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Starving UK children turning to food banks


Eldorado

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"As the General Election nears, the Trussell Trust is calling for politicians of all parties to pledge to protect people from hunger by ensuring everyone has enough money for the basics. The charity reports more people than ever before are being forced to food banks, with more than 820,000 emergency food parcels given out in the past six months.

"New data released today shows April to September 2019 to be the busiest half-year period for food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network since the charity opened.

"During the six months, 823,145 three-day emergency food parcels were given to people in crisis in the UK; more than a third of these (301,653) went to children.

"This is a 23% increase on the same period in 2018 – the sharpest rate of increase the charity has seen for the past five years."

At the Trussell Trust: https://www.trusselltrust.org/2019/11/13/april-sept-2019-foodbank-figures/

The Stats: https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/mid-year-stats/

 

At the Ad-saturated Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-banks-parcels-poverty-trussell-trust-record-a9200471.html

At the Belfast Telegraph: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/sharp-rise-in-food-bank-use-in-northern-ireland-blamed-on-benefits-delays-38686718.html

At Sky News: https://news.sky.com/story/food-banks-charity-hands-out-highest-ever-number-of-emergency-parcels-11860180

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I noticed yesterday on my surgery website they have a notification posted of when the local foodbanks will be open over Christmas and New Year. I'm not sure if that's to inform the donators or the recipients, both probably and I expect all medical practices have their own list. 

I've never seen that before though. It just goes to show how bad things are that they need to let people know like this.

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Happening here in the US too. I have friends who are teachers and little kids are asking to drink water and lots of it, turns out it was to curb hunger. I know so many teachers now who keep snacks and mini fridges with high protein snacks for hungry kids. The teachers as mandatory reporters have to report it and what they are finding is parents just don't have any food in the house, food banks have been stretched thin. Believe me I know. I'm on SNAP myself. 

Edited by darkmoonlady
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Almost* everyone does have enough money for the basics - certainly most* of those using food banks do.

How many people understand what basics are; how to use them; how to budget;  how to cook;  how to use the "off" switch;  etc, etc,  is perhaps another matter.



* obviously there are always some exceptions, as there would whatever the circumstances

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These Children's parent or parents will be getting £20.70 a week for the first child. £13.70 for every child thereafter. (where is the mother/father paying maintenance allowance?) 

Where is this money being spent? the tax payers are doing their part, help paying for someone else's child. don't mums still go to iceland? or farmfoods?

plenty of veg/mixed veg. fruit/berries, fish. and this is before you get onto buying cereal which a box of will last a week easy.

If and its a big IF children are turning to food banks its because of parental failing. don't care what anyone says, Migrants are travelling hundreds of miles and finding jobs. it seems some natives are finding food banks instead.

 

farmfoods-leaflets.jpg

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20171019--farmfoods.jpg

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4 hours ago, Essan said:

Almost* everyone does have enough money for the basics - certainly most* of those using food banks do.

How many people understand what basics are; how to use them; how to budget;  how to cook;  how to use the "off" switch;  etc, etc,  is perhaps another matter.



* obviously there are always some exceptions, as there would whatever the circumstances

That's not fair, you're not taking rolling tobacco, alcohol and scratch cards into account.  

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The phrase I always think of when it comes to food banks is: "If you build it, they will come ...."


Edit: which isn't to say I disapprove of them.   But usage can - and is (IMO) - manipulated for political ends

Edited by Essan
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Related News'''

13 million adults in England are obese.

At the Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/14/13-million-adults-uk-obese-amid-doubling-weight-problems/

"The data for the report was taken from the Health Survey for England, which found that in 2017, two in three adults in England were overweight or obese.

"Some 40 per cent of men where overweight while a further 27 per cent were obese.

"Meanwhile, 31 per cent of women were overweight and a further 30 per cent were obese."

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On 11/13/2019 at 1:01 PM, stevewinn said:

These Children's parent or parents will be getting £20.70 a week for the first child. £13.70 for every child thereafter. (where is the mother/father paying maintenance allowance?) 

Where is this money being spent? the tax payers are doing their part, help paying for someone else's child. don't mums still go to iceland? or farmfoods?

plenty of veg/mixed veg. fruit/berries, fish. and this is before you get onto buying cereal which a box of will last a week easy.

If and its a big IF children are turning to food banks its because of parental failing. don't care what anyone says, Migrants are travelling hundreds of miles and finding jobs. it seems some natives are finding food banks instead.

