to wonder why there are blackberries going bad whilst people complain that they don't have enough money to feed their family healthy food.

[froken]

We went blackberry picking today, I was expecting a couple of manky blackberries to be left because I hear so often in the media and on mumsnet people saying how they struggle to feed their dc healthy food and sometimes people saying they have a hard time finding enough money to feed their dc at all.

There was a huge amount of blackberries, we were a 20 min walk outside a major city so an easily accessible place for 1000s of families.

We picked 9 pounds of blackberries.

Aibu to think that it would be a good idea for those struggling to feed their family a healthy diet (and those struggling to feed their family at all) should be out picking the free fruit that grows all over England's public spaces?

ooh ooh - i rescued an entire dinner set from a skip last week - four plates, bowls, mugs - DP was mortified, he is quite happy to eat his blackberries from the bowls though - i surely must get a prize now?

somebody out there is claiming income support because of your feckless blackberry wastage usual

Joinyourplayfellows, there was a sign up in our local library advertising apple press hire. 'Why not make delicious apple juice from your crappy wormy apples?!' I thought; nope. But cider had not occurred to me. Hmm.

Kir - you must have read my mind, you posted before it reached my fingers though!

Darn, I was enjoying this thread and now bastard inconsiderate DH has run me a hot bath. I knew there'd be consequences if I eschewed the strip-wash under the pump in the yard.

'I pick blackberries every year, no idea why ,I don't even like them.'

Our hamster loves them!

No room in my freezers, it's full of ready meals

YANB totally unreasonable. It's true that there is a fair bit of free fresh produce out there - plums, apples, blackberries etc and I for one don't understand why more people aren't out there picking it. Although I do agree that it alone won't solve people's problems.

It wasn't me who actually coined Hugh Fearlessly-eats-it-all. I just repeated it from elsewhere.

OP that you found bin taking fun is testament to your mothers's skill in making sure her kids didn't realise how bad things were. I bet she remembers it very differently from you.

why do pretend that fruit is healthy? it is nature's mars bar and is only meant to be available for a couple of weeks a year.

i'm still laughing at naturally resourced penicillin btw

usual i keep the spare flat screen tv in the freezer so no room for food at all.

oh and apparently, local parks are over-run with rosemary, at least thats what my mate jamie told me!

fruit is healthy. Unless you have a really odd meaning for healthy. A lot of people do.

VerySmallSqueak I grew up like this. Dead poor but on a farm miles from any shops (not that my mum could drive). Plenty of things to eat in winter as long as you were a good shot.

I never had chicken but had a whole small duck/pigeon or a bit of rabbit every night. Yes low in fat and carbs but "wildlife" really does taste of wildlife. Not many vegetables in the winter either (and not many that taste that good TBH).

I can't have any processed food now with out some bit of my brain thinking " thank god we have proper factories and supermarkets". Should the Third World War start anytime soon I'm first against the wall...not going back to eating "what's available" again thanks.

My last freezer packed in after I'd spent hours picking and preparing blackberries and apples and freezing them.

I was gutted.

I was more bothered about them than the half leg of lamb,which is daft innit?

No apologies for not trawling through this whole thread. But from just the OP - WTF? Do we really have to go through this one again? YABU.

Maybe all the tins of BSE infected beef have skewed the Op's sense of reality...

My local park is more nettles than rosemary. One of my neighbours has a giant rosemary bush that I could 'forage' on the school run though.

read the thread bala you wont regret it!

Oh it really was fun looking for food in skips.

All I can say is hats off to your mum for making this fun.

I spent a while on benefits when my DC were little and owing to DSS fuckups there were frequent times I was left with £11 a week to feed me and two DC and pay all bills. We went skip diving - were lucky enough to have a decent market nearby and generally got enough to make a meal, I hope I made it fun for the DC but it was not fun for me. It was a fraught anxious time and I felt like shit. I hope my DC also found it fun when we 'camped' in one room for warmth with torches because the electric ran out. I did my best to make it fun.

Anyway - blackberries aren't that nice.

"Let them eat cake blackberries"!

revealall - i have to say, that even though i really like the taste of pigeon it really does smell, well, dead!

Why is the OP being given such a hard time? Surely it makes sense for all of us to pick free fruit rather than buy it at inflated prices at the supermarket

I will be making blackberry whisky with the blackberries I've just picked. I bought the whisky with my benefits money