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?

This is a really tricky subject. I work with a lot of people who use food banks. I do see how a lot of them struggle to budget, especially since the introduction of Universal Credit. Those who are worst off, are usually single, unemployed people with no medical issues, under 35. How on earth they are expected to live, I really don't know. One client recently was refused a social housing 1 bed flat. The reason being, that at aged 20, and on UC, she couldn't afford to live there.

Families with children, yes some, not all, are not able to budget their UC to last the month. And so they use food banks. Yes, you can look at the income, and write it down and conclude that they could shop at Aldi, and not "waste" money on takeaways, and Sky, but often things like direct debits aren't an option for some people. Their children should not go hungry.

When saying 'it's not the UK's fault' - how about the utter ballsup that is UC? Also, the freeze in benefits since 2016? Also, has the steady decrease in what people can access via public healthcare (for both physical and mental health) impacted on people's ability to function and provide for themselves?

These things mean the poor are getting poorer, surely? And shouldn't they be laid at the door of the Government?

@Rachel438

*Wow - that's great. Well done you.

Strangely enough though, this thread is not about you - is it?*

No, but then it's not about any of us, is it? None of us, sitting here with our internet and our phones/laptops/pcs are the content of this discussion. Yet we all have opinions.

Why name change if that's how you feel

And it's already been said, £1 can get someone a frozen pizza for example, or 4 packets of noodles. They arent going to think oh I know il grab some vegetables and make a nice healthy soup on appliances that cost money to run and that some might not have. Ffs it's not hard.

@Dogsdinner12 I didn't have the balls to mention that part but it's true. Even the sad-face cover shot for the programme shows two overweight kids. You don't get overweight on no food.

I was saying the programme stated that “Children were going hungry and not having anything to eat” not saying they were eating massive cheap pizza. And that frozen has to be cooked in an appliance that could be also used to cook veg for soup!

*Frozen pizza.

I’ve named changed as I’ll get slaughtered. Just watched a little over two minutes of this and the children in it were overweight

If you've got kids to feed and 60p will get you a whole frozen pizza, or a small head of broccoli, pizza will fill them up more. Junk food is cheaper and more filling, and when you're desperate, you go for what's filling and cheapest, not what's more expensive but better for you.

Perhaps we should limit food banks to those who are underweight? Weigh the kids as they go in, "Sorry Johnny, no food today, will do you good to lose some weight."

Jesus.

You get overweight on food and little exercise

You need to understand using food banks doesn’t mean ALWAYS STARVING.

It means no food now. Maybe the last few months things have been held together, and they had food. School dinners etc.

They have no food RIGHT NOW. They need to eat regularly. Do you want them to go long enough without food that they’ve lost sufficient weight to make you happy?

Oh right, so it has nothing to do with the very little they have to eat might not be nutritious that was my point about frozen pizza.

And if you can cook soup in 12/14 min like you can a pizza then more power to ya. Let not get started on the stock etc needed to go with it. Or are they pulling it from their fully stocked pantry? 🤔

Overweight kids can still be malnourished. What do you think happens to a body if it is mainly fed on cheap and filling carbohydrates. Bloody hell, the level of ignorance on here.

My point was and still is, in the 80’s during the strikes we didn’t have enough food. We ate veg, bread very basic food , no meat, no frozen pizza. We were hungry and very thin.

ijustwanttoweardungarees
Brava. Perfect response.

I initially wrongly thought the overweight kids were those NOT using the food bank, to try and give a contrast or something. Then the interviewer asked, "So, you must be really worried that Mummy can't buy you enough food?" Leading question or what!?!?

Well that’s not much of a point. you couldn’t access a dirt cheap pizza in the 80s during the strikes, otherwise you would’ve been eating one too.

These are children we are talking about. Children whose parents might have £1 to feed 2 or 3 children for dinner. That's basic pizza, basic bread, frozen chips etc. All food that is cheap, will fill them up and make them overweight if eaten enough of. I'm by no means wealthy but I'm self aware enough to know that because I have a roof over my head which we can afford to pay for, heating on and the ability to buy, cook and serve food for my family without thought I am positively rich to many in this country. I am also aware that if I only had £1 to feed DS I'd give him a cheap pizza night after night if it meant he went to bed having eaten and not concern myself with nutrition. The lack of real life awareness on MN is staggering sometimes.

I think the difference is that now there is the cheap frozen pizza dogsdinner. Which fills a hole and kids will eat.

My point was and still is, in the 80’s during the strikes we didn’t have enough food

And I'm sure if there were food banks etc then people would have used them. It would then be majorly unfair to tarnish all the parents of the 80s as not helping themselves/feckless etc for using them. That's without then going on to insinuate because they are overweight they must not go hungry.

I think it’s pretty easy to figure out what’s gone wrong. People are having children they can’t afford. It’s 2019, we have good and carried contraceptive options and easy to access and very safe abortions. Child poverty shouldn’t exist.

Actually, kids on the 80's and earlier got jam or sugar sandwiches to eat, broken biscuits for breakfast, if the family was truly broke

Nostalgia is not helpful

What about the people who can afford their children before their circumstances change @Velveteenfruitbowl? What should they do? Kill them?

I grew up in the 80s in a poor northern mining town. I wasn't a skinny kid. We lived off huge boxes of broken biscuits.

And porridge with a spoonful of sugar on. Or golden syrup sandwiches.

Sugar sandwiches!