BBC news article. Kids may go hungry over the summer.

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haydot. Completely agree. I can’t beleive how far removed some people are from being able to see that if you have no money even finding £5 to buy a bag/tin of lentils and some tomatoes and pasta to make a healthy nutritious dish. Let alone have the cash to pay the electric/gas bill.

I’m grateful every day that we can feed our own children and clothe them and have choice.
Throughout my adult life I’ve been involved in pastoral care in schools then worked in debt advice and currently work for the NHS in safeguarding.
Some people are very sheltered an through their own privilege cannot understand the plight of others.
I’ve actually helped a lady this week when needed urgent dental work but couldn’t afford the costs because this payday she needs her spare cash for school uniforms etc for the kids so she was saying that her dental work would have to wait until September but she was in agony.
Some people don’t know they’re born
 
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I don't want to blame anyone, but it seems like saving money for bad times is just not a thought for many people. So many I know even on good wages live hand to mouth and it's crazy as jobs have never been so insecure. Before I blow money on luxury's I have at least two years worth of savings in the bank to keep me going.

The government encourages not saving as if you saved and lost your job you wouldn't get any housing benefit or council tax benefit.

Not that I believe the BBC and think they only have an agenda.
 
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Throughout my adult life I’ve been involved in pastoral care in schools then worked in debt advice and currently work for the NHS in safeguarding.
Some people are very sheltered an through their own privilege cannot understand the plight of others.
I’ve actually helped a lady this week when needed urgent dental work but couldn’t afford the costs because this payday she needs her spare cash for school uniforms etc for the kids so she was saying that her dental work would have to wait until September but she was in agony.
Some people don’t know they’re born
You're right some don't. I'm not rich. I don't have holidays etc those are luxuries. But I'm fortunate to be able( albeit on a budget to feed my kids) my boys are in a dentist because it's free atm. Me and my hubby aren't too expensive. So I understand struggle too. I've tried to articulate my point and not sure now what else I can say.
 
That mostly makes me wonder how so many parents thought it was a good idea to bring children into the world that they couldn't afford to feed.
That tends to steer you into the questionable world of eugenics.
At least during the school year kids are being seen daily, someone can hopefully tell if there’s a problem, but during the summer holidays they can go weeks without seeing anyone.
I could easily believe that article
.....
You could go even further. Prior to the milk snatcher days, a child could get a small bottle of milk free at school, and a free cooked school meal. Mum got the sole right to the child benefit.

It is easy to forget that our forefathers knew some men in particular were more keen on the dogs.nags.baccy. and liquor than the health of their family. I don't think these traits die away just because we we another few generations on.(And for the sake of BBC balance, there are some 'bad' mums also)

What's the answer? What needs done to improve things? I'm on a low budget and can agree with you. Kids do need nutrients and possibly I was thinking in the moment of a child needing their tummy full. That something is better than nothing. Changes need go happen for sure! It's awful that kids aren't getting what they need and in an ideal world they should be. But it's not and a full tummy is better than hunger was my point. It shouldn't be happening but clearly is.
If it were not for Corbyn, I would say vote Labour, and that is the only real cure in the long term. Maybe Swinson might concentrate on this also. But certainly not the Tories, who seem to thrive on a lack of social housing, foodbanks and homelessness.

I don't want to blame anyone, but it seems like saving money for bad times is just not a thought for many people. So many I know even on good wages live hand to mouth and it's crazy as jobs have never been so insecure. Before I blow money on luxury's I have at least two years worth of savings in the bank to keep me going.

The government encourages not saving as if you saved and lost your job you wouldn't get any housing benefit or council tax benefit.

Not that I believe the BBC and think they only have an agenda.
If you are poor, saving is a pipe dream.
 
