To be really upset to read on MN

[shootingstarz]

That parents are going without food because they can?t afford to feed their kids.

That's a very pragmatic solution, Britannia. But you shouldn't be having to exist on a subsistence diet.

To the people wondering about weight if people are skipping meals, some types of cheaper foods are more filling and much cheaper than fresh fruit and vegetables. I seem to recall it being a contributing factor to obesity in the U.S, where processed foods made with heavily-subsidised corn syrup are bought rather than healthier and actually nutritious types.

Fresh foods are apparently very expensive and when you think of the sheer size of the country, if you're in a sprawling urban area, you won't have access to local markets.

I make a pasta dish with four vegetables and cheese which easily feeds four people for under four pounds but that also buys a hell of a lot of super-sized packets of crisps which don't require using any fuel to cook with either.

Yes, CWB, I recall that happening here in the 70s. The govt was slamming families in deprived areas for feeding their kids on chips (sound familiar?) when somebody pointed out they did it because it's much cheaper to fill the kids up that way.

a cheap bag of chips is cheaper than a bag of spuds bought from a supermarket. A bag of chips can do my family for two meals (when put with fish fingers and a slice of bread) wheras a bag of potatoes would last one meal, once they been mashed and put onto a shepherds pie etc. I have four kids and myself to feed.

i dont possess a deep fat fryer

tbh like some posters I do find it hard to believe this happens. I can totally understand people getting into this situation because of delays in new benefit claims, debt and people eating poor quality meals e.g. cereal/toast. But to regularly not have enough money to pay for a meal?

garlic - My parents were very poor in the 70's. We lived in a 2 room flat with shared toilet and no hot running water. We also rarely ate chips. Some families did round about. But like many families who had lived through the war my mum knew how to make healthy meals out of very little. I appreciate not everyone knows how to do this.

It happens a lot lesley and tbh honest it has been happening for years. I first saw it as a 19 year old student while on a placement. I admit I was shocked at the time as I had had a sheltered upbringing. Now it just makes me sad especially is it is getting worse and not better.

The price of fruit and vegetables is crazy. We are wealthier than a lot of people on this thread and yet we can only afford fruit for the children. I completely believe that there are lots of people going without food, because if we are considered "well off" (doesn't feel like it) and can't afford fruit, how the hell are people on low incomes expected to buy it?

Hecubas - I know you might not want to and I appreciate that. But it would be helpful if you or someone else would be happy to post a detailed budget of income and outgoings, just to understand the situation.

I know there are growing numbers of food banks, but I also know there are growing numbers of failed asylum seekers who get no income and rely on these to eat.

lesley I'm on such a tight budget that the slightest "extra" knocks us off track for the rest of the month!

Last month, my fridge died. I managed for 3 weeks with no fridge, but it was hell and I ended up throwing out food that had become mouldy, whereas normally nothing is ever wasted in my house. Eventually I managed to buy another fridge, but that seriously ate in to my budget and wiped out the tiny amount of savings I had!

The previous month my DD managed to bust the zip on her boots. There was a foot of snow on the ground (we live in the Alps), so I had to buy her some new boots. But that cut into my food budget, so by the end of the month we were eating whatever was left in the cupboard. And of course I'd rather my kids get dinner than me, so I would eat up whatever they didn't finish, but always give them first pick!

How is this so hard to understand? As a mother, wouldn't you rather go hungry from time to time than stunt your kids' growth by undernourishing them?

Hazie - affording a healthy diet is very very difficult on a low income and always has been. Crap I know, but different imo from not being able to eat at all.

Of course your kids come first. But with benefits in UK I do understand why somebody would not be able to regularly eat. I am honestly not meaning to be direspectful or accusing people of lying - just struggling to undewrstand hwo it could be possible.

Happens round here, garlicbutter. The large housing estates are built on the outskirts of town surrounded by dual-carriageways and many people can't afford bus fares to get to the market or to Asda.

Most have a chip shop and a newsagents / hugely over-priced grocers (no fruit or veg) in the centre though.

I did just that, Lesley, on page 12 or 13 of this thread!

Here's what I wrote:

^I'm a student doctor and single mum. I fully accept it was a choice, as I took redundancy 3 years ago from a dead-end job I hated and applied (and was acccepted) to study medicine. I know doctors are made out to be rich money-grabbers on MN and hopefully one day I'll be able to earn a decent salary and pay taxes again, but right now, there's no way you would describe me as rich!

