Does anyone know someone who has had to use a foodbank?

[furryjammies]

I'm very lucky that I have never been unemployed - although at times, especially when the kids were young we hardly had any money and I had to be really careful, buying huge bags of potatoes and cooking everything from scratch to save money - no holidays, nights out etc. I don't know anyone who is living in poverty, although I do know some who got heavily into debt - mostly because of going on lavish holidays etc. Do any of you have friends who have had to rely on a foodbank and if so, what were the reasons? Not judging at all just wondering how common it is.

I have never had to use one and as far as I know none of my friends, family or colleagues have (although if they had, they wouldn’t necessarily tell me about it). I donate to a local one regularly and put in treats as well as necessities. I am well aware that personal circumstances can change very quickly and one day I could be that person in need.

I'm not being judgemental - I'm just wondering how common food poverty is in this country. Can I honestly not ask a question to try and get a better understanding?

Well you're not going to get a representative sample from MN. If you really want to know how common it is, that is what the stats will tell you. If you want to hear more of the stories, look at some of the work of Jack Monroe on food poverty or Charlotte Hughes on the poor side of life.

You need to think beyond the basic stats as well. Low unemployment figures are a scam when people in work are on zero hours contract or self employed and bringing in very little.

You had to buy huge bags of potatoes? Sounds tough.

You say you want to get a better idea of how many people are using food banks so you go on MN and ask if anyone knows anyone who uses one? Didn’t it occur to you that there might be official statistics available online?

Spot on, SGB. Mental health support, supported living accommodation for people with learning difficulties and mental health condition were also more prevalent. Now it's cuts, cuts, cuts - people with profound and serious mental health condition slung onto UC and expected to 'just budget' without the relevant support, gig economy, high rents, VERY expensive power and gas, all have lead to increased poverty.

I'm not aware of any body I know using them, to be honest I'd be feeding them myself if I got wind a friend of mine was in such difficulty.

Me too, I've sent a Tesco delivery to someone in need.

Moving on to universal credit means no money for up to 6 weeks. So I imagine foodbank use is an inevitability if UC

I’m ashamed to admit I once stole food rather than go to a food bank for fear of judgement and embarrassment. I had come out of a 28 year relationship with nothing but 50k of Debts and 3 children to feed. I was desperate. I am now back on my feet and no one would have known what had gone on behind closed doors or how desperate I was. I remember watching my colleagues eating at lunchtime feeling unwell with hunger and pretending to be on a diet as I didn’t want anyone to know

Poverty is horrible it should not be a spectator sport

Absolutely right, well said hazell42.

I've worked in one. The people who came in were quite often single mothers who had escaped abusive relationships but couldn't manage to make ends meet, ex military men who had struggled a lot to adjust to living a civilian life and people who had previously had very good jobs and had lost everything because of illness (often severe MH problems). I felt awful for many of them because it was so obvious that they felt awkward and embarrassed about having to come to ask for food parcels.

This appears to be a lesser known fact on MN, but you actually need to be referred to a foodbank. You can't just rock up and stick your paw out. Referrals come from Citizens Advice, Mental Health Services, the Council, that sort of thing. It's a form that states how many in the household etc and you won't be given anything without it.

I needed it for a while when in temporary accommodation (B&B) - none of your business why. Problem was, I had no cooking facilities, just a kettle, so there was very little I could use. Pot noodles I think was about the only thing I lived on.

I can well imagine that a family who have access to cooking facilities would appreciate a lot of what is given, but to be honest, treats were the last thing on my mind.

Another thing to note is that most of the food is tinned and heavy. Foodbanks are rarely next-door, so you have to say I can't carry that many tins of beans.

Toothpaste was always a good one to get.

When I donate, I donate what I use myself. Normally you get washing up liquid, or shampoo, but never conditioner, so I make a point of donating the same conditioner I'd buy for myself.

I think if you use it yourself, maybe just buy an extra one of something on every shop.

Also worth noting, that there is a limit to how many times you can get food in some boroughs.