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Just putting some scenarios out there
If you dont live in a city with an abundance of shops and you dont have a car you go to your nearest if its Coop its expensive.
Tesco metro has less range than big Tesco and costs more than out if town supermarket people drive to they have a e tier price structure.
We have Tesco Express 5mins walk we go a lot but its expensive.
Even in a city I have worked many enough areas and estates I have seen poverty 1st hand despite not living in that area.
1 area i worked in had small stretch high street, bouncer in the chemist door and post office even had security.
The giro day we use call it times were busy I worked for a food retailer so I used see what people brought.
When they get paid its live like kings but as the weeks went on the trolley would become less.
I have seen low income families feed their kids on frozen convenience foods and ready meals.
Some claim junk food is is cheaper and in some cases it is.
Many dont seem have any knowledge of cooking from scratch budgeting and making food last especially if they in cycle if teen motherhood.
I know freinds who split and their dads wont pay maintainance.
Just watching news recently about steelworks scared me we have whole towns relying on 1 unreliable employer.
Often council estates have 1 or 2 shops expensive prices.
Public transport outside of London or least where I live is extortionate so harder to shop around.
Foodbanks have increased last 10years i read about people walking 8miles to their nearest foodbank.
I believe you need be refered with voucher from nhs/ council you can just rock up abd get free food which I think most people think happens.
The trash papers like Daily Mail love a article about low income families blowing their money.
The threshold free school meals now is very low.
Which sadly means theres a group in the middle that go hungry.
Why should infants get free and juniors dont its bonkers ifs 1 good thing lib dems pushed for.
School meals here for primary junior child are £2.40 a day x20days/month is £45.60 thats some families weekly grocery budget.
Child benefit is around that for children that are not 1st born.
The threshold tax credits these days is quite low I think 24k dont quote me on it.
Universal credits also hit some families hard.
spot on 👍
Lol feel your pain 4 kids here and teen eats like an adult.
Its battle keep fruit bowl full.
Crisps , cakes and chocolate dont last.
Resorted doing a few things buying less fruit juice and fizzy drinks and getting varieties squash and flavoured waters.
Rationing and hiding treats cant quite manage that with lollies.
Buying boring snacks like yogurts/ raisins/ carrot sticks/breadsticks and biscuits jot fancy ones vakue cookies bourbans and digestive if they hungry they will eat them
Tinned or frozen fruit as backups when fresh run out.
Milk i struggle with as they snack on cereal.
Spent £45 lidls today unsure how long will lasts.
Can totally see how change circumstances.
Many years ago we had job loss for 6 or 7 weeks over the summer it was very hard.
Trying get any sorts benefits jsa and housing took weeks as does tax credits.
We were offered foodbank vouchers but dident take them up on it.
Instead i remember one month we went to big tesco and did massive nearly all value shop for 60 quid and that lasted the entire month. We picked free blackberries they all out now and regularly nightly looked at reductions.
Theres much less value lines in the main supermarkets now than used to be abd their prices crept up.
I made loads from scratch we got buy.
Now we still do shop around home bargains,b&m , Iceland aldis liidls local market but not everyone can easily shop around transport and time.
I regularly donate to foodbanks.
Infleuencers go on about meat free sometimes its not a choice.
Hardly any of them cool from scratch/budget and buy lots convenience.
 
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I have said that bills are crippling ppl I have said I didn't consider all factors too. It's why we discuss things to gain a full view of situations. It's ignorance to not accept others views and possibly change your own when you have considered new and all the information. I'm prepared to accept it's not black and white.
I think differences in opinion and discussion is important as we al learn new things we never consider.
Its not easy when mainstream media paints everyone on benefits as wreckless scroungers because they smoke or havea big t.v. ect.

Nhs adult dental care does cost its not like the rest of the nhs.
I dont know how parents manage on a zero hours contract
Foodbanks seem be spread out and open on specific days and times and you have to have a referal voucher.
If anyone has a community cafe locally ours vary cheap drink and cake for £1.
Times we gone there we seen homeless and families a real mix of people.
If you have big tesco locally and even local Morrisons started free fruit at the door ideal if you only need couple basics and have children in tow.
Most supermarkets reduced evenings but thats become harder to find.
Its BlackBerry season so we picking free blackberries.
Bus fares are extortionate £2 50 each way for an adult less than 3miles .
Only in London to children get free travel.
Councils seldom pay travel.
Getting uniform assistance is a postcode lottery .
I live on the border 2 different councils that are polar opposite.
1 gives free nit solution.
I spend small fortune on nit treatment every year its frustrating.
The car or household disaster has affected us some months and our income is variable due to commission.
I expect self employed parents have variable income too.
 
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I don't want to blame anyone, but it seems like saving money for bad times is just not a thought for many people. So many I know even on good wages live hand to mouth and it's crazy as jobs have never been so insecure. Before I blow money on luxury's I have at least two years worth of savings in the bank to keep me going.

The government encourages not saving as if you saved and lost your job you wouldn't get any housing benefit or council tax benefit.

Not that I believe the BBC and think they only have an agenda.
Most people on benefits struggle to meet food bills and utilities saving is a luxury !
 
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That tends to steer you into the questionable world of eugenics.
Expecting people to take responsibility for feeding their own children is a long way away from forced sterilisation and genetic engineering.

