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.

Ever had one Clav?

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.

Back when? I’m 70 and the Tories have been in power for 46 years of my lifetime. The number of people living in poverty fell dramatically in the noughties, it’s been scandalously high before and after. Let’s not pretend that Tory governments don’t worsen poverty because the evidence is all there.

Exactly. Or painkillers (because of said periods). I spend at least £5 every cycle on products - that's a lot of money when you only have £70 to spend that week. And it's not like you can buy tampons or tablets one at a time

If you then have two teenagers and an adult who all get periods, suddenly you're spending £15 of that "budget" on essentials.

Piggywaspushed
Ever had one Clav?

Frequently - although I confess I usually buy Tilda rice pouches from Waitrose.

All these posts about Sky TV, iPhones etc,🙄 conveniently ignoring the damage done by PM Truss and her Kamikwaze Economics that added hundreds of pounds to the monthly bills of mortgage payers.🤯

More bloody “Let them eat cake”.

BIossomtoes

Well, I've just checked several brands of rice - they both say 2 servings per pack.

Me too, clav because I'm a lazy arsed cook like most of the ones being derided on this thread. But , as we are not the feckless underclass, I guess we are allowed to eat crap.

Well, they would, wouldn't they??

Piggywaspushed

My post was about portion sizes.

Someone 'll be along in a minute to tell you how to make your own.

All these posts about Sky TV, iPhones etc,🙄 conveniently ignoring the damage done by PM Truss and her Kamikwaze Economics that added hundreds of pounds to the monthly bills of mortgage payers.🤯

I was speaking to a debt advisor today who said the vast majority of their clients now are working people who have had a life event utterly undermine their prior financial security. Most aren’t there for consumer debt, it’s utilities, rent and mortgage - the absolute basics that they can’t afford and are accumulating debt to try and service. I guess food is down the list somewhat if you can’t afford the roof over your head.

It really wouldn't surprise me. Or to tell me to invest that poor people should just invest £30 in a mooncup and free bleed in the meantime

It's too big as a single serve, maybe for a teenage boy or man, but it is a small serve between two.

I sometimes use them with batch cooked chilli or curry if I don't want to cook rice, but I'm more likely to just do couscous instead. Couscous I just add boiling water, cover and leave while the other food is in the microwave.

Tesco microwave basmati rice, 125g per serve

Tesco basmati rice, 75g dry equals 235g cooked per serve

Which is right?

I eat like a sparrow and even I eat 2/3 of a packet.

@lifebeginsaftercoffee

absolutely right.

Back in the 1980s when I was 17/18, my mum left my father. She had to start again with virtually nothing. My mum had a job as a nursery nurse, ( very low pay) but this was height of unemployment in Liverpool and I was unemployed.

We never went hungry, but there was nothing to spare and I remember very well that the last 10 days or so of every month was a grind of cornflakes for breakfast and egg and chips for tea. It was boring, tedious and not that healthy. Things only got better for her when I left home and she started to pool some resources with a friend, and then remarried when I was 21. Those 3 or so where a very long slog.

I think that would be right for us if the fractions worked out (two of us). We eat plenty but just don't like a lot of rice to chilli/curry.

When that rice comprises your only meal that day, along with whatever you can scrape to have with it, you're going to need a bigger portion, aren't you?

It's a lot easier to say you only want a bit of rice when you've got breakfast and lunch in your belly.

Is this aimed at me or the person I quoted? I was questioning using serving sizes as proof when they don't match between the microwave product and the dry one.

I spend less than £70 a week for our family of 4 (2 adults, 3 year old, 11 month old) and that includes nappies and wipes.

Kalevala
Tesco basmati rice, 75g dry equals 235g cooked per serve

Tesco Basmati Rice 500G packet suggests 6 servings.

I can't find a 500g packet but the 1kg says 75g serve equals 235g cooked.

I haven't read all the posts.

What is the rice discussion about?

Based on 500g/6 though, that will be about triple when cooked.