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.

Yes, I live directly opposite a Sainsburys Local. It is the only shop remotley within walking distance.

Anyone who lives in my village and is carless would shop there. The prices in a Sainsbury's Local are higher than in the bigger supermarkets and the Nectar offers are very limited. The range is small. There are buses. Two a day and they don't stop at a supermarket.

The aforementioned Home Bargains/ TK Maxx type stores are at a big retail park - no buses there either. Ironically, given its general reputation, you'd need a car to get to any Lidls or Aldis from any of the villages surrounding the town they are in.

People who don't live in run down market towns , or villages, have no idea how poor public transport is. Our area has recently cut several bus routes, pretty much stranding many villagers and leaving lots of school kids transportless.

They drive.

I lived on a bus route pre covid. Its been cancelled since. Shall I go and stand and wait for the bus in the morning because Im only imaginging its been cancelled?

I didn't think that granny trolleys were even still made! I've not seen one in decades.

@VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia they do exist. You can get them on Amazon. We used to use one before my mum retired and would drive us. The quality was shite though and you still couldn't fit in a full week's shopping. We took to using a large suitcase instead.

I've seen quite a few around here, and fit, able-bodied people using hiking rucksacks.

It is what you said. It's a direct quote.

I see them every week in the supermarket I go too vito! Some of them are proper vintage.

You can't get all that much in them to be honest. A week's shop for an older couple maybe. But they were designed for a different shopping demographic and a time when ladies went out for their messages several times a week and were in and out of local shops such as butchers, greengrocers etc.

A cedar friend mine runs a tattoo studio with a food bank in the back. The number of people who come in, pay for a tattoo then ask for 3-4 bags of food from the food bank is around 35%.
how can anyone comment without knowing all the outgoings?

They're not even considered 'granny trolleys' anymore. They have made a real comeback in the last 5 or so years. Lovely colourful designs, I've seen loads of younger people using them.

I presume there's a reason why the tattoo studio has the Food Bank in it. Perhaps that helps people feel less stigma or embarrassment?

Katypp, we can all

a) read the wording of the OP and the link;
b) read the wording of your posts; and
c) see where you exaggerated

You are making yourself look really foolish.

I'm afraid this doesn't align with the 'facts' of wealth inequalities and the demise of the working and middle classes, the polarisation happens because populist politics thrives on people's feelings of uncertainty.

I see them all the time here. Mainly used by students.

A direct quote you have misinterpreted, but if it makes you feel clever, crack on.
Do you honestly think I believe that some people never have any money to buy food ever?

It probably depends on where you live as to how much you see them. You don't see them much in the northern ex-mining town I live in. We used to get loads of comments (nice comments like "OMG, why did I not think of that?") when we used one. Ditto when we started using a suitcase instead.

To anyone thinking of buying one, I can confirm that suitcases carry more and tend to be more robust. Get a suitcase instead.

Whereabouts is this tattoo studio, please?

So you're quite happy for people to have money to pay for a tattoo but then ask for food? No one should be prioritising tattoos above food. Are you serious!

I have no idea what you do or do not believe, I can only go by what you write in your posts.🤷‍♀️

That is clearly not what piggywaspushed means.

Yes. I would be happy for that. At the end of the day, it is the children who suffer most from poverty and they are not the ones deciding what to spend the weekly budget on.

It's no one's business apparently. We are happy to spend hours coming up with every excuse under the sun to absolve people of any responsibility for managing their budget, including paying for a tattoo to avoid the stigma of using a food bank. You couldn't make it up.

Given you disagreed with your actual words when quoted back to you, is it possible that instead of loads of people on a thread "misinterpreting" your words to "feel clever", you actually in fact explained yourself really badly?

Oh FFS no wonder this country is so fucked up! How do you know they have even got kids. Jesus fucking Christ. I've heard it all now.