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.

I'd like to see some of the posters here do a 14 hour shift in a care home and go home, cook and eat lentil curry or something that's been suggested as cheap as well as nutritious and do that day in day out.

Been there. Done that.

If I'm cooking for you after a 14-hour shift in a busy care home you're having chicken nuggets and smiley faces from the air fryer and you'll thank me for it or I will punch you in the throat. If you're lucky I might also warm you up some peas and sweetcorn to go with it. We probably won't have ketchup though because it's expensive.

Who said anything about eating a dry jacket potato. It's obvious it would have butter/margarine on it. Even when ordering in a cafe it always comes with butter. It says everything about how some people view food in this country when a vegetable casserole with lentils is described as disgusting. What is disgusting is chicken nuggets made from reformed chicken meat or cheap beef burgers made with all the left overs bits.

Margarine is rank and you need to take out a mortgage to afford butter these days.

We've started making our own because cream is cheaper than butter.

"Punch you in the throat" wow you sound nice.

The person who priced out a meal of jacket potato, peas and egg for £3.40 for a family of four (or whatever the price was).

Because their low price didn't include anything like butter, cheese or sauces?

I'd like to see some of the posters here do a 14 hour shift in a care home and go home, cook and eat lentil curry or something that's been suggested as cheap as well as nutritious and do that day in day out.

Exactly. It's so depressing.

Instead of thinking "Hang on, hard working families should be able to feed their children properly" they're arguing that they're at fault for choosing food that's tasty and filling and that their kids are guaranteed to eat.

But given this is a thread about people who are skipping meals because they cant afford to eat, suggesting meals that involves building up a store cupboard of ingredients is not overly helpful, nor is critising their eating habits

Do you really not know how much of a twat you sound?

I for one am not saying that. I am saying I don't believe 15% of people have no money to buy food in absolute terms.
To address some of the points raised here:

1. Buying ready-made food mean you never build up a store cupboard of flour, sugar etc to make eg pancakes
2. The point about not being able to afford bus fares is a moot one really - presumably some grocery shopping is done at some point of the week so why is this always trotted out every time someone suggests eg potatoes? Are they suggesting people travel to the supermarket for a bag of potatoes
3. The assumption that people can't afford energy. I have just run a single mum with two kids through a benefits calculator (assuming she doesn't work at all) and the UC etc payable is nearly £1800. Presume rent top-up has to come out of that too. It;s not a fortune, but it should stretch to food and energy. If posters are seriously saying she can't afford foor or energy, there is something amiss I am afraid.
4. Faddy children - I can understand why someone with a small budget is reluctant to experiment with anything other that what they know will be eaten
5. Plenty of posters have described growing up in poverty. Which means this is not as unique to the evil Tories that some posters want it to be. And there were far few benefits back then too.

Well charging people money for not having enough money in the first place is not a new concept really, a financial punishment for being on low income and unable to afford everything to start with.

And yes, it was a type of poverty, but not generally what you think of when you hear the word of hungry, dirty and cold people - we weren't but the fact was still there that there was more expected to be going out than was coming in and that means something doesn't get paid.

It's the people who don't have that choice that are truly in poverty to me anyway, that don't have the option to not pay something and free up that cash for food or heating, because they've already done that and there's no where left to go because they've got nothing or next to nothing left to cut.

You're right, it's not long term sustainable, but then nor is hunger or being homeless, cold etc, it's just some people think it should be - as long as it's happening to someone else.

Yes, and as I have explained these are things that should already have been built up in the cupboard, such as tom/ brown sauce for example. This beige diet that so many children seem to be fed, will not help them in the long run, even if they are a quick meal. That is what I am talking about. I appreciate as I stated before , that this may not be the thread for that, so I will bow out now.

You’ve stocked up your spice rack because you can afford to spend an extra few quid per shop on ‘nice to have’ extras. If you’re so poor that you are skipping meals, actually going hungry, the thought of buying some tarragon or garam masala to spice things up wouldn’t enter your head! Are you being deliberately obtuse?

1. The assumption that people can't afford energy. I have just run a single mum with two kids through a benefits calculator (assuming she doesn't work at all) and the UC etc payable is nearly £1800. Presume rent top-up has to come out of that too. It;s not a fortune, but it should stretch to food and energy. If posters are seriously saying she can't afford foor or energy, there is something amiss I am afraid.

Have you tried running a prepayment meter lately?

I'm putting around £15-20 a week on gas and £30-40 on electric. I admit my electricity is higher than someone who doesn't work due to running a desktop PC, laptop, and various monitors for work but I try to limit the amount of gas we use. I only put the heating on early morning and late at night for an hour or two and our shower is electric.

And as people have tried to explain to you - if you're budgeting down to your last penny, you can't afford to build up any kind of supply of cupboard staples. Because you literally have nothing left over.

There are people who are digging down the sofa or in coat pockets for 20p to buy bread and milk. They don't have a spare few pounds each week to buy spices 🙄

That was me, but I didn't realise that people on here would think it literally meant a plain jacket potato. It was obvious to me that butter/margarine/ low fat spread would be added.

People assumed that because when you're talking about budgeting down to your last penny, you have to think about whether you can afford to add butter to your potatoes or not.

^This.

When you're skint jackets are served with baked beans or something else "wet" because butter is extortionate. No one on a budget will be buying butter and you need the marg for sandwiches and toast. You can't afford to start using extra for potatoes when you could make a pizza and chips instead for the same price.

Also, ARFID.

When I was really skint I lived entirely on

Tea and toast for breakfast and/or lunch depending on whether I felt I could afford both

Pasta and tinned tuna
Pasta and tinned tomatoes
A cheap supermarket pizza for a Friday night treat.

But that was just for me and energy prices weren't what they are now. I don't know how some families are managing.

I'd be grateful for anyone cooking me anything after a shift tbh probably even lentil curry 🤣 as long as I didn't have to cook it, although I might not stay awake long enough for it to be ready!

Disclaimer - I have no idea how long lentil curry takes because I commit the cardinal sin of being poor and not liking them.

How is it possible that upfs - which need a whole catalogue of additional ingredients in some cases, plus machinery, people, premises and time to create them, plus attractive packaging - are cheaper than foods in their natural state?

Longer shelf life means less lost to waste on its way through the supply chain.

Use beans then instead of peas, just as cheap.

Pouch rice is so expensive!

We use pre-soaked/tinned lentils so IDK how long dried lentils take. I believe you have to soak them overnight but I'd need to google to check before I attempted cooking with them.

When we are coming to the end of the month I sneak kidney beans and lentils into curries and mince dishes to bulk them out and use less meat but don't tell DD2 because she cannot eat anything with lentils or kidney beans in 😂

Exactly how I feel. When you see mums interviewed and they profess to have skipped meals regularly, yet their obese, how does that work 🤷‍♀️

I worked in housing several years ago, and what some people prioritise as essential isn’t the same as my thinkings. Having SKY or the latest mobile is not essential.