Food Banks

[fallen-archie]

A parliamentary committee have today reported that food banks are opening up at the rate of two a week. Many children are going hungry due to delays in benefit payments. There are a growing number of people struggling to cope having insufficient to live on. This against a background of a growing obesity problem. So what is going on are we in a down wood spiral or is it perhaps more to do with an imbalance in the cost of living with housing ang energy costs taking to much of the basic wage.

[danthescan]

Its more to do with people thinking a can of coke and a Pizza are cheaper than a balanced meal i think.

[cookiecookuk]

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@danthescan wrote:

Its more to do with people thinking a can of coke and a Pizza are cheaper than a balanced meal i think.

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i agree with this .

i may get slated for this but i disagree with the food banks as i think some adults abuse them by thinking do we have a drink, fag ,take away or should we feed the whole family with the money  or let the food bank feed us...

i know there are genuine people out there but last winter i was watching this on the nerws and all three people who were saying they needed food banks had large tv's posh  phones designer clothes ect..

its about time people put there priororties in the right place.

children and food come first.

[joe_bloggs*]

"i know there are genuine people out there but last winter i was watching this on the nerws and all three people who were saying they needed food banks had large tv's posh  phones designer clothes ect..

its about time people put there priororties in the right place"

Have you never thought that these people with large tv's etc,etc, could have been working last month,probally just a matter of time before they have to flog these items to pay the gas bill

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/08/starve-benefit-sanctions-unemployed-hungry-gove...

"It seems a particular level of sadism to remove the money people need to eat and act surprised when they are hungry. A new report is just another excuse for those in power to shirk responsibility, to blame the people they have already degraded once and who cannot defend themselves. A general election is coming. Its citizens are starving, and this government’s priority is denial"

Meanwhile the house of lords is compalining about the quality of champagne !

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/if-you-want-to-see-the-gap-between-the-house-of-lords-an...

i100: Lords refuse to cut costs because 'champagne quality would suffer'  

Obviously there is the mind-boggling elitism and disdain towards the less privileged which is revealed here. During a time of food banks, unemployment and waves of benefit cuts, when the rest of us are supposed to accept austerity lying down, the mere mention of a change to peers’ taste in bubbly is met with uncomprehending scorn. This is the thing that first cuffs you in the face. And there are only further, follow-up slaps to come.

[lambsy_uk]

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@cookiecookuk wrote:

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@danthescan wrote:

Its more to do with people thinking a can of coke and a Pizza are cheaper than a balanced meal i think.

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i agree with this .

i may get slated for this but i disagree with the food banks as i think some adults abuse them by thinking do we have a drink, fag ,take away or should we feed the whole family with the money  or let the food bank feed us...

i know there are genuine people out there but last winter i was watching this on the nerws and all three people who were saying they needed food banks had large tv's posh  phones designer clothes ect..

its about time people put there priororties in the right place.

children and food come first.

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There is a good point to what you say though I must admit my eyes were opened by spending a few weeks unemployed last year. Thankfully I got a job and things got back on track but what if I hadn't? We could have ended up struggling but we'd still have had the large TV, two cars on the drive etc.

[lambsy_uk]

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@joe_bloggs* wrote:

i100: Lords refuse to cut costs because 'champagne quality would suffer'  

Obviously there is the mind-boggling elitism and disdain towards the less privileged which is revealed here. During a time of food banks, unemployment and waves of benefit cuts, when the rest of us are supposed to accept austerity lying down, the mere mention of a change to peers’ taste in bubbly is met with uncomprehending scorn. This is the thing that first cuffs you in the face. And there are only further, follow-up slaps to come.

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Everybody likes to keep what they have or gain more! Whether it's people wanting to maintain their pensions, gain a day or two holiday, keep their bonus scheme, get a pay rise, uphold paid overtime or maintain the quality of the Champagne; it is normal for all to irk at thought of losing something!

[al**bear]

Remember it was only a year ago that Cameron,

refused to take £22 million from the EU to help with UKs foodbanks

Party hatred of the EU, over helping the needy

Now we have Tory Baroness Jenkins saying People don't need to go hungry, they can make porridge instead -

so the Proles can have Gruel, new Tory mantra ?

an apology ??? , She actually said   "I am sorry for speaking unscripted"

[malacandran]

Why are they called "Food Banks"?   Is it like -  when you're hungry, you go to them,  and draw out some food.

Then when you aren't hungry any more,  you return,  and put food back in ?

[astrologica]

What she actually said was that it would be cheaper to make a big bowl of porridge, than to spend money on the higher priced sugary ready made cereals.. I don't think she needed to apologise for her remarks about people not knowing how to cook, because in some cases she is quite right. Some young people today can't be bothered to cook...it's easier to go to Greggs or buy ready meals.

[malacandran]

That's right.  Her big mistake was to say:  "Poor people don't know how to cook". That invited instant media blitzkrieg.

