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?

Jamie's money saving blackberry stew with blackberry compote followed by blackberry jam.

I've not contradicted myself. When they are available for free in the outdoors I pick them (and very often have them in the freezer).

you can pick them at particular points on the stem and not get stung basil or you can just wear gloves - rocket science that one

i may have to have a google now and remind myself what dandelion leaves are good for - sure there's medicinal uses.

Bugs and spiders - you rinse away with water before preserving.

I used to make my own nettle tea. (in fact, I could possibly be MN secret Stealth Lentil Weaver!!!)

I used rubber gloves, and hung the nettles out to dry, then crush and make into tea. Proper herbal tea. Yum.

During tge bse crisis we were given cans of beef that no one else would eat
Well that explains a lot!

We pick loads of blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, sloes, plums and damsons wild every year, but I wouldn't count on them to feed the one million children threatened with poverty in Britain.

Arf.

Gloves just don't sound professional enough.

So what can you put dandelion leaves in? I've got loads of them on my grass.

Someone once said salad, but I feel dubious about that.

LEMisdisappointed Yes pigeon has a slightly liver quality I find. And wild duck tastes like the bloody mud it's been eating all it's meals from.

Why has no mentioned snails. The poor are missing a trick there.

I think the point that OP is trying to make is that people could be more resourceful

Someone has me turned snails.

Spiders and flies too, I'd imagine. You wouldn't even need to leave the house to forage.

You pick the nettles by pinching them really hard, then you don't get stung.

dandelion greens

and nettles have more iron than spinach and are a really good anti inflammatory and full of anti oxidants.

Some of my worst memories of growing up poor in the 80s (apart from hand me down clothes that were faded out the bike which was so old it had no chain cover, leaving a scar I still carry on my knee) are of being taken blackberry picking, beign scratched and falling down slopes and generally being miserable.

Holidaybug: it is incredibly patronising to suggest that the poor should be more resourceful. Being poor is often about being continually resourceful (e.g. Making 'camping' in one room because there is no electricity). And then some smug fucker comes along and tells you off because there are some blackberries available for a few days in February half an hour outside of town.

I just remembered our family fucking bilberry picking on the N.Y. Moors (thats North Yorkshire not to be confused with New York!)

Half of the "harvest" always turned out to be bloody sheep droppings!

holiday - to be honest,i dont think anyone really cares what point the op is trying to make, the thread has moved on!

Now if the poor were really resourceful they would get themselves some pigs and go truffle hunting!

I always loved going out blackberry picking and it's something I still enjoy with my DC today

February. How did autocorrect I manage that? September.

Not just any people, holiday, but those on benefits.

I went blackberrying a couple of weeks ago in local country park. I got stopped by someone who used to be a park warden who told me that the ground was contaminated with heavy levels of cadmium and although plants would filter a lot of it out, he wouldn't recommend eating them!

basil children are dubious when you present them with lettuce. pick a fresh young dandelion leaf, give it a rinse under the tap, stick it in your mouth and eat it that simple. then think, hmm, wonder what that flavour would balance out with...

alternatively go for the safe bet JO theory and stick some balsamic vinegar and sea salt on top.

"letting blackberries go mouldy on the bush whilst you rely on other people to provide you with food is stupid"

I think this is what most people have found objectionable.

OP is not saying that people are daft for buying them at the supermarket. If she was, everyone would have agreed.

But it hasn't turned nasty and it's comedy gold

'holiday - to be honest,i dont think anyone really cares what point the op is trying to make, the thread has moved on!'

Shall I just shut up then?

You don't need to add much -I have made compote with wild apples, plums and blackberries over the last few weeks and all I added was sugar (uk beet value sugar is cheap) . I also added pectin to the jam I made because I worry it won't set if I don't, but the jam was still cheaper than value jam. Crumble is butter, sugar and flour-if you buy value it's not to bad. Or stirring value oats into compote makes a more nutritious and filling breakfast or pudding.
The bushes and treees are ravaged round our way- next to nothing left, the elderflowers all went really quickly too.
Blackberries etc are an extra, but a lovely one full of vitamins that shouldn't be sneered at.
But no, I don't think food banks would close if people went out blackberrying more often-I don't think the op really mean't that either.

If the mouldy blackberries keep you going over winter, you can eat young hawthorn leaves. I read once.

They taste of nothing, but they're free.