 

farmfoods-leaflets.jpg

 

21717800.jpg

20180212--farmfoods.jpg

20171019--farmfoods.jpg

As an experiment I tried seeing if I could live on £50 per week if I were to purchase my food from Asda. According to their website:

8pt Milk - £2.18

2 x Loafs of Bread - £0.90

24pk Asda Wheat Biscuits - £1.59

24 x Very Large eggs - £3.40

250g Asda Grated Cheese - £1.75

2 x Red onions - £0.18

400g Asda White Mushrooms - £1.00

6pk Asda Tomatoes - £0.75

1Kg Asda Greek Yoghurt - £1.49

1 x Asda Fish Pie - £0.90

2 x Asda Chilli Con Carne - £1.80

1 x Asda Minced Beef hotpot - £1.05

1 x Asda Spaghetti Bolognese - £1.05

1 x Asda Chicken Chow Mein - £1.50

1 x Asda Liver, Bacon, and Mash - £1.50

7 x Asda Mixed Cans of Soup - £1.68

7 x 2L Asda Sparkling water - £1.19

1 x Can of Asda Rice Pudding - £0.37

1 x Aunt Bessies Apply Crumble - £1.00

1 x 1kg Carton of Asda Custard - £0.95

Grand Total = £26.23 + £0.25 (carrier bags)

So I would have eaten well for £26.47 without even going to the cheapest stores like Farmfoods, Poundland, Pound Stretcher, B&M Bargains, Heron Foods, Lidl, and Aldi. These food bank parents are either lying, or they are using them due to the initial delay waiting for Universal Credit.

Or they think the tax payer should also be paying for 100 fags, 2 bottles of wine, 20 cans of beer, along with numerous cans of sodas and packets of crisps every week. Benefits are there to feed them not keep them in their luxuries. Get a job!

Edited by RabidMongoose
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From places like Aldi you can buy  a medium chicken for less than £3.00.  That's your Sunday roast with leftovers to make a nutrious broth (a meal in itself).  500g of mince for £1.50 forms the basis of a chilli, bolognaise or cottage pie.   2.5kg of potatoes for £1.50, 500g of rice for 80p or a packet of pasta for about 50p ......  A few tins of tomatoes at 35p each.  Bag of onions, carrots, leeks, curly kale and frozen peas all under £1 and a little more for a bag of peppers.    Not difficult to feed a family of 4 for £5 a day if you think about it.

 

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38 minutes ago, RabidMongoose said:

As an experiment I tried seeing if I could live on £50 per week if I were to purchase my food from Asda. According to their website:

8pt Milk - £2.18

2 x Loafs of Bread - £0.90

24pk Asda Wheat Biscuits - £1.59

24 x Very Large eggs - £3.40

250g Asda Grated Cheese - £1.75

2 x Red onions - £0.18

400g Asda White Mushrooms - £1.00

6pk Asda Tomatoes - £0.75

1Kg Asda Greek Yoghurt - £1.49

1 x Asda Fish Pie - £0.90

2 x Asda Chilli Con Carne - £1.80

1 x Asda Minced Beef hotpot - £1.05

1 x Asda Spaghetti Bolognese - £1.05

1 x Asda Chicken Chow Mein - £1.50

1 x Asda Liver, Bacon, and Mash - £1.50

7 x Asda Mixed Cans of Soup - £1.68

7 x 2L Asda Sparkling water - £1.19

1 x Can of Asda Rice Pudding - £0.37

1 x Aunt Bessies Apply Crumble - £1.00

1 x 1kg Carton of Asda Custard - £0.95

Grand Total = £26.23 + £0.25 (carrier bags)

So I would have eaten well for £26.47 without even going to the cheapest stores like Farmfoods, Poundland, Pound Stretcher, B&M Bargains, Heron Foods, Lidl, and Aldi. These food bank parents are either lying, or they are using them due to the initial delay waiting for Universal Credit.

Or they think the tax payer should also be paying for 100 fags, 2 bottles of wine, 20 cans of beer, along with numerous cans of sodas and packets of crisps every week. Benefits are there to feed them not keep them in their luxuries. Get a job!

Rab, the problem is that many have forgotten the art of cooking or got just lazy. Just order in. Easy. And than they complain about not having enough money. And this is not at all just UK problem. It is everywhere.

Back to basics is the answer.

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36 minutes ago, odas said:

Rab, the problem is that many have forgotten the art of cooking or got just lazy. Just order in. Easy. And than they complain about not having enough money. And this is not at all just UK problem. It is everywhere.

Back to basics is the answer.

What do you mean? Everything except breakfast is in the microwave with that lot.

