AIBU to think the UK should have a National Food Service again? (Like we basically had in WW2)

[Staybymw]

During WW2 and for years after, the UK did have a kind of National Food Service.
The government controlled prices, ran bakeries, managed rationing, guaranteed flour/milk supplies, and kept basic staples affordable so people didn’t starve. It wasn’t fancy, but it worked.

So with the cost of living crisis now, rising food prices, food banks everywhere, and benefits going up because families literally can’t afford groceries… why don’t we bring back a modern version?

I’m not talking about anything complicated.
I mean basic, no-frills staples produced not for profit:

• bread
• rice
• pasta
• tinned tomatoes
• flour
• oats
• basic cooking oil
• tinned veg / beans

All stuff we can grow or easily manufacture in the UK.

If the government owned the land, the factories, and the distribution, they could:

• create thousands of jobs ( more people paying tax)
• stabilise food prices
• make sure no one goes hungry
• massively reduce the need for benefits to keep rising
• put pressure on supermarkets to stop hiking prices

Other countries already do versions of this:

France controls wheat prices
Japan buys rice from farmers and sells it back at stable prices
Egypt subsidises bread for millions
India has state-run ration shops
Brazil provides government food baskets
Saudi Arabia subsidises milk, flour, staples through state industry

It’s not a wild idea lots of countries see food as a strategic, essential service.

A National Food Service would mean:

• no shareholders to pay
• no profit margin
• steady UK jobs
• cheaper food
• more secure supply chains
• less reliance on private companies
• more tax revenue from the workers it employs

It could help families massively.
Especially those who are working but still struggling, or whose benefits are swallowed by food prices.

Given everything going on, food inflation, child poverty, constant arguments about increasing benefits, would a simple, not-for-profit national food range actually save money in the long run?

They can though can’t they? They don’t need government canteens or government potatoes. It’s just this weird obsession with controlling what people eat.

I'm well aware it's never going to happen. I'm not a fool. I'm saying that before any of us can claim this will be cheaper or more expensive we would need to see the figures. Without them we are all simply making uniformed declarations about cost to support views driven by our ideologies rather than from any detailed knowledge or understanding of the economics.

Can you imagine the uproar of we stopped benefits and gave people food instead.

People would have to cook and wouldn't get treats.

This would cause riots. Like genuinely. People don't riot over many things but food is one of them.

Plus one of the issues food banks identify is the number of people who don't have the means to cook. Either through fuel shortage (potatoes take a long time and lots of energy to cook), a lack of equipment (everything from tin openers, to pans, to those living in b&b's only having access to a kettle and microwave at most) and obviously a lack of skill.

It's even more depressing to think about than it simply being about a lack of money.

I wouldn't trust the government to run a more efficient operation than the supermarkets. We already have very cheap food. It would be better to swap benefit payments into food vouchers to prevent temptation for those who can't manage their own money,.

I love this.

"We should have cheap subsidised food in this country"

Someone points out the food that is available OP disputes it saying "but that's shit quality and I can't use it".

Which illustrates part of the point and problem.

What makes you think you'd get better quality food under a government scheme. That's nuts! And if you are saying those products are unusable, what do you think other people will say?!!!!.

50p tinned lentils are absolutely perfect and easy to use btw. I have no bloody idea why you are moaning at that one.

Off on a tangent here, but no. They really haven't.

What the CPC done back in 2011 or so, after XI declared " we will eradicate poverty", they just redefined what it is.

They set the poverty level at 6.3 RMB per day in 2011. Far lower than the world bank definition. They also do not state if this is per person, or per household. And they never raised or revised that definition.

NHS results are there for all to see. Numbers are massaged, deaths from lack of diagnosis and primary care hidden. It’s not an example to be proud of.

Ahh right. So you are going down the path of all data is fake. That's usually a good conversation killer.

I will say tho, there is not really much in the UK that can be called 100% subsidy (or benefit free).I reckon the concept of pure capitalism is just as impossible as pure communism.

Like a pp, My dad was a teenager in Glasgow during the war, grew very tall, and was always hungry. My grandson is the same height, and has the typical teenage hollow legs. The portions at school dinners are tiny, cost a lot, and I basically I wouldn’t trust the government to feed anyone adequately beyond a very basic quantity of calories.

