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.

https://www.itv.com/news/central/2018-10-02/pride-of-britain-2018-the-fundraising-tattooist-with-a-foodbank-at-the-back-of-his-parlour

Stoke

Then learn to cook properly. I’m a teacher and am staggered at how many young kids survive on takeaways.

Ah. This guy runs a tattoo parlour and also runs a food bank at the back of it.

Jason Powner is well known in Stoke on Trent for his charitable works, having raised thousands for local good causes.

Every year he delivers around 600 Christmas presents to families in need, and for the last five years he and his staff run a foodbank from the back of his tattoo studio.

"Jason told ITV News Central: "When people come in on a daily basis for food, I know they are struggling, because you wouldn't ask for food if you didn't need it.

"I know when I was growing up we didn't have food banks. We struggled as a family, so I know how it feels and what its like. So for me to give a little back, its just great to be able to do that." "

He doesn't mention the 35% of feckless people getting tattoos and then asking for food.

https://www.itv.com/news/central/2018-10-02/pride-of-britain-2018-the-fundraising-tattooist-with-a-foodbank-at-the-back-of-his-parlour

Is it this place?
https://www.itv.com/news/central/2018-10-02/pride-of-britain-2018-the-fundraising-tattooist-with-a-foodbank-at-the-back-of-his-parlour

Yet our research shows that approximately 3.8 million people experienced destitution in the UK at some point during 2022, including around one million children. The number of people experiencing destitution increased by 61% from 2019 to 2022, with an even larger increase in the number of children experiencing destitution. This follows another rapid acceleration in the level of destitution from 2017 to 2019.
www.jrf.org.uk/deep-poverty-and-destitution/what-is-destitution-and-how-do-we-tackle-it

Looking at those figures I am not in the least bit surprised to read that some people are struggling to feed themselves or their families.

No they’re not. Nasty reply, belittling and bullish.

To clarify, I don't believe anyone is regularly getting tattoos instead of buying food. Ditto nails, hair, etc.

I do believe that 15% of households have skipped meals because they couldn't afford to pay for everything and I don't believe that was because they were buying tattoos. I'm surprised the number is not higher.

We are a single-income family. I'm on £27.5k p/a atm meaning I am only entitled to around £30 a month in UC and nothing towards council tax. I get £150 a month from H's pension on top of this until DD2 turns 18. We still struggle sometimes. It is the cost of gas, electricity, £150 a month council tax, and the rising prices of food that sometimes tip us over the edge not regular tattoos. I could well imagine someone on slightly less than us would struggle to feed the whole family 3 meals a day, 7 days a week even with careful budgeting.

DD1 has fresh tattoos. Her mate is a tattoo artist and does them for free/cost. Both kids have gel nails/nail extensions, my sister is studying nails at college and practices on them. We all have regular haircuts/colours, I am a qualified hairdresser.

I don't go out much, I don't run a car and we don't go on holiday because we cannot afford it.

Hummus and peanut butter are roughly the same price. Surely we’re not reduced to squabbling over pennies? Anyway, give it ten or twelve years when you’re dealing with teenage appetites and you’ll see. When my son was in his mid teens he could strip the fridge almost as fast as I could fill it. It was like a wren feeding a cuckoo chick!

No, but interesting that someone else is doing the same.

So @Loyallyreserved is the tattoo parlour in the links the one you meant, or does that one go to a different school?

So where is the one you are talking about @Loyallyreserved ?

Yes, Jack Dee does a really funny joke about this and does an impression of his teens inhaling the fridge contents like a monster and them thinking someone is behind the fridge restocking the other side!

@DragonScreeches - yes it's been really hard but she is in better circumstances now. Not rolling in it but more secure, in appropriate housing, in work etc. And that toddler who lived off jam sandwiches and the odd happy meal is doing really well at school.

I also find it really baffling that just because somebody has had it hard they want everyone else to have it harder.

I notice none of the people able to come up with bizarre meals for less than £1 per head have been able to come up with a meal plan to help us when I am made redundant.

I have store cupboard ingredients if that helps. We have oil, flour, cornflower, baking powder, brown sugar (but no white sugar), and some herbs and spices, We don't have garam masala, however. We have an almost limitless amount of frozen raspberries in the freezer and some frozen peas and onions. We also have tinned lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, and probably some passata.

Katypp - I totally agree with you. It may be an unpopular view but true - I lived on benefits for 6 years recently with 2 young children and never had to use a foodbank or ask for handouts. I managed to pay all my bills and my children were always clean, well fed and clothed. People definitely have the wrong priorities - I always prioritised cooking from scratch, never had any TV subscriptions, didn't get my nails done and only had a basic phone. Some people have Sky tv, the latest phone, always have their nails and spray tan done and then expect taxpayers to feed their kids. I get so annoyed at the mindset of people who don't or won't budget and expect handouts all the time. My choice to have children - up to me to feed and clothe them and I got back into work as soon as I could.

We need children for future tax payers look at South Korea, society is not sustainable without them.

Seeing as you are criticising those who are in poverty and not doing it "properly"

I will point out that:

I get so annoyed at the mindset of people who don't or won't budget and expect handouts all the time

And this:

My choice to have children - up to me to feed and clothe them

Are incredibly hypocritical given this:

I lived on benefits for 6 years recently

So you in fact did rely on "handouts" to feed and clothe your children

Well said.

Oh, the old deserving and undeserving poor trope again. It is as old as the hills.

I want all children to be warm, clothed, well fed and educated regardless of whether their parents work or whether their parents are "good" benefit recipients or "bad" benefit recipients.

Home delivery..?

Then you’ll have to remove them altogether. Many parents have no interest in properly caring for their kids and wouldn’t do it even if they won the lottery.

That was not the point of the comment I was replying to and has already been discussed by others on the thread

Not everyone defending those in poverty are actually living in poverty. I don't actually need suggestions on how to get to a food shop. I was responding to the absurd suggestion that not living near a bus route could only be an imaginery issue not a reality for plenty of people

There's the answer then, for people to have loads of kids, not give a shit how they're going to feed them but hey never mind they can spend their money on getting their nails done, have a load of fucking tattoos and then nip round the back to stock up on free food.

Because people on lower income are forced to buy processed and high sugar foods as these are frequently ‘on offer’ BOGOF and cheaper.
eating healthy is not cheap

Like what? Items and prices?