Food poverty-the way out

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al_yrpal
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

Post by al_yrpal »

Vorpal wrote: 12 May 2022, 1:33pm [ But to state unequivocally that people rely on food banks because they don't know how to budget or cook is patronising & ridiculous. Some of these families don't even have a working cooker, let alone the money to pay for gas or electricity to run it.
I dont believe he did say that unequivocally. Some folk used to find themselves short because of the ridiculous wait for monthly UC. Working for a charity for 5 years when I retired opened my eyes to how some of the people we helped mismanaged their income and affairs. There are some people who would benefit enormously from a bit of guidance.

Al
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al_yrpal
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

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I agree, but could one spend what little one has better?

Al
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

Post by Vorpal »

al_yrpal wrote: 12 May 2022, 2:13pm
Vorpal wrote: 12 May 2022, 1:33pm [ But to state unequivocally that people rely on food banks because they don't know how to budget or cook is patronising & ridiculous. Some of these families don't even have a working cooker, let alone the money to pay for gas or electricity to run it.
I dont believe he did say that unequivocally. Some folk used to find themselves short because of the ridiculous wait for monthly UC. Working for a charity for 5 years when I retired opened my eyes to how some of the people we helped mismanaged their income and affairs. There are some people who would benefit enormously from a bit of guidance.

Al
He said:
I think you’ll see first-hand that there’s not this massive use for food banks in this country. You’ve got generation after generation who cannot cook properly. They can’t cook a meal from scratch. They cannot budget.
I don't know how else to interpret that.

Some people might mismanage their income, but others are simply without enough means. You can't manage what you don't have.
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Jdsk
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

Post by Jdsk »

al_yrpal wrote: 12 May 2022, 2:13pm
Vorpal wrote: 12 May 2022, 1:33pm [ But to state unequivocally that people rely on food banks because they don't know how to budget or cook is patronising & ridiculous. Some of these families don't even have a working cooker, let alone the money to pay for gas or electricity to run it.
I dont believe he did say that unequivocally.
"I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, as he makes a great point. Indeed, it is exactly my point, so I invite him personally to come to Ashfield to look at how our food bank works. He will see at first hand that there is not this massive use for food banks in this country. We have generation after generation who cannot cook properly—they cannot cook a meal from scratch—and they cannot budget. The challenge is there. I make that offer to anybody. Opposition Members are sitting there with glazed expressions on their faces, looking at me as though I have landed from a different planet. They should come to Ashfield, next week or the week after, and come to a real food bank that is making a real difference to people’s lives."
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2 ... 2172FB08C2

Some have interpreted use in there is not this massive use for food banks as meaning need.

Jonathan

Edited: Crossed with Vorpal's same direct quotation.
Last edited by Jdsk on 12 May 2022, 2:18pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Cugel
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

Post by Cugel »

Vorpal wrote: 12 May 2022, 1:33pm
al_yrpal wrote: 12 May 2022, 9:45am I do agree that Home Economics has a place in every schools curriculum, but here and now this guy is offering adult education by volunteers which is a worthy alternative for those who might benefit from it
Patronising? I dont think so, practical would be my description. I can appreciate that some folk might see it that way and decline, bad habits die hard.
Milk and teabags for a day would exceed his 30p limit. I am going to drop him a line and ask him to publish his menu.

Meantime, here is a video from Mr Ashfields Facebook page... https://youtu.be/xt8fEcV-zXA

Nice to see something positive to help the least well off from a politician.


Al
There is nothing wrong with offering budgeting and cooking classes. I think that could be an important part of providing resources to families in need. But to state unequivocally that people rely on food banks because they don't know how to budget or cook is patronising & ridiculous. Some of these families don't even have a working cooker, let alone the money to pay for gas or electricity to run it.
Perhaps there are more effective ways of encouraging skills such as those typically included in "home economics" than devoting an half-hearted hour or two a week to them at school. Good cooking involves a large range of skills, from selecting & buying ingredients to managing different tastes and nutritional needs, not just the cooking parts (which can also become quite complex). Like all practical activities, a large amount of practice is needed, with the theoretical stuff merely something of an accelerant to the learning-by-doing (and mistake-making) via a great deal of the actual activity.

People who come from families with a deep cooking tradition are often the most successful at themselves learning and practicing "good home cooking". Even these folk, in this day & age, are often undermined in these skills as they acquire demanding jobs and other high time demands. And they are also waylaid by the immense advertising and peer pressure to eat pre-packaged (often junk) fud.

Like many skill-based activities, cooking from basic ingredients to fully nutritional meals needs a certain degree of background socio-economic stuff, both to enable it and to encourage it. It also needs to be something of a norm. These days, ability to perform these skills seems far from normal.

