The great british menu - food poverty... AIBU?

[Bogeyface]

I hate myself for thinking this but, AIBU to think that Lady Whatsername who said in the 90's that the reason poor people couldnt manage on benefits was because they lacked the ability to cook good simple nutritious meals, may have had a point? The way she said it was totally U and she was very sneery, but I cant help thinking that there might be a grain of truth in it.

Of the three families I have just seen in this program I saw what 2 of them ate in a day. one was a mother and daughter who's only meal of the day was a microwave burger each costing £1 each, and the other was a family where the children had fish fingers or nuggets and oven chips, while the parents had tinned veg.

£14 per week that the first family spent is enough for a bag of baking potatoes, some basics pasta, baked beans, passatta, a pack of frozen sausages, a bag of porridge oats, some cheese, some sandwich meat such as Haslet from the deli counter (35p per 100g in my tesco) and milk. The DD would be getting free school meals if I heard correctly about her age and their income. Far healthier, more filling and more than one meal a day!

The second family, again, for the price of nuggets, fish fingers and oven chips they could make a spag bol using basics ingredients that would feed them all well.

RAther than focussing on the cost of food, which is only going to rise, surely it would be better to focus on educating people who eat badly because the food they choose is more expensive than cheaper, healthier alternatives that require a bit of cooking knowledge?

'You're not telling me that a Spanish family can live on 500 euros per month, but a British family cannot live on 2k, that is nonsense.'

And you just said many of them get money from families and grow food on allotments or get it free.

Their property market's in the toilet, too, I can't imagine their rents are the same as here.

There's also the small problem that unrest there is growing because well, many think it is crap how they are being treated and having to live.

You don't know that they spent money on any of those things Good Touch.

Don't really see what's so difficult to understand about different families personal finances having large variations, which are frankly, personal. You can't guess what they might be and how essential they are just by looking. The show said there was nothing that could be cut back. It's a bit pointless assuming that's not true.

If rents are so high that you cannot even afford to eat properly, then rent a smaller place, or go and stay with your parents or brother etc and share the rent bill

That is what people here would do

Eating badly is the most miserable existence. Better to sleep on a sofa and for your children to share a room with their cousins then for them not to eat properly, but then I guess you would miss out on a load of free money in the form of benefits ;)

expatinscotland

Of course things are cr*p in Spain at the moment

My point is that people would not go hungry whatever their situation, and they would not let their children go hungry. Food is the priority above everything else, but not so in Britain it seems.

When you get 2k per month to live on then there is always something you could go without so that you could pay for food

'If rents are so high that you cannot even afford to eat properly, then rent a smaller place, or go and stay with your parents or brother etc and share the rent bill

That is what people here would do'

Bravo for them! Guess they don't have the same laws that we do here with regards to overcrowding (those came about because overcrowding in nearly every major city in the UK was causing disease). So now it is illegal for landlords to rent out a one-bed place knowing 5 people will be using the bedroom. If you do it, you are breaching your lease conditions and can be served notice to quit.

And if your parents rent, too, they can be evicted for moving that family of 4 in with them in a one-bed flat.

This isn't Spain.

Even the smallest cheapest places here are not cheap.

A legitimate landlord wouldn't let a large family move into a house/flat that was too small for them anyway, so you are left with renting off utter bastards.

I know plenty of families in two bed places anyway. Including a family with 4 kids. It's not unusual.

Benefits in Britain are not particularly generous. Don't know why people think they are. I'm actually a dual national, my home country is far more generous.

LOL at using the Powderkegs of Europe as fine examples of how spoilt and silly Brits are. PMSL, really.

People: there is no hunger in Spain! EVERYONE just sells up and eats. Those reports we keep reading about how people are making their unhappiness with the economic situation there and the soaring emigration from there are all bollocks!

You lot are just spoilt.

Better to sleep on a sofa and for your children to share a room with their cousins then for them not to eat properly, but then I guess you would miss out on a load of free money in the form of benefits
as our cousins live in Poland, USA, Canada, Eire, and Spain, that is one of the more cretinous and offensive posts i have read. Guess what not everyone who is hard up is on benefits. Bloody cheeky.

"free money" - what a gillipollas

burberryqueen - so benefits isnt free money then?

I guess if your country is more generous that it must be a Scandanavian country, because I cant think of any other one, perhaps the Netherlands? I have Swedish family members, they have no end of problems with people never wanting to work because benefits are so generous and life so comfortable

I am talking about the priority of food in the Britain. Quite simply it isnt seen as a priority compared to other things, there is no other way to explain how a family is not able to live on 2k each month

expatscotland - it is hardly a powderkeg here. People want change but protests are peaceful unless the police get their rubber bullets out. I am not putting Spain forward as an ideal country, of course not, there is tons of stuff wrong, I am just saying how people do not go hungry despite 23% unemployment, and 40% unemployment in Andalucia. Can you even imagine figures like that in the UK?

