Britain's Hidden Hunger

[KanelbulleKing]

www.itv.com/hub/britains-secret-hunger-exposure/2a7613a0001

Just watching this on catch up and I'm sobbing. How has Britain sunk so low as a country that children are frightened of school holidays because they know they'll be hungry? Children thinking it's Christmas because their family has received a few bags of basic food items?

The existence of food banks in one of the richest countries in the world is a national disgrace. My MIL is knocking on 80 and spends her spare time peeling potatoes and carrots for the lunches her church provides for anyone who needs them. She should be putting her feet up and being served herself but she won't because she's too worried about her 'guests' going hungry.

Time for change?

zsazsajuju the way I read it wasn’t horror at eating porridge or soup. These are all normal things that people eat as part of their diet. The issue is lack of choice. I love soup. I’d probably love it less if it was the only thing I could afford to eat for lunch and dinner, day in, day out. Same goes for porridge.
It’s the lack of choice that must be pretty soul destroying.

@elbeagle there were multiple posts about how porridge is “gruel” and comments like “bullshit” and various other similar comments when I said I had porridge with water every morning and it was tasty. Sorry but you can go back up and read them. Healthy home made food seems to be very strange to some people.

Also food banks are really there to provide choices are they. I am well aware of the lack of choices generally poverty can bring as I have been there and it’s a bit of a separate issue. But eating home made healthy food should not be shocking either. Nor should budgeting.

I actually think I ate much healthier on benefits than now because I couldn’t afford convenience. But those are my circumstances (I wasn’t working but had young children) and my experiences not everyone’s.

Zsazsa your repeated porridge chat is coming across as very “let them eat cake”

Cooking economically isn’t the problem. That’s so simplistic, such a small part of a complex situation. Time after time the public age indulged in the idea that they have the answer, and that when they were poor they were so much better than today’s feckless poor

We need to stop talking about bloody cooking and start talking about the real issues- medical and social services support, housing, benefits, education, back to work schemes, job creation etc etc

There's no way I could make a soup from scratch after being out at work all day - I just don't have the mental energy or heads pace. I know some people who really enjoy doing it because cooking is a hobby to them, but to me it's a massive chore. If you don't have a freezer, coming home after work and making soup from scratch just isn't realistic - and yes, there are plenty of people who have small kitchens and nowhere to put a freezer!

I really do think the lack of compassion on this thread from some posters is shocking. I teach, and in an area people might think of as middle class. I teach teenagers who have parents who are drug addicts, who are technically homeless and living in b and b accommodation, or who live in inadequate housing, who are living with people other than their parents for whatever reason, who have parents who are very ill or have died.

I teach plenty of children who's parents wouldn't be able to cook a soup from scratch for whatever reason.

None of these teenagers have the power to do anything about their living situation yet. Absolutely none of them deserve to go hungry. Maybe some of their parents could make better choices, but equally none of the parents deserve to go hungry, either.

I like my porridge with milk. If I liked it with water, making it with water would be fine. However if I had to make it with water (despite not liking it with water) because I couldn’t afford milk... that’s different.

@elbeagle - eating porridge with water is not shocking for any normal person. As I said. You like to make it with milk - strange but still doesn’t mean that it’s “bullshit” that many people make it with water and enjoy it.

@passthecherrycoke - your post makes no sense at all. I’m not suggesting anyone eat cake. Kind of the opposite really! I’m pointing out that some people are so used to being wealthy and eating processed foods that utterly normal healthy foods like porridge or soup are considered some sort of sign of the workhouse when they are healthy home made foods.

When did I say it was bullshit?! Never used that word in my life.

I totally understand why people would buy fags and booze in spite of being very poor. I've never been poor and I can barely cope with life as it is....I imagine the stress of having no money must make the lure of small luxuries representing moments of escapism incredibly strong indeed!

@Passthecherrycoke -also if you actually read any of my posts, you would be aware that I’m not suggesting that “cooking economically” is the problem. I was commenting though on pps bizarre remarks on perfectly healthy food (and to puss post agreeing). As I said, some people seem to be so used to processed food that there’s some sort of shame in porridge or soup (both called gruel multiple times).

Also it’s interesting the chat on buying brands too - many people have commented that they buy brands for the food bank. I would never buy brands for myself or the food bank. They’re a total waste of money imo. But it’s interesting that many people see them as a luxury that would be nice for the food bank.

If we’re talking about food security and healthy eating, I think it would be helpful to get to a situation where nutritious home cooked food is the ideal rather than processed brands. But that won’t necessarily be the answer for everyone as many in temp accommodation, etc.

I don't think I'll watch it. I'm already in tears reading some of the replies. It's heartbreaking.

Just watched it. God what a way to live. Supporting 5 kids and loads of pets on one £8p.h salary just sounds bloody impossible. What a little cracker Kieran is, bless him! Real eye opener.

The issue is lack of choice.
There's not much choice or variety if you are buying the same cheapest frozen pizza and sugary cereal every week either. Swapping for healthy homemade foods like porridge and soups some of the time, and buying a bag of apples or bananas instead of a multipack of crisps, would be increasing choice.

@zsazsajuju aren’t you aware of the let them
Eat cake quote?

I say this every year but if you are donating to a Food Bank please check with your local FB what they actually need ... I volunteer at a FB & people are very generous but very ‘middle class’ in the type of donations they give us pie; tons of pasta, rice & tinned tomatoes . We get loads of things donated that no one wants ... and then we have the problem of what to do with it.

Pasta, rice and tinned tomatoes are middle class? I was cooking with those foods all the time when we were on benefits, we wouldn't have got by otherwise. What's changed now that I have a full time wage is that I can afford a greater variety of fruits and vegetables.

I’m surprised pasta, rice and tinned tomatoes are considered middle class. They’re staples. My upbringing was far from middle class and they were things we ate all the time.

@Ragwort do you think they would want things like chilli in a can. Something that could be a complete meal, almost?

I am always amused that families who can’t afford to feed their children have multiple pets (including dogs that weren’t cheap to acquire in the first place) I don’t have pets because I can’t afford them!! Get rid of the bloody needless pets!! Ffs!

I think the point I am trying to make is that many people who use Food Banks don’t have the facilities, energy, knowledge or inclination to make a meal from scratch (& yes I know that is not a politically correct thing to say). So whilst most mumsnetters would easily be able to make a reasonable meal from a pack of pasta & tin of tomatoes, in my experience many people who use a Food Bank do not. It would be very patronising to ‘teach’ people how to make basic recipes.

Why else do you think that many Food Banks end up with mountains of unwanted pasta & rice?

Products such as tinned chilli, Fray Bentos pies etc are much more popular.

www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/emergency-food/food-parcel/ Maybe people are buying based on lists like this?

Yes, I’m sure pasta, rice and tinned tomatoes were three of the things listed as suggested donations when our school had a collection for harvest festival.

Yes I’ve found the list we were given.
Tinned fruit
Tinned meat
Biscuits
Tinned tomatoes
Lentils
Rice
Pasta
Long life milk

I’m not surprised that food banks struggle to give away rice and tinned tomatoes. I’ve met a lot of people on low incomes who think veggie soups, stews etc are gross. If you don’t grow up eating food like that you don’t acquire a taste for it.
When we analyse issues like this we forget we are doing so through our middle class lense.

Why are those things put on their lists of ‘needed items’ then?