New poster here although I have been a bit of a lurker on and off for a while.
I think the reason why Jack doesn’t understand why people are so critical of her is that she’s never been surrounded by true poverty - just middle class “hard times”, yet is absolutely desperate to give herself as many labels as possible as she seems to still be stuck in the teenage phase of wanting to be different to others. Growing up on a council estate surrounded by people in actual poverty trying to make what little money they have stretch as far as possible, you realise how absurd and just plain unrealistic so many of her tips/recipes are.
In my experience, people who I grew up around were some of the proudest people in terms of hygiene and cleanliness and would never ever use shampoo in their washing machines/water down washing up liquid/melt soap to use as shower gel! In fact, I don’t think a lot of them would even want to use supermarkets own brand despite being skint! Instead, trips to “cheap” shops like Savers/B&M/Heron Foods meant that you could pick up branded toiletries and cleaning products for a lot cheaper than in Jacks beloved Asda. I’m sure Jack would argue that there might not be stores in walking distance, but in my experience it was always extremely common for people to share lifts or taxis to supermarkets and other shops in order to reduce costs. But Jack doesn’t suggest or do this as it isn’t as *poor me* as detailing her long walk to Asda with a heavy rucksack on her back with her arthritis playing up.
I think the items Jack purchased as soon as she had some spare money and was out of *the poverty* are also very telling of her middle class-ness. I would place bets on not one person who I grew up with knowing what the Cotswold Company even is, never mind aspiring to own their furniture and buying it the second they have some spare cash. Everyone I knew furnished their homes from IKEA/Argos/eBay as it’s cheap, but it wasn’t seen as an issue. People had more pressing things to worry about than aspiring to own expensive furniture when they hadn’t had a holiday for years, their kids needed new school shoes and winter coats and their car had broken down for the third time that year. The same with how she posts about expensive or fancy restaurants, crockery and cutlery, cookware, clothing brands etc. People in actual poverty probably don’t even know what these brands are as they are just not on your radar whilst struggling to make ends meet. Yes everybody deserves nice things when they have the opportunity to buy them, but it’s also questionable how she seems to have so many nice and expensive things despite claiming to only have £20 per week for her food shop. Obviously people may have treated themselves to expensive things when having had some spare cash once in a blue moon, but in my experience of being surrounded by poverty, any excess cash would ALWAYS be spent on things or days out for the kids rather than designer clothes/jewellery for yourself.
You would also have no reason to open tins with a knife - if yours had broken you would borrow a neighbours. But she didn’t think of this as she’s never actually lived in a working-class area where community is huge and everybody is happy to help each other where they can. And if your colander had broken, you would use the lid of your saucepan to drain or a plate over whatever it is you’re draining (common sense), not whip up some contraption involving hooks, hoops and fabric?!
The people I grew up around would also never shout from the rooftops about being in poverty… and would instead have a moan about being skint to their friends but crack on and make the most out of what little they do have.
I definitely feel her books are purchased by the middle class looking to tighten their budgets/cut back as opposed to people in *actual* poverty as those truly living on council estates etc. who are genuinely skint would realise how ridiculous her tips and recipes actually are.
There are many other inconsistencies I’ve noticed over the past year or so that anyone with ANY experience of living in true poverty would pick up on but it’s 5am and my brain isn’t able to write or think that well at the moment
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EDIT: her recipes are also ridiculous to anyone who has children and genuinely is on a tight budget. Anyone who has been in this position knows how crucial it is to play it safe and cook food that you know your children will eat and not fanny about with sardines and tins of pineapple.
Instead lots of pasta or rice dishes with different sauces and alternatives to using jars would be more appropriate for the single mother in poverty audience.
It's half price but still too expensive. I felt properly triangulated. 
unherd.com
(alongside Gary Lineker)
