To be really upset to read on MN

[shootingstarz]

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

Perhaps the answer is simply than we have all been thinking.
Make it less expensive to be poor.
To start the process off, this would need special and intensive input from a cabinet member. Who can we lobby?

simpler

I am finding this thread truly harrowing. I am incredibly fortunate to be very comfortably off, but I have heard the same experiences that some posters have had direct from my mum, whose own mother (now in her 60s) would often forego meals so that her DC could eat, and I had hoped that this had stopped being so prevalent in the UK.

I have heard many accounts which say how many families live below the poverty line in the UK. What is the poverty line? It is a recognised standard/threshold?

My heart goes out to everyone who is struggling.

you can make a meal for pence if you try, so I dont believe it to be true anyway

Charlie - guess you haven't bothered to read the thread then?

People forget that we are in a different situation to each other. I could make a meal from my cupboards. I think I could live for quite some time on what I have in the house. Wouldn't be healthy but I could do it. Because, I have spare and I can cook. If I didn't have all the stuff in my house I do... I wouldn't.

DH and I were eating dinner last night (chops, quinoa and veg) and saying how much it cost. All this nonsense about being able to cook a healthy meal for pennies. Think about what you actually spend. Look at the price of vegetables, milk and cheese (the item most shoplifted, I wonder why).

Spam - yes I have and I am on a very low income with huge outgoings and have never had to forgo a meal as I cook cheap, prepare and when I have even a few pounds of extra cash I stockpile in my freezer. Its sad if it really is happening but perhaps people need to be better informed as to how to make meals on a low budget etc

Strongly suggest you read the thread, Charlie... Otherwise you're in danger a sounding a teeny bit patronising.

Alternatively, please post a week's worth of recipes that cost pence. Let's kick off with a meal for 4 for 99p shall we? And let's assume, too, that your cupboards are totally bare, that you have nothing whatsoever 'in stock'. Off you go now...

We always eat, but when I don't have money the food isn't very balanced as I can't afford to go out and get things like fresh fruit, cheese etc. Sometimes it'll be entirely unhealthy, though I try to eat the crap and give the kids the fresh fruit and veg and meat.

Bearing in mind my recent difficulties, I have started stockpiling flour, frozen vegetables, rice etc.

HugaDalek - I sent you a PM, hope you got it

when I have even a few pounds of extra cash I stockpile in my freezer

What of you never have a few £ extra? and assume you dont have a stock cupboard...what will you do then?

Oh and like fuck do you stockpile a freezer on a few pound.

A 'few pounds' would buy what? A bag of oven chips and a bag of frozen peas. Now that's what you call stock-piling! Silly mare.

Never saw it SpamSpam. Shall just pop and read it now. x

It is disgraceful in an affluent country that this can happen.I bet Cameron and Mr Osborne don't

I wanted to pop on and tell Charlie to fuck off, but then I realised that if I waited a bit longer someone would do it in a more socially acceptable manner.and I was right

I fill up the freezer, too. I haunt the reduced shelves in the supermarket and get marked-down meat and fish, I batch-cook mince with veg etc. But when there's no money for a long time, eventually those supplies run out.

you HAVE a freezer - which is better than a lot of families though

poverty in the UK in 2012 is very real

thank you leQueen you are a star xxx