Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

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

800 replies

froken · 06/09/2013 20:16

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?

OP posts:
WetAugust · 06/09/2013 21:38

Was at Heligan earlier this year. They offer a foraging day for £21.

I can't afford foraging!

heligan.com/news-events/event-detail/thom-hunt-at-the-lost-gardens

WafflyVersatile · 06/09/2013 21:39

I doubt the people who are going to foodbanks are the same people as those spending £2 on punnets of them at the supermarket.

Original poster
froken · 06/09/2013 21:39

Oh it really was fun looking for food in skips. There were a few single mums who did it, we used to go along, I once found a furbie in tge skip with just a crushed box, it was an exciting day!

I don't have lots of money, my dp is a lorry driver and I stay at home with our ds ( I'm starting to study in October) we go out every weekend collecting mushrooms and berries, we have a modest food budget but we have dried mushrooms and frozen berries to last all year.

I just believe that if there is free food and you are a family in need of food you should take advantage of tge free food. I don't think all families should eat from skips bins or eat meat tge general population rejects but Ido think letting blackberries go mouldy on the bush whilst you rely on other people to provide you with food is stupid.

OP posts:
KirjavaTheCat · 06/09/2013 21:39

You can't be throwing away perfectly good seeds in this climate.

Original poster
froken · 06/09/2013 21:40

Oh it really was fun looking for food in skips. There were a few single mums who did it, we used to go along, I once found a furbie in tge skip with just a crushed box, it was an exciting day!

I don't have lots of money, my dp is a lorry driver and I stay at home with our ds ( I'm starting to study in October) we go out every weekend collecting mushrooms and berries, we have a modest food budget but we have dried mushrooms and frozen berries to last all year.

I just believe that if there is free food and you are a family in need of food you should take advantage of tge free food. I don't think all families should eat from skips bins or eat meat tge general population rejects but Ido think letting blackberries go mouldy on the bush whilst you rely on other people to provide you with food is stupid.

OP posts:
GoldenGytha · 06/09/2013 21:40

Seeds in with me too,

One of my cats was chasing a moth before, I could add that to my rowan/squirrel/slug/Bambi stew,

May as well chuck the cat in too, she's quite fat, will feed us all for a week,

This thread is making me PSML Grin

swallowedAfly · 06/09/2013 21:40

maybe mumsnet academy can do a course on foraging. £199 plus vat?

my lab loves blackberries - she scoffs the bottom ones, ds grazes on the mid range and i pick from the top.

maybe i'm a picky bugger but blackberries are literally nice for about ten seconds after you've picked them. stick them in a bag and they're fermenting and vile by the time you get home.

i feel quite queasy at the thought of 9lbs of sweaty rotten fruit in a carrier bag.

Fakebook · 06/09/2013 21:40

9lbs? You could've sold them at the roadside for £2.50 per 500g and made about £20 to buy a variety of other foods, like chocolate.

WetAugust · 06/09/2013 21:40

Perhaps she need 9lb of blackberries because she has a goat?

expatinscotland · 06/09/2013 21:42

'Ido think letting blackberries go mouldy on the bush whilst you rely on other people to provide you with food is stupid.'

Ah, I see. Are you reading, all you stupid benefits claimants?

swallowedAfly · 06/09/2013 21:42

thinking on it i could fatten the lab up on the blackberries then eat her.

no good getting sentimental in these times.

LEMisdisappointed · 06/09/2013 21:43

Seeds in for my jam!

PlentyOfPubeGardens · 06/09/2013 21:43

Garden snails are actually perfectly edible. You collect them and keep them in a pot with airholes for a week or so, with just water (soaked cotton wool) and no food, to clear their guts - or you can feed them a mixture of flour and herbs to give them a bit of flavour. Now is probably the best time of year to do it, after they've had the whole summer fattening up.

I wouldn't fancy eating slugs. When I was a kid I used to keep all sorts of creepy crawlies as pets and slugs are very different to snails. Their slime is much thicker and they have a nasty smell which snails don't have.

Original poster
froken · 06/09/2013 21:44

Just chatting to my mum and she reminded me that we made and ate stinging nettle soup. We had to stamp on the nettles in the. They didn't sting, and the soup wasn'ttoo bad :)

OP posts:
BIWI · 06/09/2013 21:44

No, expat, they are all watching telly on their massive flat screen tvs.

swallowedAfly · 06/09/2013 21:44

ha! another one who thinks foraging in skips was 'fun'. i do hope these numpties appreciate what an amazing job their mother's must have done to hide their complete and utter despair at being reduced to trawling through other people's rubbish to feed their children and to make it all seem fun and jolly at the same time Sad

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 06/09/2013 21:44

Do poor people have anti-mouldifying properties then?

swallowedAfly · 06/09/2013 21:45

snails are disgusting - there is not enough garlic butter in the world to make to make them good.

expatinscotland · 06/09/2013 21:45

Chuck in a few slugs with the nettles, single mums on benefits, it's not so bad! C'mon, you're all just stupid.

swallowedAfly · 06/09/2013 21:45

poor people shouldn't be picky about mould lrd. some people have fond memories of eating mold as kids.

GoldenGytha · 06/09/2013 21:46

Yes expat

I am learning that I could be out foraging to feed my kids, I am so glad that the OP has pointed out my stupidity,

No need to beg for a crisis loan now, when I could be out raking the bins and things.

expatinscotland · 06/09/2013 21:46

Oh, swallowed, it is fun, when you're a drunk and stoned group of uni students on bikes.

usualsuspect · 06/09/2013 21:46

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

I have good intentions to make jam but I never do.

They sit on the side going mouldy.

Pixel · 06/09/2013 21:46

All these people moaning about them going rotten in a bag, why would you put them in a bag? Tupperware, old ice cream tub, kid's beach bucket, anything will do. If you think they will go off before you use them they are easy to freeze, lay them out on a baking tray in the freezer and then transfer to a bag when frozen, then you can take out as many as you want as they won't be in a block (I defrost a handful at a time as I like them on my cereals).

KirjavaTheCat · 06/09/2013 21:47

Fuck it, they should aim for the mouldy ones.

Why are people relying on prescriptions when penicillin is available free from nature? It's stupid.