Side note: suggesting somebody is pro-eugenics is really quite offensive. Reminds me a bit of a guy in a lift in a YouTube video talking about the KKK.
 
If living hand to mouth there is no way that saving could be an option when every penny is accounted for.
 
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Expecting people to take responsibility for feeding their own children is a long way away from forced sterilisation and genetic engineering.

Side note: suggesting somebody is pro-eugenics is really quite offensive. Reminds me a bit of a guy in a lift in a YouTube video talking about the KKK.
No no no no. You don't escape that easily. You wrote:

That mostly makes me wonder how so many parents thought it was a good idea to bring children into the world that they couldn't afford to feed.
If you rescind that remark, so will I. Otherwise, my observation stands. FWIW, I think eugenics are dangerous. 1930s Germany was not the only state to visit this: see also, for instance, the ideas in Virginia, USA
 
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Hey all,
Please be respectful of each other’s comments and back away from any arguments that are brewing 😊
Thank you 😬😬
 
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I think Tesco also does the free fruit for children while you are shopping. I think I saw it on a MoD story. Lots of people don’t seem to know how to cook, and I am thankful that I learned a bit from my mother and then became interested in cooking later on. Bills are crippling now, especially if there is only one
adult in the family. Council tax discount for one adult occupier is only 25% and it should be 50%. Why should a house full of adults, meaning three plus, pay the same as two adults. I don’t like spending a lot of money on food. I’d rather spend the money on culture or travel. I eat a lot of beans, and lentils. Jack Monroe has recently published a cookbook on how to make meals from tinned food and has donated copies to food banks. She also has a free website with the recipes.

I also do think it’s easier to live somewhere in a city where you can find many different shops and markets to use. I go to Rye Lane in Peckham for the multitude of different food stores, inc. a Chinese supermarket and African and Asian supermarkets, and on street fruit and vegetable vendors. I buy three packs of pita bread for a pound and freeze them. I stuff them with vegetables and cheese or eggs. I also buy a lot if frIzen vegetables and use them in casseroles.
 
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I think Tesco also does the free fruit for children while you are shopping. I think I saw it on a MoD story. Lots of people don’t seem to know how to cook, and I am thankful that I learned a bit from my mother and then became interested in cooking later on. Bills are crippling now, especially if there is only one
adult in the family. Council tax discount for one adult occupier is only 25% and it should be 50%. Why should a house full of adults, meaning three plus, pay the same as two adults. I don’t like spending a lot of money on food. I’d rather spend the money on culture or travel. I eat a lot of beans, and lentils. Jack Monroe has recently published a cookbook on how to make meals from tinned food and has donated copies to food banks. She also has a free website with the recipes.

I also do think it’s easier to live somewhere in a city where you can find many different shops and markets to use. I go to Rye Lane in Peckham for the multitude of different food stores, inc. a Chinese supermarket and African and Asian supermarkets, and on street fruit and vegetable vendors. I buy three packs of pita bread for a pound and freeze them. I stuff them with vegetables and cheese or eggs. I also buy a lot if frIzen vegetables and use them in casseroles.
You sound very sensible.
I think i need to be more brave with shop choices we have indian and Chinese supermarkets.
Sadly do decent indoor food market.
The farmers markets lovely but very costly.
Green grocers changed daily cheaper to buy whats in season.
I loved girl called Jack original blog and have her 1st book but then she went off on tangent about non food things and i lost interest. Her carrot and kidney bean burgers are lovely.
I know hes marmite but i like jamie oliver even if i think save with jamie was not super money saving.
I think his ministry of food trying to teach people how to cook was interesting.
Theres a intro on his italy book about how low income families in Italy eat so much better than here they spend a bigger %of income on food and have access lots cheap fresh ingredients.
I really want his 5 ingredients book but dont want to pay full price.
Speaking to freinds in Canada and Australia uk food prices are quite low.
However cost living housing /petrol/energy is is high compared to income.
Does anyone else have pot luck dinner week before pay day and run down freezers/cupboards with unusual combos.
I think to start saving you have to be om an even keel to start with and usually car wupses out any meagre savings we make.
Interests rates are so low.
I read most people in uk only have 2months wages saved some less.
I know people poor, rich and in the middle .
I think we are constantly on social media being sold items we dont need.
As a new exited and nervous parent its hard to see past the crap.
I learnt with subsequent children.
 
