Free school meals and summer holidays

[McNewPants2013]

I was thinking about this today.

I will have an extra £10 per week dude to not paying for school meals, but if people are entitled to FSM I can see many families struggling to provide these extra meals at home.

Do you think that school canteens should open or the parents get extra money to cover the shortfall.

5 DINNERS, not lunches, and that is PER CHILD.

If you, like me, have 4 children at school that is 20 extra meals a week, so yes £30 is a reasonable estimate.

And before you ask, I had my children when my husband and I were working, no financial worries and didnt claim anything. It can happen to anyone, not everyone on JSA is a workshy scrounger.

So bogeyface who should feed these children whose parents can't budget wisely enough? Me? I'm unemployed btw - a full time student with 2 dcs.

It does worry me that some children will go with out ( but normally it will be the parents that go without)

That £10 I spend can be spent on sandwich things and which will be used for both DC.

So now they are stupid as well as poor!

How do you know they can't budget? How do you know what someones financial situation is? As I said, when redundancy hit this house we had a mortgage to pay. Selling was not an option as without essential work being done, we would be in negative equity. We are immediately worse off than renters in our situation because they get the majority of their rent paid via HB.

Transport costs differ for each person, fuel costs differ depending on the type of home and the area you live in. Food costs differ massively according to area.

A sweeping "they just cant budget" is bullshit.

"So bogeyface who should feed these children whose parents can't budget wisely enough?"

Wow at this attitude, just wow.

Charlie, what is the name of that website? I live in a deprived area and ALOT of families are going to be hit hard this summer, my church donates as much as possible to the food bank and I want to get as much for my cash for them as I can, thanks :)

I don't think this is going to end well. I am sure you will get people from the benefits thread on here saying those on benefits are minted and should not have any problem feeding their children.
I imagine it could be tough but I suppose at leastt energy bills are lower in the summer.

If you are deemed by the state to be poor enough to need fsm, then I don't see why the govt suddenly thinks those people will suddenly be able to provide extra meals without a rise in income. I think people should be given additional benefits to cover children's lunches during the holidays.

Admiral I use www.approvedfood.co.uk

But their postage charges can be high as they base it on weight so clubbing together with others to order can be a good bet.

On a further note I am fucking appalled at some of the attitudes on here. How can a family budget money it does not have ffs.

It just breaks my heart to think that there are children in this country going without food :( and to see people getting all on their high horse "not on my tax bill" makes me sick to my stomach.

This is the weirdest thread. The clue is in the title people. Free SCHOOL meals. It doesn't apply if you are not at school, for whatever reason - holidays, sickness , pre-schoolers, post schoolers, home-educated children, traveller families, truants, expulsions, bereavement leave etc.

Thanks Bogey, just browsing and soom good bargains on there!

Don't misquote me, I haven't called anyone stupid. I simply don't understand the attitude that it is someone else's responsibility to provide. There are already rl examples here of successful budgeting and planning, I could share my own but I won't; safe to say I know it can be done on the absolute bare minimum. I am not professing to understand everyone's personal accounts but I am sure of one thing; if I had to lose money on an investment in order to ensure I was in a position to feed my children, I would. That responsibility is mine and mine alone.

Same as Bogeyface admiral But check with your food bank that they take out of date stuff before you order any.

Not everything is out of date btw. I'm not at all worried about best befoe dates though. Especially with canned or dried goods.

I got some catering size custard powder, angel delight, low sugar jelly etc and some little pots from asda so that's the treats sorted for the next 6 months probably! The giant bag of custard powder was only £1.98 and makes 1000 portions I think.

I understand some families will struggle. If I wasn't anal about stashing food I probably would too. I just don't see how it would work to pay families more over the holidays.

For the hard of thinking

www.educationengland.org.uk/articles/22food.html

the above is an article about the origins of FSM, the blasted scroungers have been around for years!

www.educationengland.org.uk/articles/22food.html

Same as Bogeyface admiral But check with your food bank that they take out of date stuff before you order any.

Not everything is out of date btw. I'm not at all worried about best befoe dates though. Especially with canned or dried goods.

I got some catering size custard powder, angel delight, low sugar jelly etc and some little pots from asda so that's the treats sorted for the next 6 months probably! The giant bag of custard powder was only £1.98 and makes 1000 portions I think.

I understand some families will struggle. If I wasn't anal about stashing food I probably would too. I just don't see how it would work to pay families more over the holidays.

I would not be "losing money on an investment"! I would be homeless and still owing the bank thousands of pounds that I dont have! What a stupid thing to say!

whatever next???

A split opinion.

It doesnt have to be cash payments though. In the war there were "British Restaurants" in every town that offered cheap, nutritious meals as it was cheaper and more economical to cook in bulk. A similar arrangement could work now, with those in receipt of certain benefits being able to eat there once a day.

Ok, so I know that idea isnt that simple, but my point is that it is providing food that is the priority, it doesnt necessarily mean handing over more cash which could be abused by some.

Thanks for the link to that food site, I'll be looking more closely at it when I can afford to shop again.

I am shocked at the lack of ability to answer a direct question or deal with a direct point and instead devolve into name calling and insults. This is an incredibly important debate that will never be correctly aired with those dull tactics.
FSM (as pointed out in the sparsely referenced linked article) are about providing nutrition to underfed children. I support this but don't you think it is more important to understand exactly why these children are underfed? That involves asking very searching, detailed and difficult questions about the parents' finances.

I don't think it is that difficult to explain Happy - some children are underfed because the cost of living I'd rising and benefits are being cut!