What country do you live in ? Food is very expensive in the UK . A tin of pulses costs around a pound and if you are talking of boiling dried ones then add in the gas/electricity to that. You can't eat lentils every day. Fruit and vegetables are vastly overpriced. Carrots are now 69p a bag in Tesco - my nearest shop. I do not have the time ,nor a car to go and shop cheaper.

"During the war" is pretty important here.

Is your Grandson as hungry as your dad was ?

Food is very cheap in the UK. Exactly how much cheaper do you think a bag of carrots could possibly be?

It's really not. Food is cheap in the UK. We have highly competitive supermarkets which screw farmers and drive down prices. If anything fruit and veg are under priced and we should be paying more.

Go to a French supermarket - the quality is much higher but so are the prices. Brits focus on cheap over good.

Baked beans, kidney beans, botlotti beans, pinto beans, cannelleni beans, haricot beans, black eyed beans, black beans, green lentils, chickpeas. All under a £ at Tesco. No you don't have to eat lentils every day, but pulses are cheap, balanced and versatile - nothing wrong with eating them regularly.

Have you seen how good the government - any government - are at running things?

you’re really asking for communism and that’s not really worked too well when tried before

I’m disabled. I can’t stand on my own two feet.

there are days I can’t prep my
own food - most days I struggle.

what would you suggest for me?

Farmer here. There are already good steady jobs in Ag -
no one wants them as they involve poo, working unsociable hours, often in cold conditions.

My Dad remembers farming in the war and the Ministry of Agriculture. Back then, if you weren’t farming your farm well “The ministry” came and took it over. It happened to our neighbours. “The ministry” did modernize the farm and massively improve its outputs but it still didn’t yield as well as my grandfather who had grown up on the land and farmed it all its life.

Basic food is already incredibly cheap and really rather well resourced. One man per 1000 acres of arable. 6 men per 90 000 hens etc. actually. If the government ran it your costs would go up dramatically as the government defines a full time worker in grant applications as 30 hours per week. I don’t know any full time farm workers on 30 hrs per week!!!

Again, no, not nationalisation but alongside what we already have

It's not helpful to try to kill a conversation by saying you are disabled, or your children are disabled. If the help you receive is not enough, then that is a different (and worthy) topic on its own.

The vast majority of people are able bodied. That's what this thread is about. Do you really think that all people should get the same level of benefits as a disabled person?

We don't need additional food. We are overproducing which leads to food waste. Even community pantries/fridges can't get rid of all the excess food.

What we need is those who can't cook/won't cook to start cooking.

Those that say they don't have the time - we all have the same 24 hours a day.

The feckless have plenty of spare time.

That is still alot of money for a family. You need more than one tin for a family and just eating beans all the time is quite depressing.

Almost half of the UK population has a long term health condition. While not necessarily all causing significant impairment, this tends to become increasingly so as they age, and we have an aging population. Therefore, its not accurate to say 'the vast majority of people are able bodied'. The perspective of disabled people is very valid when discussing issues that affect the population as a whole as they are not the niche minority you believe.

As an immigrant I am always quite baffled by claims that food is expensive and/or takes too much effort to cook.
Asda white potatoes are 2kg for abou 1.30, carrots for 69p for 1kg, broccoli 79p and even cheaper if one buys frozen. Rice and pasta are cheap. Pulses can be very cheap (soak them if buying dry). Meat is pricey, still not that much compared to other countries but still. That's asda which is not the cheapest. You can now buy sweet potatoes for under a pound per kilo in many places.
It's actually fairly easy to get veg and fruit on offers for very cheap.
Many easy and quick dishes can be made from basics or whatever is on offer.

What the issue is not that food is expensive, but that "exciting" food is more expensive.

Thank you.

the disabled. Elderly. Those with food allergies.

how will you mitigate the scheme for them?

surely that has to be considered, otherwise it will disadvantage that section of the population?

Sorry - I posted too soon. I do eat them regularly. Alot of people also cannot eat pulses regularly , due to dietary issues. I work with children with complex and multiple disabilities and some of these children cannot digest pulse properly. I myself have thyroid issues and have to limit the amount of pulses I eat due to the detrimental effect it can have on my condition. I do enjoy a bean chilli though!