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From what I’ve heard, food prices in Australia are high. Have a relative there, and have spoken to Australian shoppers in the local Lidl who thought food here was much cheaper. I buy pasta either at Aldi or Lidl, Lidl does spaghetti for 20p a pack, and a Turkish supermarket near me does packs of three, in different shapes, for a pound. They also do tins of different beans at three for a pound. Lidl does four tins of baked beans for very little, just over a pound. I doctor my baked beans and add vinegar, hot sauce, water and butter. I have
a baked bean spaghetti recipe, taken from the Guardian a few years ago. It was made for someone’s midwife mother after she delivered a baby and she passed it down through her family. Easy cheap comfort food. Another easy cheap recipe is Nigella lawson’s marmite spaghetti.
 
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Ive not read the entire thread but saying go to lidl, home bargains etc and shop around many people dont have transport means to get to those places, particularly if they have young children in tow, walking 6 miles to the nearest lidl just to get cheap tin of beans is not ideal. Equally they may have minimal equipment or not have money for gas/electric so in that sense when they have just £5 left to last a week finding anything remotely edible from the corner shop may be the only alternative.
 
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From what I’ve heard, food prices in Australia are high. Have a relative there, and have spoken to Australian shoppers in the local Lidl who thought food here was much cheaper. I buy pasta either at Aldi or Lidl, Lidl does spaghetti for 20p a pack, and a Turkish supermarket near me does packs of three, in different shapes, for a pound. They also do tins of different beans at three for a pound. Lidl does four tins of baked beans for very little, just over a pound. I doctor my baked beans and add vinegar, hot sauce, water and butter. I have
a baked bean spaghetti recipe, taken from the Guardian a few years ago. It was made for someone’s midwife mother after she delivered a baby and she passed it down through her family. Easy cheap comfort food. Another easy cheap recipe is Nigella lawson’s marmite spaghetti.
I am trying do more beans and lentil recipes.
The indian supermarket do huge bags spices way cheaper than smalll jars in supermarkets.
Find homebargains good for cheap oil salt and pepper.
It really is shopping around my kids know ig its not on the list, on offer or reduced then we dont buy.
They only have certain branded items when they £1
Things like baby bels/fruit shoots/frubes they occasional treats.
I try buy branded cheese,butter/cereal/crisps and biscuits only when on offer.
Foods really our only variable everything else is fixed i imagine others the same.
We maybe need check energy supplier seems high since we moved abd because we moved we have water meter.
We got rid 1 car so down to 1.
Trying do cheap or free things this summery holiday.
To give us more flex i try to buy and sell carboots sales/facebook and do charity shops/jumble sales for most of our clothes.
If they new its sales or cheaper shops.
You really do have to watch every penny when balancing a family budget.
 
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Secondary school uniform is extortionate. My daughters blazer is over £50 and the jumpers £30.
My son went to a grammar school and the three pe kits plus lab wear and summer and winter blazers and no bursary or funding. There is a reason that only certain demographics access this kind of education.
We do ok but I know we are only a few pay packets away from a crisis. So I don't judge people for struggling.

School holidays are an expensive time. You think about not only the extra food but also that’s traditionally a time for new uniform and schools shoes. I think uniform should be got rid of. If you have a tiny budget for everything and have to pay for school uniform then that budget for day to day clothing is greatly decreased. Kids can still tell who’s in the finest John Lewis/M&S uniform or the Aldi budget range. So if the clothing was from Gucci or Primark the ones who will say something will say it whether it’s about uniform or clothing.
Yeah I agree, I think uniforms are a bit ridiculous now. When I was in school, my school had a very casual uniform of a tshirt and jumper with the school logo, and then any black trousers or shoes (as long as they were fully black). PE kit was basically wear what you want/own within reason (so like no strappy tops...most people just wore trackies/shorts and any plain colour tshirt they owned). It meant a lot of people would keep their older sibling's hand-me-downs in terms of tops/jumpers. Now there's so many more rules and regulations on uniforms, and it seems a lot are trying to make it 'smarter'...which I understand to a degree, but it means you have to buy practically everything via the school (even PE kits which a lot of schools require to have logos on) and can't just buy trousers/skirts from somewhere cheap, plus stuff like the blazers is expensive and I imagine uncomfortable at times.
 
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No no no no. You don't escape that easily. You wrote:



If you rescind that remark, so will I. Otherwise, my observation stands. FWIW, I think eugenics are dangerous. 1930s Germany was not the only state to visit this: see also, for instance, the ideas in Virginia, USA
"no no no"?! seriously?!