[SarahBell]

Food banks use increasing (R4 story about man who walks 3.5 hours to work every day - does a 16 hour week - only job he can find) but food bank keeps him going.
Other people who say they go a couple of days without food to feed their kids.

I would love to have a look at their shopping baskets.


BBC breakfast - debt counselling increasingly for over 55s.

In 2 years 48% of people with serious debt problems with be over 45.

(If that's not a bloxy madeup stat I don't know what is)

Average unsecured debt £21k ish.

[Ascii]

SarahBell, on 14 March 2012 - 08:48 AM, said:

I would love to have a look at their shopping baskets.

+1

fail to see how people spend £100+ per week for food.There was somthing on the box a few days back I was informed of regarding a family that was spending £900 a month on food shopping. Unbelievable.

SarahBell, on 14 March 2012 - 08:48 AM, said:

(If that's not a bloxy madeup stat I don't know what is)

Bloxy?

[SarahBell]

Ascii, on 14 March 2012 - 08:54 AM, said:

+1

fail to see how people spend £100+ per week for food.There was somthing on the box a few days back I was informed of regarding a family that was spending £900 a month on food shopping. Unbelievable.

Bloxy?

If I type boll ocksy it might block it

[TheCountOfNowhere]

But still people are paying £200K+ for a tiny house

[interestrateripoff]

Ascii, on 14 March 2012 - 08:54 AM, said:

+1

fail to see how people spend £100+ per week for food.There was somthing on the box a few days back I was informed of regarding a family that was spending £900 a month on food shopping. Unbelievable.

Bloxy?

Was it a family of 20?

[Gone to Ireland.]

I guess if you can only afford a bedsit or are placed in temporary accommodation aka hotel, then your food bill will be much higher than someone who has cooking facilities.

[Secure Tenant]

They have become addicted to food by carefully engineered junk food, that creates hunger and provides virtually no nutrition. The latest mutations of genetically engineered wheat is one particular appetite stimulant. God you got to love agri-capitalism.

And I suspect the Food banks are fully of supermarket junk. Speaking to my unemployed Indonesian "friend" on Facebook, he still gets three meals a day, mainly rice, but importantly plenty of fish. There is no state support at all.

This post has been edited by "Steed": 14 March 2012 - 10:25 AM

[Lagarde's Drift]

"Steed", on 14 March 2012 - 10:23 AM, said:

And I suspect the Food banks are fully of supermarket junk. Speaking to my unemployed Indonesian "friend" on Facebook, he still gets three meals a day, mainly rice, but importantly plenty of fish. There is no state support at all.

I'd much rather live here than there. There is still access to fresh good food at decent prices here. There is a demand for it - we all know it, and the market will provide it.

Ask your "friend" what happens if he breaks his leg in a scooter crash? The state might put it in a plaster, but who will take care of him then? There's a reason why Indons went mental during the race riots in (?) the 1990s. Poverty and inequality, always the same wherever you look.

[winkie]

khards, on 14 March 2012 - 09:13 AM, said:

I guess if you can only afford a bedsit or are placed in temporary accommodation aka hotel, then your food bill will be much higher than someone who has cooking facilities.

Good point but that could be easily changed.....share the oven space, bulk cook meals divide and freeze with name date and contents on.


One thing I have noticed when the large supermarkets advertise so called reduced prices is that much of the items they offer are branded, processed, high sugar, fat and salt products and convenience ready to eat or microwave warm up foods and fizzy teeth rot drinks.

Also most take-ways, quick fill a gap food are only offering fattening greasy, instant gratification unhealthy foods. yuck.

[Secure Tenant]

Lagarde, on 14 March 2012 - 10:29 AM, said:

I'd much rather live here than there. There is still access to fresh good food at decent prices here. There is a demand for it - we all know it, and the market will provide it.

Ask your "friend" what happens if he breaks his leg in a scooter crash? The state might put it in a plaster, but who will take care of him then? There's a reason why Indons went mental during the race riots in (?) the 1990s. Poverty and inequality, always the same wherever you look.

Oh I would rather live here than there too. Not only does he have to support himself but also his parents, so those on here who think they are hard done by the "boomers" should tell it to the Indonesians.

However he and his friends are thinner than a butchers pencil, have not (yet) been forced into the Tesco distopian world of high cost and unhealthy Western diet. Well not entirely, so much less likely to get ill (I'd have thought).

[Austin Allegro]

SarahBell, on 14 March 2012 - 08:48 AM, said:

Food banks use increasing (R4 story about man who walks 3.5 hours to work every day - does a 16 hour week - only job he can find) but food bank keeps him going.
Other people who say they go a couple of days without food to feed their kids.

I would love to have a look at their shopping baskets.

BBC breakfast - debt counselling increasingly for over 55s.

In 2 years 48% of people with serious debt problems with be over 45.

(If that's not a bloxy madeup stat I don't know what is)

Average unsecured debt £21k ish.

Yes. It's absolute rubbish. If they really can't afford food, I suspect it's because they a. can't budget and b. think that 'food' is huge expensive branded boxes of junk, big bottles of fizzy pop etc. 5 kg of potatoes costs about £1.50 and carrots and cabbage cost virtually nothing. If the BBC must pump out propaganda I wish they'd do it with menu plans and cheap healthy eating.

[RufflesTheGuineaPig]

SarahBell, on 14 March 2012 - 08:48 AM, said:

Food banks use increasing (R4 story about man who walks 3.5 hours to work every day - does a 16 hour week - only job he can find) but food bank keeps him going.
Other people who say they go a couple of days without food to feed their kids.

I would love to have a look at their shopping baskets.


BBC breakfast - debt counselling increasingly for over 55s.

In 2 years 48% of people with serious debt problems with be over 45.

(If that's not a bloxy madeup stat I don't know what is)

Average unsecured debt £21k ish.

It's OK the kitchens at the aircraft hangers will feed them.

[Game_Over]

Why is it that most of the people who say they can't afford to eat

All look as if they could go on hunger strike for a month and still be overweight?

[Game_Over]

Watched a program on the box the other day about a family who were struggling financially and needed to cut their food bill which was astronomical.

The guy was on the verge of crying when they suggested he buy own brands instead of branded products

but when they made him a meal he couldn't tell the difference.

Anything that had been opened or partially used went straight in the bin every week

just what they threw away would have fed a family of five.

[Ascii]

Game_Over, on 14 March 2012 - 06:10 PM, said:

Watched a program on the box the other day about a family who were struggling financially and needed to cut their food bill which was astronomical.

The guy was on the verge of crying when they suggested he buy own brands instead of branded products

but when they made him a meal he couldn't tell the difference.

Anything that had been opened or partially used went straight in the bin every week

just what they threw away would have fed a family of five.

That was the program I was referring to in post 2. It always seems quite easy to to provide decent food on a budget but I guess we never did processed when I was a kid. A sack of spuds and a sack of onions will set you back less than a tenner, will last a month, and is the basis for a lot of other meals. At a pinch you could eat them on their own though it would be a bit dull.