Re: free school meal vouchers

[Hadenoughofitall441]

My mum works in a local supermarket, she told me today that at least 6 of the kids parents from dd 7 and DS 12 school came in to use them but spent them on alcohol. Now let me know if I’m being unreasonable but I find this totally out of order. She said it’s been happening last week aswell.
She said the cards have the kids names on so she knew what they were. She too is disgusted by this but obviously can’t say anything because it’s at work. One of the other customers said he thought it was wrong too.

It's taxpayers money so for those working it seems a bit frivolous. There is a lot of food that could be bought that would last a few weeks.

Is that like a Mumsnet chicken then? I’m not sure even the most frugal of families could live for weeks on £15.

jelly no it's nothing like a Mumsnet chicken (bizarre metaphor). It's easy to feed a child 5 decent lunches for £15.

chandler it's meant for food not treats for grown ups. We keep hearing about food banks & I am genuinely delighted that this has been rolled out so children don't end up eating stuff from food banks that they may not like. It's great parents can choose where they go & that they can perhaps treat the kids to some nice things that they might not otherwise afford. It really is supposed to be for that purpose.

The only comparison I can make is for example when I was at uni my Dad would give me money for books or bus pass. He would have been pissed off if I had spent it on booze.

Everyone understands the money is for the child. We can all agree that a child needs food.

But honestly....I don't see the difference between the following 2 scenarios:

A parent using the voucher while doing a big shop and there happening to be a bottle of wine in with the big shop.

A parent doing a big shop without the vouchers then the voucher comes the next day. The parent cashes it is, grabs some wine which they maybe forgot or went without when doing the big shop.

The parent has bought the same stuff in both scenarios. The child is well fed. Its ridiculous to expect someone to go without any treats just because they get free school meal vouchers.

my Dad would give me money for books or bus pass. He would have been pissed off if I had spent it on booze.

Even if you’d already bought all your books and bus pass? He would begrudge you having a few drinks? Really? Your dad? Sounds miserable.

Its easy to feed a child 5 decent lunches for £15.

It is, but you said:-

There is a lot of food that could be bought that would last a few weeks

Really? For £15 that would provide 5 lunches and last for a few weeks? It’s not a lot of money, and it’s not buying a huge amount of food but it may be the difference for some families between feeding children or not. For others it’ll buy some treats or extras, for others it’ll disappear in their weekly food budget and others where it won’t even touch the sides. I don’t see anyone living for weeks on it though.

chandler he loved a beer but I think it's reasonable to assume money given for a specific purpose is used for that?

I wouldn't be happy if I gave my kids money for something they needed & they spent it on sweets & milkshakes rather than the sensible thing they actually needed.

We're going to have to agree to disagree. But I think if people want to do what they like with nobody interfering then they need to be fully independent. So when my kids are older if they get a part time job then really they can do what they like with their money. If I am helping them out then there will be some amount of ms wanting to have a say.

I just hope some children aren't going without. How do we know which parents had stocked up for their children & which ones are just spending on themselves??

jellycats it's only supposed to pay for lunches though? Also it's per child? I won't post a ridiculous list but I honestly think £15 per week for lunch is enough. I could feed myself easily for 5 x lunches on that amount.

he loved a beer but I think it's reasonable to assume money given for a specific purpose is used for that?

Yes but I asked you “Even if you’d already bought all your books and bus pass?“

I wouldn't be happy if I gave my kids money for something they needed & they spent it on sweets & milkshakes rather than the sensible thing they actually needed.

Even if they’d already bought the thing they needed?

I honestly think £15 per week for lunch is enough. I could feed myself easily for 5 x lunches on that amount.

And what would you do with the change? Buy a treat maybe?

I used to work in woolies, we had the regulars, I knew pretty much a majority of customers, what they usually brought every week, what days they came in, you get to know thier routines. There were a couple of regular mums that would come in, kid picks up a chocolate, they would scream at them to put them down they don’t have money for it etc, then I’ve gone on my lunch break and seen the very same woman sitting getting her nails done whilst her kids are sitting waiting. Now don’t get me wrong I know people are entitled to luxuries but I’ve seen all too many times where the kids are dressed like they’ve being wearing the same clothes 5 days whilst the parents are walking around in top of the range brand new clothes. Parents of kids in DS class. All I’m saying is if we didn’t have the lockdown people wouldn’t be entitled to these vouchers so it’s extra money regardless of wether you’ve already purcahsed food. It’s money you wouldn’t have had if they were at school.

it’s extra money regardless of wether you’ve already purcahsed food.

Read that sentence back to yourself. Do it over and over until the penny drops.

Chandler you are genuinely the most goady person I've ever come across on MN.

And what would you do with the change? Buy a treat maybe?

For the adult? No.

For the child? Yes.

Why is it so hard for you to comprehend that some people think money given for a specific purpose should be used for that purpose especially when the purpose is specifically to feed children because schools are closed.

Also if I was pp in the Dad and bus pass example I'd tell him to keep his money because I didn't need it. I wouldn't piss it up the wall on sweets and wine. Some people just have morals I guess.

