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.

Can I come?

But if you’re time poor then those recipes won’t work, surely?

I've just looked and in February (I realise it's not quite the end of a 'short' month) I've spent £150 in Aldi, two adults & 2 dogs, and that's everything, food, toiletries, dog food etc.
Although we do both have meals at work 5 days a week.
As name would suggest I've only just passed my test and got a car, for years I had to either pay for 2 buses to get to Aldi/Asda(and almost a full day trip) or the ones locally were Sainsbury's or Co-op. The options were more limited in those shops as well, often the cheapest meal in the coop was the £5 meal deal of pizza or nuggets, waffles, oven chips, ice cream - considering it lasted me two or more meals and took less time to cook than fresh ingredients and cooking from scratch - for one person.

I looked for this time last year and I spent about the same as that in the 2 locals and that was just me and dogs as DD away at university.

As others have said, Aldi is great, Asda is ok as well - as long as you have the time if they're not local and as long as any savings you make aren't cancelled out by travel costs. I can even top up from there because I drive straight past - but that's a very new advantage I have now.

I was just pointing out veg isn't always expensive. Put some mince meat and mash potatos with the carrots and u get sheperherds pie. Boil some eggs, mix with mayo and put with some lettuce and tomatoes for salad. I think if you do online shopping its easier to keep to a budget.

Have you seen the price of mince lately?

Mince and veg was one of my staples when I was skint. I cannot remember how much it was but it certainly wasn't almost £5 per pack. I think it was around £2, cheaper if you bought the big bags of frozen value mince.

I don't need to but I'd struggle to feed my family of 4 on that, surely it depends on your family ages, you sound like you have young children. Feeding a 17 year old skinny, doesn't gain any weight boy (so can't eat less) and eats 2 x my DH and a 13 year old DD is different to feeding toddlers abd young DC. My DD is very healthy so although doesn't eat much she does like expensive products. How do you produce healthy meals and snacks on 60 pounds when essentially you have four adults to feed!

Not wanting to derail the thread as I’ve found the debate interesting (but depressing!) - and am well aware this isn’t the point - this is a Spanish Omelette, and their national dish and can be delicious.

How do you produce healthy meals and snacks on 60 pounds when essentially you have four adults to feed!

You don’t and can’t. Our food bill increases exponentially when my vegan son comes to stay. No meat, no dairy, just pulses, nuts, fruit and veg - I can easily spend £25 on fruit and veg just for him.

Just read the thread and you do have very young DC, I'm sorry but is this a joke, it is not comparable, toddlers eat pretty much nothing in comparison to a household with teenagers. DS would not be satisfied with scrambled egg on toast for dinner and he would be even thinner than he is now!

I was just pointing out veg isn't always expensive. Put some mince meat and mash potatos with the carrots and u get sheperherds pie. Boil some eggs, mix with mayo and put with some lettuce and tomatoes for salad. I think if you do online shopping its easier to keep to a budget.

Mince, eggs and mayonnaise all cost a small fortune - they're hardly cheap foods to feed a family with.

But if you’re time poor then those recipes won’t work, surely?

I’m about as time poor as it’s possible to be - single mum, two kids with complex needs and working two jobs. Lots of batch cooking in the freezer which is why I say it takes time and money to cook and store.

@Piggywaspushed you’re very welcome, you too @blossomtoes

@Naptrappedmummy you can spend £63 because you have a baby and a four year old!

Come back when your kids are teenagers and eating more than you are.

I cannot emphasise enough how much better your life will be, and easier it will be to get IT contracting work, if you have a driving licence.

I literally could not get a job after graduating until I got my car licence. Not even as a NMW temp. Once I had it, I was able to borrow my mum's car to get to interviews and my first crappy data entry job that started at 5am. (I am so grateful to her that she got the bus to her office hours job so that I could do that.) Then I was able to buy a banger, then I could get contracting work.

That’s been called ‘slop’ on here.

I didn't know that! I think she just made it as it was cheap and easy for dinner.

Well you can because most people aren’t vegans with expensive tastes.

You can if your family consists of two infants, you can't if you have adult size children, where they absolutely need more than you due to possessing the metabolic rate of a Gerbil!

I can't change my autism and I can't change my wrists. Disabled people are disproportionately likely to be below the poverty line.

👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻

They won’t want to hear it but those of us with real life experience know exactly what you mean.

lentils, beans etc are cheaper but people don't want to eat them.

That’s been called ‘slop’ on here.

Well my kids would argue I make the best “slop” in Scotland - l learned to make soup and a killer rice pudding from a very young age.

You know literally nothing of other poster's backgrounds or experiences.

No one is saying you've got to eat it every day. There are loads of cheap nutritious meals.

What don't we want to hear- that people are flawed or is that the reserve of the rich that can afford their mistakes.

Like what? 'delicious'?? Well it depends how you define that. I definitely could not and do not produce 'delicious' food for 63 pounds a week for 4!