 She should've said something on the lines of:  "We need to educate everyone to get the best nutritional value from basic foodstuffs. This can be done by teaching  cookery, and Domestic Science,  in our state schools".

But that would be too sensible for today's world.  So she got forced to apologise for stating the obvious.

[fallen-archie]

Given the popularity of food programmes like master chef and the GBBO, and the number of celebrity chefs it never ceases to amaze me that so many struggle to produce Beans in Toast. I agree that the minister should not have mentioned the word Poor, in all else she was correct however in this day and age when PC rules and even a gnats breath of stereotyping draws the attention of the Human Rights Police.

[malacandran]

 Perhaps Food programmes like Master Chef and others, have an underlying intention -  to stop us actually cooking for ourselves.

The programmes do this, by giving us a vicarious satisfaction.   Which is this - when we see others cooking good meals - don't we feel relieved of the need to attempt it ourselves?

[fallen-archie]

If anything such programmes encourage me to try things And can give confidence to those who don't have any cooking experience.
I think the main culprits for the loss of cooking skills are the big supermarkets, they package food in every possible form , just watch over the next week all the different guises you can buy the humble sprout. The luxuriant titles of prepared Christmas puddings and not a sixpence in sight. And of course there is no need to endlessly steam the pudding just pop it in the microwave.
I can understand the reluctance most people have to gutting a fish or drawing a chicken, but have we gone too far?

[lambsy_uk]

Nothing wrong with microwaves.

[cee-dee]

I think that some (all??) of the cooking programmes are counter-productive in that far from encouraging people to cook something from scratch, they're liable to put people off because they often show the preparation of something that takes ages to prepare and when they've finished, it's gone in a few mouthfuls.

Also, they often seem to produce something that, when finished just looks like a lump of something in the middle of an empty plate covered in or surrounded by what looks like dog-sick sprinkled with leaves.

These snobby chefs seem to think they're some sort of star performer who, all the way through the programme is all me, me, ME, look at MEEEEE. They also seem to forget they're supposed to be making FOOD and not some sort of art-form.

People want to EAT it not sit there admiring at it!

If they want to encourage people to cook for themselves, they should start by showing people how to prepare and cook a basic dish or meal and do so in a careful, step-by-step way so that what they say can be easily understood and followed making no assumptions as to the ability of those who need to "learn".

Also, they should not expect people to have a store cupboard crammed with all sorts of weird stuff that only the likes of snobby-chefs would use once in a Blue Moon!

[lambsy_uk]

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@cee-dee wrote:

I think that some (all??) of the cooking programmes are counter-productive in that far from encouraging people to cook something from scratch, they're liable to put people off because they often show the preparation of something that takes ages to prepare and when they've finished, it's gone in a few mouthfuls.

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This is why I liked Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals, however he often used ingredients that only those who cook a lot would have in the house. If the idea is to encourage those who don't cook much then it would be a good idea to use ingredients most would have rather than cutting some herbs from his window-box herb garden!

[fallen-archie]

I agree about Jamie Oliver his cooking has a degree of simplicity and fun attached to it. I have some of his books and can honestly say that his simple Yorkshire Pudding is as good as it gets.
Window Box Herb garden? What's wrong with that? Fresh herbs really can and do make a difference, they can be fussy to grow but why not try.
As for the modern starry eyed chefs for whom fame is the key, a good cook or chef can give as much satisfaction to his clients as any musician or therapist. But there is a problem, that tendency to practise art rather than cookery, a so lodge here then a minute cube of pickled beet root and so on. Alternatively you could share a bowl of bouillabaisse With Rachel Khoo in her Petit Parisienne home,

Oh go on then 🙂

[suzieseaside]

I also like Jamie's 15 minute meals - he produces some very tasty things in that short time.

But I think all cookery programmes probably only appeal to people who quite like to cook anyway, and to pick up new ideas.

They don't help people who don't know how to cook or have no interest in the first place. When I was a child there wasn't much choice but to cook from scratch so our mothers did that and we continued. Now that supermarkets are jam packed with ready meals and some people don't know what to do with raw ingredients I think there is even more reason that some basic cookery and nutrition needs to be taught in schools to both girls and boys.

[Anonymous]

All nice and well, but POOR people might not even have a pot of salt or pepper in their cupboards in the end.

Don't think that it can't get that bad in this country, because it really can.

And that is not because people spend their benefits on fags, booze and big televisions. That is always the excuse of those who do have money, so they can ignore what is really going on.

It's easier I suppose to buy into the media garbage and put your head in the sand.

[fallen-archie]

Quite so H, it's a pity that a relatively affluent country should need food banks to support the poor and vulnerable. That is why we have a social fund, yet that fund is getting out of control. Government responds by applying greater controls and subsequently the vulnerable get hammered again.
I do believe that we could do more to help ourselves but I also think that we should accept collectively some responsibility to bring the poorest out of poverty.