And breakfast is pretty awesome. By my calculations I could have 6 Asda version of Weetabix for 4 days. On the other 3 days I could have 3 very large boiled eggs with toast, and that gives me a spare 15 eggs for omelettes for supper when I get hungry.

Or I could lose a few wheat biscuits and eggs to replace them with a jar of coffee.

On a related note has anybody ever noticed that the majority of people who shop for their food in cheap supermarkets like Lidl and Aldi are giants? Why pay £50 to Sainsburys for what costs you £25 at them? You can eat twice as much!

Edited by RabidMongoose
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Wow love all the assumptions and judgements. Poor people are fat so they must be able to afford food..wow, or here is some cheap food, no reason anyone should go hungry. Ffs. Are you that horrible naturally or do you have to work at it?

People pay rent so they aren't homeless, work multiple jobs and it's still not enough, especially if you, or your kid or the parents you might be taking care of are ill, disabled etc. Tell you what you can you live off 154 bucks a month for food and still buy healthy, organic or nutritionally sound foods? I stopped buying meat because I couldn't afford it. I need higher protein to stay healthy (I'm anemic most of the time) but I literally don't have money for it. 

Since kids are going hungry and need food do you honestly think little hungry kids are "working the system" or are able to shop for themselves? Even older kids my friend teaches in middle School are dealing with hunger issues so the school sends kids home with food bags from donations. These are kids whose parents range from hard workers who are paying most or all of their income for rent (which locally have tripled) to kids with parents who are dealing with illness, mental illness or addiction issues. The kids just want some food in the house. Some live in what are called food deserts where they aren't near a good source of quality foods just corner stores or bodegas. I will never understand how an article on hungry kids elicits such compassionless sniping but a corporation can not pay a single dollar in taxes and crickets. The hungry kids aren't the ones at fault here.

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9 hours ago, darkmoonlady said:

Wow love all the assumptions and judgements. Poor people are fat so they must be able to afford food..wow, or here is some cheap food, no reason anyone should go hungry. Ffs. Are you that horrible naturally or do you have to work at it?

People pay rent so they aren't homeless, work multiple jobs and it's still not enough, especially if you, or your kid or the parents you might be taking care of are ill, disabled etc. Tell you what you can you live off 154 bucks a month for food and still buy healthy, organic or nutritionally sound foods? I stopped buying meat because I couldn't afford it. I need higher protein to stay healthy (I'm anemic most of the time) but I literally don't have money for it. 

Since kids are going hungry and need food do you honestly think little hungry kids are "working the system" or are able to shop for themselves? Even older kids my friend teaches in middle School are dealing with hunger issues so the school sends kids home with food bags from donations. These are kids whose parents range from hard workers who are paying most or all of their income for rent (which locally have tripled) to kids with parents who are dealing with illness, mental illness or addiction issues. The kids just want some food in the house. Some live in what are called food deserts where they aren't near a good source of quality foods just corner stores or bodegas. I will never understand how an article on hungry kids elicits such compassionless sniping but a corporation can not pay a single dollar in taxes and crickets. The hungry kids aren't the ones at fault here.

In the UK the claim is that Universal Credit doesnt give people enough money to live on and pay their rent.

While there are genuine problems with the initial 6-week delay in get the first payment if a person or family has no savings, we have shown in this topic that people can indeed live off it quite well. Does it mean they can go buying all their food from Tesco or Sainsburys? No. Does it mean they are given enough money to buy all the luxuries they want? No.

When out of work the UK Government does not give people the money to continue on in the lifestyle they are used too. They can survive quite comfortably but it means using the cheaper supermarkets and shopping wisely. I have shown one adult persons food bill can be £26.00 at Asda, and that is by no means one of the cheapest stores.

With your comment that some smaller towns might not have cheaper supermarkets I do think that is a far point. But Universal Credit is means tested so that is irrelevant. That leaves the only legitimate problem with UC being the initial 6 week delay. If they choose to take the advance, its not free, they have to pay it back.

In my town we have a homelessness problem. Some are obviously fake (you can watch them getting out of cars and taxis in the morning) and some are obviously real (not shaved in 6 months, smelly, tatty clothes, very thin). But we have programs in place to help the genuine ones. In my town the local paper reported 21 homeless people sleeping rough, and despite all the attempts to help them they decided to go back to living on the street.

The reason? Well if you are earning £500 a day begging in a town with high tourist footfall then you have all the money you want to spend your days drunk, coked up, or spiced out of your mind. Heck, we could all stoop that low because £3500 per week is more than I earn. Why bother working?

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