I have NC for this so nobody can trace my username.

I didn't use a food bank but I did eat really scrimpily.

I bought my first house when I was 20 going on 21, I had a massive falling out with my Mum, she gave me two week to move out, I had 3 dogs and needed to buy instead of rent to be able to keep them so wasn't in the greatest financial position anyway (I paid rent at home).

Luckily I had a small amount saved that I had planned to use on a 21st birthday celbration and at the time the government had huge first home owner grants.

Within 6 months of buying my house the job I had been in for a couple of years which had always had fantastic hours slashed everyone's hours. I lived out of town so the petrol alone was almost equal to an hours work every day. Because of the way they did it though we all had crappy split shifts so I couldn't fit another job in, within 6 months I was dead broke and struggling to pay all of my bills.

I am embarrassed to admit it but I used to buy the bags of dog bones for about $2 and go through them for any 'useable meat' before giving the bones to my dogs, buying meat was a luxury I could ill afford. I ate sugar on bread, veg from the discount fruit shops, cheap pasta, heavily discounted bakery items that I could pick up at the supermarket on the way home etc.

I am hardworking and responsible with money but sometimes circumstances don't take you where you think you were going in the way you think you will go. On the upside the down times give you empathy for those who are less well off than you. I will always offer to buy food for a beggar for example, as it is always in my mind just how easily that could be anyone's fate.

I luckily landed a full time job and caught up on the bills but that year or so was a real down point in my life, if I had of had children I would have swallowed my pride and used a food bank to make sure they had some decent food every week.

They don't give out food bank tokens or vouchers for the sake of it. You have to be in genuine need. You can't just rock up to a food bank with your hand out and expect to be fed.

There is a limit as well so you can only get the tokens for 3 weeks i think it is round here, it really is just to get you over the worst.

Absolutely re the referrals, Auld, though when I volunteered in one a few years back, we often tried to fiddle this a bit, as sometimes people’s lives were just too chaotic to get to the CAB, get the referral and make to to the food bank during its opening hours.

If working there taught me anything, it’s that it takes very little to get to that level of poverty. For many of its it’s only a paycheque between us and food poverty. You are quite possibly standing in the school playground with people who use or have used a food bank.

@Nousernameforme Snap!

@furryjammies Most of the supermarkets have food bank collection points, and they'll add a certain percentage on top. Have a look next time you go in.

as previous posters said
Poverty is not a spectator sport
Get your facts and statistics OP from the sources quoted, look online, watch documentaries.
I cannot believe anyone in this day and age doesn’t know why people use food banks ....unless they are being goady and deliberately thick.

Most seem to be people with children. I think the criteria for fostering and adoption are so strict that it is difficult to place children in a financially stable home so they end up stuck in a poverty family.

Not all food banks require referrals. My local one doesn't.

Yes me, when my ex husband left. Was a life saver for my children and I.

My late dad who sadly passed on last may went through a couple of months of having to rely on them a few years before he died. His disability payments had been stopped when they moved from DLA to PIP. They sent him to the job centre to apply for JSA. He was told he had to do his job search on a computer (which he didn't own or know how to use) and was also told he had to be prepared to travel 90 miles for work. He didn't own a car or have any savings. When he got upset and questioned it, the advisor took a dislike to him and sanctioned his benefits for about 6 months, until I stepped in and helped him to sort it out. His housing benefit was consequently stopped and he feared he was going to be evicted. I had to help him collect his food bags from the food bank and drive him home with them because he was too weak to carry them.

Dp's DM volunteers in one too so probably knows many people.

I think the criteria for fostering and adoption are so strict that it is difficult to place children in a financially stable home so they end up stuck in a poverty family.

WTAFUCK?! You seriously believe the solution to poverty is to take kids away from their parents due to the parents being poor? What next, removing kids from 'unwed' mothers? That's so far down the scale towards Dickens it's unbelievable.

If people are paying good money to prop up sections of society they have every right to make reasons and causes their business.

No one is forced to donate to a foodbank.

No but we don't have a option on taxes for benefits