If it comes to it would you choose heating or eating?

[Tuliprain]

We were having this discussion the other night. I would choose eating and husband would choose heating - so we are already stuck. Im thinking we could warm up with blankets and hot water bottles etc but nothing you can do about hunger. He says the house will go mouldy and he’s rather be hungry than cold. Such a depressing subject to be considering.

Cut back on both but eventually food would need to take over heating.

Can I just say the best thing you can do if you’re cold is wear a hat and scarf inside. Yes it sounds Dickensian but it it works so well. I discovered this when our boiler was broken for weeks and we live in a very draughty old house. I wore lots of layers, thick long woolly socks, wrist warmers, a scarf and a hat. Then as others have said soup and warm drinks work a treat.

Eat.
If you move around, wear thermals etc I think you could get by depending where you live. Keep one room insulated.
I’d get an electric blanket too.

Eating obviously as you can warm yourself up in other ways - extra layers, blankets, exercise etc.

Your DH sounds like he’s lived a very privileged life.
Many people can’t afford to put their heating on.

@bitemyarsenic

No doubt will be flamed but seriously do people think that central heating has always existed? Ridiculous notion. You eat or you starve. Put a jumper and socks on, exclude drafts etc. Stop washing towels after every use.

We used to have open fires

Eating obviously. You can compromise though - eat cheaper and heat only 1 room, unless you are really on your uppers.

I don't understand this choose between eating and heating thing.

Tell your amazing ideas to all the pensioners that have literally frozen or starved to death. You have not been on the bones of your arse if you think that.

Eating.

From The Family Nutrition Guide

A food is something that provides nutrients. Nutrients are substances that provide:

energy for activity, growth, and all functions of the body such as breathing, digesting food, and keeping warm;

materials for the growth and repair of the body, and for keeping the immune system healthy.

It's no good having the heating on if lack of food means that you cannot maintain heat.

Bold fail sorry.

Eat.

Well you can live without heat, but you can’t live without food, so the answer is obvious I think?

@Florelei

I’m reading this and I’m really struck by the seeming lack of anger about this.

I’m absolutely raging that people are even having to think about making such choices.

Yep, have you seen the memes comparing Shell in the UK and EDF in France? Here's what France is doing: www.ft.com/content/b7076bd0-58cf-4da6-91d4-6423d7317c15 or if you can't access the FT, www.nasdaq.com/articles/france-to-cap-power-prices-edf-forced-to-sell-more-nuclear-power-to-competitors. You know the UK is doing bugger all to help anyone, except for profit-making Shell's shareholders - fuel costs in UK capped at 54%, in France, at 4%. I'm bloody furious and I don't even live in the UK any more.

Yeah I never did get the cafe thing, I could feed the 4 of us for the day for less than an adult meal in a cafe .

Our local children's Centre were selling take away meals for £1 during the pandemic which was good for the elderly and single people on low incomes but not so great if you have a couple of children although I guess fsm vouchers helped with that

They also do free breakfasts for children in school holidays

@lightand

I never get the heating or eating argument. There are many many things I would cut out before any of those. Less clothes, less grooming, cheaper tv package. The list goes on.

People with little money to spare don't spend money on those things anyway.

You eat and wrap up. You don’t heat the house and go without food. That’s nonsense.

@KurtWilde

I think people who see those as things to cut down on really don’t understand others situations. I haven’t bought clothes for years, have no tv package, don’t go to the hairdressers or anything. They’re luxuries not things to cut down on

The positive thing is that spring is almost here. If people turn off their heating by April when it's usually 12c or more outside then they have 5 months to make plans. People who put their heating on when it's 16c outside are going to have to re adjust.
Spring is a matter of weeks away.

You’re even more cold if you’re starving. I’d go half half, there are ways to eat for little money.

@AllOfUsAreDead

I would question the intelligence and sanity of someone who would choose heat. As cold as it will get overnight unless you are very old, you'll survive the cold. It's britain, not the north Pole. However no food and 2-3 weeks later you're dead. So your choice of paying the heating will cover you for less than a month. Good choice..

It's not just about being warm though. I don't have a tumble dryer (and even if I did, they are very expensive to run) so during winter I need to dry the washing indoors and it won't dry in a cold house without causing problems with damp.

Obviously everyone needs to eat to stay alive and no one is talking about keeping the house warm all the time instead of eating.

Food. Not fancy, not takeout, but food. You won't feel happier starving and warm than full and wrapped in layers. Lots of us grew up in houses with single pane windows and no heating. Coats on the beds, ice on the inside of the window. And we lived mostly on chios and egg and beans on toast at one point but at least our basic calorie needs were met (I won't say we never went hungry but we never missed a meal)

@nanbread

Mould doesn't come from not having the heating on, it's from having poor ventilation?

True but when it's freezing outside who wants to open the windows?

Ventilation and heating go hand in hand.

People who don't want a mouldy house?

[quote Chichimcgee]@KurtWilde

I think people who see those as things to cut down on really don’t understand others situations. I haven’t bought clothes for years, have no tv package, don’t go to the hairdressers or anything. They’re luxuries not things to cut down on[/quote]
Exactly.

Combination unless it got very bad. Could cut food from £50 to £30 a week at today's prices (two people), less variety but we wouldn't be hungry. Cats would have to have cheaper food. Could cut heating to two hours a day, strict 3 minute showers unless hairwashing. If it got worse than that then foodbank if available, then no heating, airing the house in the day and hoping we didn't get mould.

Ultimately food to meet our minimal nutritional needs would come before heat.

It's breaking my heart that we need to choose but Eat. Everyone has blankets and jumpers. So it's what we will have to do

I live abroad in a country that reaches the same temperature as England in winter but has much hotter summers. Housea don't have central heating. People wear many clothes at home - the same as outside. People still spend a lot of time outside in winter but just dress in many layers and keep these layers on at home. I was so surprised and slightly horrified when I first moved here, but now I don't mind at all. I use a heated blanket, and if anything I'm too hot at night! Getting up in the morning is horrible, so I shower the night before, and keep my clothes beside the bed to get dressed quickly! I'm currently wearing thick, fluffy, ugly but remarkably cosy pyjamas and slippers and sitting on the sofa perfectly warm. I don't think people SHOULD have to live like this, but living here has taught me that it's perfectly possible to healthily live without heating.