in Brighton we have a food kitchen for teaching skills

Cooking from scratch isn't always the most economically sound idea.
No point having a box full of fresh veg going off because it's too much for you to use, cook, store.

We have so many “fractured” families, many don’t come from stable homes and are now parents themselves. Many of us are fortunate enough to come from stable families and learned things from our own parents, sometimes almost by osmosis. We now have generations where this didn’t happen and I guess it’s difficult for us to completely understand.

I’ve worked within a community foodbank, many people on low incomes go there, it’s really not full of people wearing designer clothes and fake tans! Most people are just normal folk caught in the poverty trap, sometimes estranged from family, with no clue how to escape or improve their situation. Throw in children with “issues” and possibly not attending school full time and you have ticking timebombs waiting to explode. Cuts to community buildings and things like sure start, where families got lots of practical help have made these issues so much worse!

People can’t afford the cost of the electricity to enable them to cook from scratch. Our foodbank requests items which can be reconstituted with boiling water, as some people only have a kettle.

Some people who use food banks do not have cooking facilities, or if they do, cannot afford to use them. Pot noodles, cuppa soup are often requested, as they just need a kettle. It is not just a lack of cooking skills.

pascal30

I also think that a lot of people just don't know how to cook or budget. Nutrition and cooking (domestic science as it used to be called) doesn't seem to be taught any more.. This lack of experience and knowledge must surely exacerbate a lack of money and rising food prices.. I wonder if food banks could help people with cooking skills.. I know that in Brighton we have a food kitchen for teaching skills

But if you haven't got the money to buy stuff in the first place, or buy in bulk because it's technically "cheaper" or have somewhere to keep it due to lack of space/finances to fund a freezer etc, then it's irrelevant.

AND WHY SHOULD FOODBANKS BE RESPONSIBLE FOR TEACHING FOLK HOW TO COOK?!?!?!

Yes, of course it's a good skill to have, if you have the means to see the whole process through, from purchasing ingredients to cooking to keeping the finished product for the days/weeks ahead.

I wonder if certain folk here have ever seen "Rich House, Poor House". Maybe they should. It's an eye opener, for sure.

MissAdventure

Cooking from scratch isn't always the most economically sound idea.
No point having a box full of fresh veg going off because it's too much for you to use, cook, store.

So make soup with it and freeze. Full of goodness and very warming and a meal for next to nothing. 🙂

Primrose53

MissAdventure

Cooking from scratch isn't always the most economically sound idea.
No point having a box full of fresh veg going off because it's too much for you to use, cook, store.

So make soup with it and freeze. Full of goodness and very warming and a meal for next to nothing. 🙂

I looked it up. It costs 68p per hour to use your cooker hob. People can’t afford to cook soup from scratch. They are very unlikely to have a freezer either.

That’s all very well Primrose53 if you can afford the energy to cook it, have an oven, pots to cook it in and a freezer to store it in. Home made soup is great, but for a main meal 7 days a week it’s neither filling nor nutritionally sound. I doubt many of us have lived in one room, with children and a shared toilet/bathroom.
It’s not that easy for some.

Primrose53

Are you purposely being obtuse?

Freezers are expensive to run. And why should people have to make chuffing soup to survive?! I make my own soup all the time, but I have the availability of all kinds of veg and the funds/means to create it, cook it, store it and reheat it. But I certainly don't want to eat Carrot & Coriander soup until the end of time.

Crossed post Casdon.

Jaxjacky

Crossed post Casdon.

We three!! Never mind 😁

And let's not forget, that whatever the causes of food poverty, and whatever their parents are spending what little money they have on - it's never the fault of the children. Children should not be going hungry in 2024.

So if it costs 68p per hour to use your hob, how much do takeaways cost?

pascal30

I also think that a lot of people just don't know how to cook or budget. Nutrition and cooking (domestic science as it used to be called) doesn't seem to be taught any more.. This lack of experience and knowledge must surely exacerbate a lack of money and rising food prices.. I wonder if food banks could help people with cooking skills.. I know that in Brighton we have a food kitchen for teaching skills

Lots of places offer free cooking courses. I volunteered for a while at an initiative where we provided very budget friendly ingredients to make a healthy meal. One of them was a much healthier alternative to Pot Noodles, using fresh veg and noodles cooked on a single ring.

We also did several sessions on meals in a slow cooker and everyone was given a new slow cooker to keep.

We advertised extensively posters outside school where parents wait, Facebook, libraries etc and the council funded it and it was free but take up was pretty poor.

If people want to learn, they will. I did not study cookery at school and chose Art instead but once I got married I had to learn very quickly indeed as we were on a very tight budget. I bought some cookery books from jumble sales, cut recipes from magazines and wrote down some of my Mum’s recipes and I taught myself. Even easier for people to learn now they have Internet, youtube etc. 😉

Germanshepherdsmum

So if it costs 68p per hour to use your hob, how much do takeaways cost?

They're not eating takeaways, GSM. Quite often they're not eating anything.

Your evidence for that is … ? As opposed to the evidence of my own eyes, and Primrose’s? People have no idea how to cook nowadays. My mother and grandmother managed on very little money. And I mean very little. They knew how to make a meal out of next to nothing . I think many of today’s hard up mothers would prioritise getting their nails done and buying false eyelashes from what I have seen in television interviews .

Kerching Miss A!

I volunteer at a food bank. I do not want to " teach how to cook" as I would regard that as patronising- and I'm a rubbish cook...

Germanshepherdsmum

So if it costs 68p per hour to use your hob, how much do takeaways cost?

Irrelevant, because they're not eating them.

Jaxjacky

That’s all very well Primrose53 if you can afford the energy to cook it, have an oven, pots to cook it in and a freezer to store it in. Home made soup is great, but for a main meal 7 days a week it’s neither filling nor nutritionally sound. I doubt many of us have lived in one room, with children and a shared toilet/bathroom.
It’s not that easy for some.

People have to do a bit of thinking for themselves. We taught people to cook one pot meals on those little single ring hobs. They are very cheap to buy. A 2 ringer is not much dearer. Porridge or an egg on toast for breakfast, soup and bread and a banana for lunch and a meal from a slow cooker at night is enough for anyone.

I will just add that a family member goes into hundreds of homes every month ranging from very poor to very rich and says he hasn’t been in one without a freezer yet and they are often used for frozen pizzas, chips, ice lollies, ready meals etc.

It is never the children’s fault.

MissAdventure

Those after school and breakfast clubs can cost a fair old bit, too.

That's what I was thinking too.

One of my dgc sometimes attends them when parents' work commitments make an early start / late finish inevitable , but they definitely pay for it. Both are run at the local pre-school as a way for them to increase their own profits, and I'm not aware that anyone can get 'free' food there.

GrannyGravy13

It is never the children’s fault.

Who is saying it is? I agree with you.