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Too many British families are hungry!

(552 Posts)
CvD66 Tue 27-Feb-24 13:55:32

According to Food Foundation tracker, 15% of UK households, approx 8m adults and 3m children, experienced food insecurity in January, as food prices continued to hit low-income families. (Today’s Guardian).
The report states that 60% of households bought less fruit and 44% less vegetables. Already the NHS has recorded an increase in hospital admissions for nutrition deficiency. Cancer UK has estimated there are 33,000 extra cases of cancer in UK associated with deprivation.
In contrast to this, the UK has 171 billionaires.
Is this really a country we can be proud of?

Callistemon21 Fri 01-Mar-24 23:24:52

Oreo

NHS staff could be cleaners and TA’s are poorly paid.Nurses and teachers are well paid, tho everyone always seems to feel they need more.

Nurses might be reasonably paid higher up the scale but a nurse who is a single parent with children might only be able to work limited hours and may be paying a large amount of rent for a property. Not all fathers pay maintenance either, if they find ways of avoiding it.

MissAdventure Fri 01-Mar-24 23:21:53

Oreo

TA’s aren’t teachers and their pay is vastly different.
Well that’s something we can agree on, cos I won’t ever need to ask advice on managing money on a forum either.
Even so, many people do need help on that subject.

At least we've found something to agree on 🤩

MissAdventure Fri 01-Mar-24 23:18:04

Teacher Tapp surveys show the number of teachers who receive food parcels has also rocketed almost three-fold since the pandemic. The banks are becoming the new frontline of the cost-of-living crisis as food prices soar, despite a dip in inflatio

Oreo Fri 01-Mar-24 23:17:08

NHS staff could be cleaners and TA’s are poorly paid.Nurses and teachers are well paid, tho everyone always seems to feel they need more.

Oreo Fri 01-Mar-24 23:15:22

TA’s aren’t teachers and their pay is vastly different.
Well that’s something we can agree on, cos I won’t ever need to ask advice on managing money on a forum either.
Even so, many people do need help on that subject.

MissAdventure Fri 01-Mar-24 23:11:57

We surveyed 34 of the UK's NHS charities1, with 21% confirming they had an active food bank for NHS staff or are implementing one, and a further 35% exploring the possibility. Six of those surveyed reported having active food banks in place, half of which were newly opened between October and December 2022.27 Jan 2023

MissAdventure Fri 01-Mar-24 23:07:00

Oreo

You are asking questions of me and I’m answering.

There will never be a time when I seek advice here in how to manage money, I can assure you of that.

MissAdventure Fri 01-Mar-24 23:05:57

A GMB London Region survey from May 2022 of 682 school support staff members in London found (222) 33% of School Support Staff (Teaching Assistants, Administrators and other support roles), in London have used food banks or are considering using one to deal with the cost-of-living crisis.10 Jun 2022

Oreo Fri 01-Mar-24 23:03:47

You are asking questions of me and I’m answering.

Oreo Fri 01-Mar-24 23:02:45

If teachers and nurses can’t manage their money then they really do need lessons.

MissAdventure Fri 01-Mar-24 23:01:54

I'm joining in a discussion, not asking for advice.
I assume it's ok for me to join in a discussion?

Oreo Fri 01-Mar-24 23:01:31

Teachers? You have to be joking.

Oreo Fri 01-Mar-24 23:00:46

Then don’t rely on an online forum for advice as how to manage.
I manage on a shoe string, but get my priorities right as you obvs do.
Younger people are not so savvy tho.
Pay your rent first, then the utilities then food and no frills unless there’s cash at the end of the week.That means no coffees out, either cheap new clothes or clothes from charity shops which when washed can be better than cheap new ones.
Do your own nails and hair apart from a cut now and then.No newspapers or mags and no fags or vaping.A mobile phone is needed for so much but pay as you go or a really good contract.
TV not cinema.
There are mental health cases who can’t cope with life and
there are those who haven’t the faintest idea about managing their money and those tend to be younger people.
There really does need to be some sort of public info about how to manage.
And yeah, the accessing of goods and food can be a problem for some people.

MissAdventure Fri 01-Mar-24 23:00:45

Incidentally, the people experiencing food insecurity at levels around 20+ percent are teachers and nhs workers.

MissAdventure Fri 01-Mar-24 22:47:14

If it's far, far less, why are hospital admissions and deaths rising due to nutritional defects?

If it is less, then it means "the poor" are coping better, I presume?

MissAdventure Fri 01-Mar-24 22:44:57

Well, I've found nothing helpful about the idea of having a pig, not having the latest tv (because I haven't) spending £10 to go into a supermarket cafe for £4, to get a free child's meal, not having false nails (because I don't) and not spending money on the latest phone (because I don't)

Oreo Fri 01-Mar-24 22:43:03

Look, there was food ‘uncertainty’ at any time in the 20th century, or any other century, and there is still some now, but far far less.
Lessons in how to manage on a shoe string would be helpful.

Oreo Fri 01-Mar-24 22:40:51

Isn’t helpful?😆

MissAdventure Fri 01-Mar-24 22:36:50

It is a different time again now, so comparing it to how people lived in the 50s isn't helpful.

Oreo Fri 01-Mar-24 22:35:03

I think one or two posters are just being sarcastic Primrose53
Just in case tho, as you say it was a different time when there were more low paid jobs than now and usually only the husband went to work while the wife looked after the children and home.Hardly any cash to spare and no luxuries.

MissAdventure Fri 01-Mar-24 22:32:58

Oh, just the same as my parents too, then

No, I'm not ignorant, no moreso then those who still think that food UNCERTAINTY has anything to do with hair extensions, mobile phones, and false fingernails.

Food uncertainly is to do with times that people are not necessarily able to access what they need.

Primrose53 Fri 01-Mar-24 22:29:36

MissAdventure

If people here grew up in poverty, why was that?
Was it because their parents spent their money on TVs, and needless items?

Was it because they didn't bother to help themselves, or maybe because they drank?

Are you really that ignorant?

Read the other thread about when you realised people had different lives to you. Most people had quite poor upbringings on there but that was a different time, mostly the 50s when the country was recovering from the war. There weren’t even TVs then and no luxuries.

Life was very frugal. My parents never smoked or drank and never wasted a penny. They never owed anybody anything and just kept their heads above water with no benefits or handouts as did everybody else.

Doodledog Fri 01-Mar-24 21:09:06

Good point, MissA. I assume that most went without vapes or false nails, that's for sure.

MissAdventure Fri 01-Mar-24 20:37:01

If people here grew up in poverty, why was that?
Was it because their parents spent their money on TVs, and needless items?

Was it because they didn't bother to help themselves, or maybe because they drank?

albertina Fri 01-Mar-24 20:15:58

I suffered food poverty as a lone parent in the 80s but nothing like the people I spoke to when I volunteered on a helpline during the pandemic. It stunned me to find out that so many people were struggling to feed themselves and their families. And this is before the price hikes. Lord knows how lone parents are managing now.