15% of households skipped meals last month because they couldn't afford to buy enough food

[cakeorwine]

‘Health emergency’: 15% of UK households went hungry last month, data shows | Food poverty | The Guardian

"Millions of people – including one in five families with children – have gone hungry or skipped meals in recent weeks because they could not regularly afford to buy groceries, according to new food insecurity data.
According to the Food Foundation tracker, 15% of UK households – equivalent to approximately 8 million adults and 3 million children – experienced food insecurity in January, as high food prices continued to hit the pockets of low-income families.

Expects warned the persistence of high levels of food insecurity among low-income families was a “health emergency” that would drive the prevalence of conditions linked to poor nutrition, such as malnutrition and rickets.
Nearly two-thirds (60%) of food-insecure households reported buying less fruit and 44% bought fewer vegetables as they struggled with the ongoing cost of living crisis. By contrast, just 11% of food-secure households bought less fruit and 6% purchased fewer vegetables"

This is awful data - and something that should be being talked about. Being in work does not protect you from this. Life is just very expensive for some people - and costs are still going up.

This comment on inflation is not that helpful

"Although inflation had decreased in recent months, food prices remained high, the foundation said. The price of a “reasonably costed, adequately nutritious” weekly basket of food has increased by 24-26% in the past two years, it said."

Inflation means prices are going up. Even if inflation falls, prices still go up overall. Just not as fast.

If this is true why is everyone so fat?
According to lots of health gurus intermittent fasting is the easiest way to lose weight.
They can’t both be true can they?
Given it’s in the Guardian I assume someone has miscalculated the January dieting statistics.

I just saw that article is awful. Hope 30p lee gets sent a copyl

From the Food Foundation

Families cutting back on healthy food risks widening health inequalities | Food Foundation

Always good to look at the original source

Because they are buying less fruit and vegetables as the statistics say

So when they are eating they are eating less nutritional food which is full of sugar, sweetners, carbs, salt etc

Plus whilst 60% of adults are overweight or obese, its quite possible this 15% of households falls into the remaining 40% of the population who are not overweight or obese

Did you really just sit there and type that?? Is that honestly the first place your mind went to?

Children are starving in this country because their parents cannot afford food and you think that’s a good thing?

What the fuck.

Healthy food is more expensive.

I can see this.

We have always bought the same shop, but the cost is up by 20-30 pounds for the same thing.

Families on the brink most likely cant find an extra 100 a month :(

Alongside higher bills, i can see how people that normally manage are stretching.

Given they say was it 300,000 children in emergency accommodation? Not all emergency accommodation has the cooking facilities either, which mean they cant buy certain ingredients and do those tips people suggest to lower costs. I think there is a mutitude of factors impacting struggling households at the moment. :(

If they're still struggling after having cut back on subscription tv and brand new iPhones then that's bad. However, some folk have their priorities wrong.

I very much doubt there are 15% of households prioritising subscription TV over feeding their children

Some people have their priorities wrong when it comes to being judgemental vs empathetic too

Our food bill is our biggest expense. Just me and adult ds. No mortgage no car and it always feels extremely high. I do however prioritise healthy nutritious foods which are not cheap. To my mind it is a type of health insurance.

If ds wasn't able to pay me his share of the food bill I would definitely struggle.

Can you honestly not work that out?

I could go to farm foods and stock up on frozen shit full of empty carbs, seed oils, cheap processed meats padded out with fillers, artificial sweeteners, other additives that would make us all fat and loads of cheap, breaded shit for a fraction of the price it would cost for fresh meat, fruit, vegetables and nuts.

Plus its cheaper to prepare and cook processed foods. A bag of frozen chips and burger patties, full of rapeseed oil is far cheaper and quicker to actually cook than a bag of lentils, tomatoes and spices to make a shedload of healthy daal.

Who doesn’t understand that?

Im surprised its not a higher percentage.and some of these comments are really horrible here.

Don’t forget as well that there are families without cooking facilities. No cooker or fridge, or no money for gas/electric meters.

Food needs to be cheap and fast to prepare with the lowest fuel consumption. There are areas where people can’t easily get to supermarkets thorough disability, cost or distance.

These threads end up getting dominated by the sort of people who express horror that foodbanks are asking for instant noodles and tinned ravioli and insist everyone should be donating quinoa and chickpeas instead.

Don’t be silly - people can’t afford to buy decent quality food so go for the quick option of high fat high sugar choices.

I know!
We need to bring back proper cookery lessons into school, that deal with nutritious, easy to cook meals, not just scientific analysis of ingredients!
Along with food banks, perhaps something like cooking hubs would be good - having a decent home cook demonstrating to groups of people how to prep cheap nutritious meals, with facilities to cook those meals at the hub so users go home with knowledge and a tasty meal for supper.

We are not arguing that people are buying the wrong food, we are apparently claiming that 15% of people occasionally had no money to buy any food. Which I frankly find hard to believe.
I know times are hard but if people are genuinely saying they have to go without food, there is probably something very wrong with their budgeting/prioritising of spending.
I know this is not a popular view, but we are so quick to make excuses for people now without addressing the root causes of problems.
Instead of wringing our hands about how awful things are, it would be more beneficial to everyone to look at why some people can manage and others can't without a myriad of excuses and justifications.

Imagine being a grown adult and sitting there typing that 🙄

This whataboutery is part of the problem. A vanishingly small proportion of households have no cooking facilities and access to shops is not unique to these times.
Throwing up smokescreens detracts from the rootvquestion of why some households can managecand others can't.

The causes of the problem include the fact that essentials have gone up by a lot more than the headline inflation rate and benefits and wages for the bottom ( and middle ) have gone up far less

At the bottom one extra bill - a car repair or new echoes for growing feet - can push you out of managing and into not enough

The shock in this is that there are people going without food they really need because they genuinely can't afford to buy any.

One thing I would argue is that if you're on a low budget, you don't have to buy everything frozen and live on chips and sausages. We went through a tough stage many years ago, and learnt that pulses, beans, canned tomatoes, rice, pasta and potatoes are great cheaper sources of food and there are many things that can easily be added to change each meal, ie spices, white sauce, cheese, tuna, peppers, mushrooms, onion, frozen spinach (don't forget frozen veggies are good value and avoid waste) etc - whatever you have in. Shops own shreddies are under £1, tasty and filling etc.

What do you think the problem is then? Poor maths skills?

one person who was struggling got rather upset when a cheap leek and potato soup was suggested because that would increase their gas bill

Many cheap meals with pulses take more cooking than beans on toast

I agree it's a cliche but your response doesn't elaborate on why you have reacted in this way.
Is it because you don't think some people on low in mcomes have streamed TV or iPhones?
Ir are you reacting to the poster pointing out that some do?