Most people I know, even of my own ancient generation, now eat pre-packaged supermarket and takeaway stuff almost exclusively. "It's easier and quicker", they claim. Some of the same folk also drive 200 yards to the shop for their noosepaper, crisps and fags, even though I offer to lend them a bike! It's easier & quicker, see? :-)

Cugel, well-fed by the immensely skilful ladywife kitchen magic.
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
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al_yrpal
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

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Most people I know, even of my own ancient generation, now eat pre-packaged supermarket and takeaway stuff almost exclusively. "It's easier and quicker", they claim.
Wow, We are deprived then, and only one takeaway per month! :(

Al
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Mick F
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

Post by Mick F »

Can't remember the last takeaway I/we had.
Chippy up the road is probably the last time and that was MONTHS ago.

Liver casserole this evening.
Onion, spuds, carrots, tomato and lamb's liver. Just fry off the liver first and then chuck the whole lot into a lidded pot with a dash of water and seasoning, and forget about it for a few hours keeping it on a low heat in the oven.
Simples.
Mick F. Cornwall
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al_yrpal
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

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Liver and bacon with streaky, a very inexpensive meal packed with all the right stuff! Favourite here too. I dont know if youngsters have it any more?

Al
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Mick F
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

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It would appear that some people don't know how to cook.
Cooking is usually cheaper than buying a ready meal even with using electricity/gas on low for a long slow cook.
Liver casserole is in the oven now. I'll give it two hours, stirring occasionally.

Surfing YouTube the other day, I watched this about a small tin of tuna, a couple of eggs, and some bread crumbs to make fritters. Cheap and nutritious.

Hillbilly Kitchen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppCp63SN_pU
Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

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Quite a lot of my contemporaries grow/grew their own veg in allotments or the relatively large back gardens once normal in municipal housing. Perhaps some of this originated in the WWII Dig for Britain campaigns, but I do know that one of my great grandfathers lost his job as a miner quite young in the Victorian era and then provided most of the food for his large family by growing veg on allotments, keeping chickens etc.
PS This is an observation, not a suggestion for today's circumstances
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al_yrpal
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

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Regarding the cost of living, the £150 energy rebate turned up in our bank account today.

This morning picked some radishes from our garden veg plot to go with our lunchtime salads and finished putting up a little cheapo greenhouse. Spuds, garlic, beetroot, carrots, parsnips, mangetout, peas, sweetcorn, courgettes and leeks all coming along nicely.
Runner beans and french beans to plant soon. Don't know if it really saves money but its fun growing them. All seeds half price in January sale at Otter nurseries. Two jumbo garlics for a £ from Tesco should give 16 jumbo garlics!

Al
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

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mandated curriculum
It wouldn't take a genius to develop an argument in favour of the benefits of including in the curriculum topics like cookery, home and personal budgeting, the basics of money and credit etc. etc. however the cynic would point out that from a certain pov, there's little point in youngsters developing these skills when the positive effect thereof would be limited to individuals and their ability to live a happy and healthy life, as opposed to simply churning out drones to act as workers / cash-cows in our modern credit & service-based economy.
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Mick F
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

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al_yrpal wrote: 12 May 2022, 4:48pm Regarding the cost of living, the £150 energy rebate turned up in our bank account today.
How did they know which or who's bank account to pay it into?

How will the rebate be paid if you don't pay by DD?
With me, firms send me a bill, and then I pay it if I want to.

No doubt I could do my own research and not have bothered asking the question on here, but it's more fun to have a discussion.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

Post by thirdcrank »

The method of payment depends on local authority and that's the source for info. Here in Leeds, eligible Council Tax payers who pay by DD are receiving the £££ by bank transfer into the account used for the DD. That's what we do and by coincidence, ours was in the account today. (It was announced a couple of weeks ago that one batch of payments had been made twice and the overpayment would be recovered.) I don't know what happens with people who use other methods.

From Cornwall CC
If you don't pay by direct debit

You will receive a letter or email from us with some more information about how to apply for the payment. However, you do not need to wait for this letter or email to arrive, you can use the form below to ask for the rebate by;

Finding your Council Tax account number (this can be found on your latest bill)
Use the form below to provide your details and preferred method of payment
https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/council-tax ... ax-rebate/
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al_yrpal
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Re: Food poverty-the way out

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Mick F wrote: 12 May 2022, 9:05pm
al_yrpal wrote: 12 May 2022, 4:48pm Regarding the cost of living, the £150 energy rebate turned up in our bank account today.
How did they know which or who's bank account to pay it into?

How will the rebate be paid if you don't pay by DD?
With me, firms send me a bill, and then I pay it if I want to.

No doubt I could do my own research and not have bothered asking the question on here, but it's more fun to have a discussion.
We pay Utility Warehouse for gas and electricity by monthly variable direct debit from our bank account. We pay as we go.I guess somehow the government got UW to pay the £150 into that account?

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
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