I'm not entitled to grants/loans etc here (not in the UK), so my monthly income consists of ?400 benefits and ?620 CS from XH. I therefore officially earn too much for income support!
I pay ?610 rent for the one-bedroomed flat I share with my 3 kids, ?90 health insurance, ?110 utilities, and ?30 for (subsidised) school meals. We get a subsidised public transport pass for ?10 a month for the 4 of us.

My car is 15 years old and in poor repair. My parents pay the insurance for me. I only use it twice a month to take my oldest DD (who has SN) to/from her residential school an hour from here. That costs around ?60 in petrol per month.
My youngest DD also has issues and I'm currently spending ?80 a month on appointments with a therapist for her.

So that leaves me with ?120 per month for everything else - food, clothes, school trips etc. My parents buy each kid 2 pairs of shoes a year (school shoes and winter boots).

As the kids get a decent lunch at school, we eat simple foods in the evening. This week I bought a packet of dried split peas for ?2, an onion for a few pence and boiled them up in a big pan of water into enough pea soup for our evening meals for 5 days.

I can get 2 bags of plain, unbranded flour for ?1, which will make 4 small loaves of bread (I already had some dried yeast in, but it's ?2 for 12 sachets). Someone gave us a jar of homemade jam, which we have been eating with the bread for breakfast.

So we've survived on ?5 for 5 days! Weekends are harder, as the kids need protein at least once a day. Some days I feed them first, then eat whatever's left over. This week I've managed to buy a frozen chicken, which should last for several meals. I will boil up the bones for a soup for next week's dinners... On market days, I collect the overripe fruit and veg the stallholders are throwing out and cook it asap.

I should add that I don't drink or smoke and don't go out at night, as I can't afford a babysitter. On the 2 nights a month my XH has the kids, I'm usually so knackered I go to bed early, or occasionally visit a friend.

I can't imagine how people do this long-term, knowning this is all the future will ever hold. I keep myself going by remembering that in a couple of years I'll be a junior doctor with a salary and will one day be able to pay for my own kids' higher education!^

£5 for 25 kg bag of spuds, available at many corner shops, that works out cheaper than chips from chippy, or oven ones from supermarket, even accounting for costs to cook & wastage. Lidl keeps selling 10kg bags of rice for £10 or less, that works out very cheap, too.

The one that gets me is when someone posts that they have run out clothes & can't afford to buy any. I just can't conceive of it. 2nd hand Clothes (bar quality shoes) are cheaper than the cheapest food.

oh i do adverse. i wish you the best of luck and hope you can get the foodbank up and running soon.

Our income inc HB and CT benefit is £8054 pa that is £154.88 per week. Take off HB and CT benefit leaves £75.22 per week. Out of that we pay £27 per week rent top up, £6 CT, at least £10 for gas and electric, £1 for internet (to apply for jobs etc. Leaves £31 max for food, toiletries, nappies, clothing the girls etc. We used to have £28 left but got a letter this morning giving us an increase of our HB.

what if you havent got the five pounds there and then to buy the spuds ragged? all you have is a couple of quid in your purse to feed the kids till tomorrow or the next day?

i do see what your saying and it is cheaper to buy potatoes that way maybe but its not always that simple. And anyway my two local corner shops dont sell potatoes by the sack. I wish they did.

I have been in this situation when my benefits were stopped a few years back (long story) I didnt know until i went to the cashpoint and there was nothing in my account

I'm not on a low income and I can afford to eat. I'm just saying that if we can't afford to eat certain healthy food on a good income, I can believe people when theysay that they are not eating enough on low incomes. I'm not saying that is acceptable, it isn't.

It is also cheaper to buy processed foods rather than healthy food. Lots of people will say that's not the case but they are wrong. I know of people who feed their family for less than a tenner because they are buying processed rubbish from Iceland. It doesn't matter how inventive you can be with some mince and potatoes you still won't get a weeks meals out of it for less than £10.

vitamin c - sorry I admit I haven't read thew hole thread. Sorry to be picky but are you in the UK? If yes I'm not sure why you are paying £90 for health insurance as the NHS is free to use.

I agree haziedoll

RTFT Lesley.

I think I just wanted to let people know that those spuds exist, a lot of folk only think in terms of supermarket spuds (not sure why). £2 to feed everyone for the next 48 hours must suck. :(

RTFT?

Yep.
In the last 6 months I have just had a banana for lunch regularly simply because I didn't have enough money to buy anything else.
Costs me 4.50 to get to work and back, and so I had to cut back on something, and that can't be food for ds, bills, debts, rent or bus fare.