It’s a shame you struggle with having your opinions challenged. That does equate to someone goading you.

Some people just have morals I guess.

This^ is goading.

I use Hello Fresh for the majority of meals my children eat - we have the box for 4 people for 4 or 5 meals which is between £55-£65 a week. Because it's the 4 person box each meal does two nights (at the moment that's one dinner and one lunch with them being at home all day) for the children and gives them a great mix of protein and vegetables which is better than they'd get if I went to the supermarket. I pick the recipes weekly and get a great mix of meals which they like.

Because of that the free school meals vouchers aren't being used for their meals, so far I have saved them as we use a local farm shop for milk, bread and eggs etc. The vouchers will get used for food another time when money is short, at the moment I am fortunate enough still to be paid by work but if I am furloughed then I will need the vouchers.

I’m starting to wonder if the ones that are totally against my point are the ones using thier kids free school meals to indeed buy alcohol and fags , maybe it’s hitting home that not everyone puts themselves before thier kids. Touched a nerve maybe.... but hey that’s just my opinion 🤷🏼‍♀️😊

Ooh- I wonder who you mean OP?

I wonder, just thinking out loud 😊

It's not extra money. The child is entitled to and would have received free lunch at school. They can't get that at the moment. My shopping is higher now than it was before. I already incurred that cost in my weekly shop. Or should I have not fed them any lunch till the voucher came and then made a seperate transaction for lunch only items?

Its practical to do a big shop. If I happen to buy something different at the time I'm cashing my vouchers so be it. I will be spending above and beyond the voucher amount on my kids when I do my next weekly shop.

And like I said before...I don't drink, I just don't grudge others a treat if they have money leftover.

I’m starting to wonder if the ones that are totally against my point are the ones using thier kids free school meals to indeed buy alcohol and fags , maybe it’s hitting home that not everyone puts themselves before thier kids. Touched a nerve maybe.... but hey that’s just my opinion

Ha. Certainly not the case with me - thanks. I’m just not judgemental with a poor concept of money and how the same £10 note doesn’t have to be spent for it to be a tenner spent.

You really should have stated in your OP that you were only inviting comments that agreed with you.

I wonder If you could be wrong and just immaturely lashing out at the negativity your post has received by making goady remarks that have no basis in reality?

Just thinking out loud.

Op there are so many holes in this. You clearly made it up to stir up hate and bring attention to yourself.

Shame on you.

Also, get a life.

It is money the parents wouldn't have had if the kids were at school because the school would have been providing the lunches @Hadenoughofitall441. The parent would not have had to provide food and not had need of the voucher. Now if a parent happened to have 3 children receiving school meals then that is £45 a week. That may be a lot of money for some to find unexpectedly. They may have borrowed it from somebody else and passed the vouchers back to them, they may have used a little bit of 'treat' money they had put aside. The vouchers are simply paying back this money. Nobody would bat an eyelid if a family had a bottle of wine in their weekly shopping even if children get fsm, so why does the fact that a voucher is spent on wine make any difference if £15 has been spent on the childs lunches.

I’m starting to wonder if the ones that are totally against my point are the ones using thier kids free school meals to indeed buy alcohol and fags , maybe it’s hitting home that not everyone puts themselves before thier kids. Touched a nerve maybe....

I’m totally against your point because you’re wrong. You’re assuming the people your mum gossiped to you about have left their children to go hungry while indulging themselves and you’ve refused to consider any other possible explanation despite several being presented to you. It suits your world view to think of feckless neglectful parents drinking wine while their kids starve.

Sadly that is the reality for a small proportion of kids but their parents won’t be the ones buying a bottle of wine in a supermarket - they’ll be buying drugs, or paying their pimp, or their partners gambling debt. And you do those children no favours equating their life experience to a well cared for child who’s parents buys a bottle of wine with the balance of their FSM vouchers it masks and dismisses the lives of those kids for whom £15 is literally no use whatsoever such are the barriers to them having anything close to a “comfortable” childhood.

You have absolutely no concept of the desperation of some people’s lives, your OP was designed to create ire and antagonise. Well done 👏👏👏👏👏

I’m lucky my kids don’t need free school meals and if they did I certainly wouldn’t be spending the vouchers on stuff for myself let alone alcohol and fags, because That’s not what they are intended for. Take what you like from my OP, because after being on this site for so many years I’ve noticed that when some people disagree with you they get particularly vindictive when you then don’t agree with them. I was just seeing if anyone agreed with my opinion which obviously the majority did. Just another thing, I know about poverty, I grew up on a council estate, we didn’t have much and were lucky If we had a hot meal everyday, both my parents worked but making it month to month was a struggle, my parents managed to get on the property ladder by a stroke of luck and now my mum is mortgage free and has been for 10 years, my grandparents were alcoholics and my father too, so don’t think for a second I look down on desperation, I work I can give my kids nice things but not enough that they are spoilt, they both understand the value of money. They don’t look down on thier friends, exactly the way they’ve been raised, the way I’ve been raised.