There are people who have a hard life and are "poor" in almost every country in the world, it is how the capitalist system works. I'm not sure what you can do about it - but and this is the big but, there is no excuse to be going hungry in the UK in my opinion

the netherlands is not in scandinavia btw.
anyway food in Spain is way cheaper than in the UK and family life is stronger.....
as for 'free money' this idea that a luxurious life is to be had on benefits is a myth.

No it's not a Scandinavian country. It's not in Europe at all.

Just shows what misconceptions you have really. (as if it wasn't obvious from your total refusal to understand just how high essential bills are here!)

Burberryqueen and TeWiSavesTheDay

You are making up stuff that I havent said

Of course life on benefits isnt luxurious, I have not said that. I am sure that is very hard

And I do know that Netherlands is not in Scandanavia. Maybe it is the Middle East then where the generous benefits are paid with oil money? If not, then please enlighten me

The gap between the rich and the poor is only going to get worse over the coming years. Don't expect benefits or wages to increase for a long time. To compensate, I only hope that people look to each other, help each other out for christ sake, almost everybody who is hungry has a mother, father, or a sister, cousin etc.

Look around your own family and take responsibility. If you have a brother who's children are going hungry while you are taking expensive holidays then you should be asshamed if you do not help him out

If you're living in council/association houses, there are often clauses in the contract to say how many people can live there.

Also, my sister privately rents. Her contract states who lives there.

I could stay for a little while without them finding out if I needed to, but it couldn't be long term.

Only home owners could live with their extended family to save getting their "free handouts"

my brother is a millionaire and i would not piss on him if he were on fire.
not everyone has a perfect helpful family....stop being so judgemental and naive.

mijas99, families don't aren't always close enough to live together. People would have to give up jobs to move 50/100/200 miles.

Mijas, I don't disagree with helping out family.

But, where does it stop?

We are in a recession. There are hundreds of applicants per job, and yet the poor are getting hit.

*families aren't always close enough to live together.

God this thread is depressing.

I've been poor. Cold, hungry, sat in the dark and miserable. Working every available hour and still not being able to afford to eat properly - with no let up in sight - is simply soul-destroying. As someone else pointed out upthread, unless you've lived that reality, you really have no idea.

And yes, education about budgeting and cooking will help, of course it will. It certainly can't harm. But it's not a panacea. No matter how creative and clever you are, you cannot get blood out of a stone.

The idea that you can sell things - car, tv, laptop, etc - well great. What happens when you've sold those, spent the money and still don't have enough money for food? Now you are still hungry and poor but can't drive to a possible job and can't even look for one or claim financial assistance online.

Also, in Spain, communities remain much closer knit than here in the UK. Since the 1980s people have been encouraged to move around following work and women have been delaying having children. The result is fractured families scattered around the country, so don't go thinking you can get a food parcel from dear old mum - she's probably already dead from old age or living 250 miles away.

My life has changed, but I have never forgotten what it felt like to be poor. It's why, when I see someone spending some of their benefit money on a bottle of wine or something, I can't get worked up about it. That is probably the only extravagance that person has had in a very long time indeed, the one thing that makes them feel that life isn't completely shit and yes they can enjoy a brief taste of a nice time. What kind of heartless person would begrudge anyone that? It's easy to go without for a short time. Quite another when that time stretches out into possibly the rest of your life.

nope. Not the middle east.

Sorry. Certain kinds of ignorance amuses me.

If you'd like a real revelation, young people in my home country leave in their droves. The benefits might be great but the opportunities aren't - most people want to work they want to do better for themselves and their families. That's why they come to places like the UK, because the perception is that you can do that here.

Unfortunately, at the moment it's a bit fucked, which is why lots of immigrants have or are planning to leave, but that doesn't solve the issue for the UK nationals.

I consider putting pressure on the government to rethink it's strategies to be helping as many people as I can. If I only gave to family/friends I AK leaving those without family support with nothing, and I don't believe in doing that.

Family is great if you don't have siblings who think your children should have been euthanised.

yes or who don't make unpleasant comments about 'unmarried mothers'....etc.
gobby

I think people in Spain are really struggling too. In Britian we have a welfare state which looks after those less fortunate - it used to be something we were proud of, now we are being softened up for its further disintegration.

I see single mothers will are the next target "to stop them getting pregnant so they can get a council flat,"

But at least we can help them make a chicken go three days, eh?

I think it probably is easier to be poor in Spain, no heating costs to start with! Oranges growing like weeds so not difficult to get your 5 a day. Pointing this out doesn't really help those who are.struggling in the UK though ...

TeWiSavesThe Day

Maybe you could educate the masses and say which country you come from. There are several hundred countries after all, it is difficult to know the welfare situation of all of them ;)

I feel that divide and rule really has worked in Britain and is why people feel so hostile and helpless. I have no solution other then I look forward to a time when money doesnt rule but people's relationships do