£10 a week food shop' girl. - Jack Monroe

vgstar44

I think she is amazing!!! I love her kidney bean burger recipe

she made the best of a bad situation and done an amazing job in doing so

honeythewitch

Honeythief wrote: »

From the Telegraph article:
'she changed her name by deed poll from Melissa – "M Monroe is a bit of a handle" she laughed ruefully – to her nickname Jack, short for Jack of all Trades.'

It is unusual but it suits her very much.

Lou76

bcl999 wrote: »

Why is she called "Jack"? Time was that was a bloke's name. "Jackie" was the shortened version of Jacqueline.

I find life so confusing now.

Time was, in the West of Scotland anyway (could be further afield, but I didn't conduct a survey to find out lol), that Jackie was a name given to boys/men called John - seemed to be if they were named after their fathers (in my experience anyway)?

The Jackie's I know of changed their "known by names" to John - their official name, after the popular culture of shortening Jacqueline to Jackie.

What this has to do with the blog in question, I have no idea...

[Deleted User]

Being a 'Jacqueline' myself I was always called Jackie by family, apart from my late Mum who insisted that I was always called by my given name.I hated it, and when I started school back in the late 1940s I couldn't wait to be called the shortened version.Its apparently the feminine version of James,and my Mum's cousin who was a fighter pilot asked my Mum if it was a boy could she name it after him.Well I arrived and she feminised the name to keep him happy and he made a money box from scraps of wood while at his posting in Scotland, and on the front he decorated it with my name of Jacqueline.my Mum was so pleased with it ,especially as he was posted missing at just before the end of the war.I still have it to this day, made by that long ago lost young pilot in the dark days of the WW2.
My late husband called me JackieO from the day I met him in 1962 until he sadly died almost 10 years ago. One of my grandsons is called Jack and my late OHs Dad was called Jack although he too was christened John.
I don't think I would change it now as I have got used to it :):) and my grandchildren are facinated to see my little money box made from scraps of wing material from an old broken aeroplane.Maybe its why I grew up frugal ,:):) who knows .Perhaps 'Jacks' are canny folk :)

She certainly is and so far has raised over £1100 towards the charity in a couple of days .The food she is living on is very little and probably not very healthy long term but at least her efforts will go to good use,and if it focuses on world hunger even for a short while its got to be well worth it.Very few of us actually go to bed hungry in the western world for millions of people its a way of life just surviving, not just for five days, but everyday for years.I have made my donation and if it only gives one person a meal to keep them alive for another day I won't go without, and can afford to help no matter how small the amount.
JackieO

janb5

A great post Jackie O- as always. I think the way she has survived a tricky situation and been truly inventive speaks volumes. I think she shows true grit! I also agree with you that the menu is low in calories but I`m sure her family help out whenever they can.

bcl999

Lou76 wrote: »

Time was, in the West of Scotland anyway (could be further afield, but I didn't conduct a survey to find out lol), that Jackie was a name given to boys/men called John - seemed to be if they were named after their fathers (in my experience anyway)?

e.g Jackie Stewart

Of course nowadays in the west of Scotland we have more "Jakey"(s) than Jackie(s) :rotfl:

paulineb_2

I first read her story online in one of the Sunday papers. Ive read her blog as well. I think the positives are that shes helped raise awareness of what its like to live in poverty, her recipes are being given out in foodbanks. However and I am aware that rents are a lot cheaper in the north than in the south, if I were faced with having to pay over £600 a month in rent as I believe she was and I was literally starving to make sure my child ate, I think Id have been looking for any other way to make sure even in the short term that I could have had more money to spend, even if it meant staying with friends and family for a while (I also know that people want their independence and dont want to have to rely on others).

But when you are selling your posessions to eat and having to have water in your cereal, something is really wrong.

She has a full time job now and fair play to her, Im glad shes managed to get herself on her feet financially. But lots of people do what she does, people have to live below the poverty line every day and manage somehow. Ive been living below the poverty line for years now and its not easy. But Im not sure that I think someone should end up with semi celebrity status just because they happen to be poor and write about it.

She gave up a 27000 pound a year job and again, I know the reasons were because of her commute and because she didnt want to be in a job and not see enough of her son. But if the alternative is abject poverty, I think I might have held out in that job until something else came along.

Also, if people dont have internet which a lot of people in poverty wont have, her recipes wont be accessible to people who might benefit from them (and thats not her fault). I admire the fact that shes got off her backside and campaigned about stuff she believes in and hopefully she'll continue that on in her new job.

But it makes me a bit uncomfortable that someone has gained celeb status for being poor and writing recipes that will help other poor people. Mainly because thats a sad reflection of the times we are currently living in.

dawn_rose

Hiya i gather from reading articles and her blog she worked in communications for the fire brigade so im guessing its shifts. This would pose a childcare problem as no one to look after the child on a night shift. I feel her blog was more about her journey on how she managed to get herself through the situation she was in rather than trying to become any type of celebrity. These were the ways in which i viewed the blog and articles anyway so thats my twopennoth lol.

PasturesNew

paulineb wrote: »

..

I hadn't read any of that. In that case, in a job at £27k, she was "kind of playing" with the whole thing, knowing that at some point she could go and get another £27k job ... which is a bit different to only having options of jobs at half that much.

She had a way out that she believed she could take. (It's irrelevant that she might not have been able to, SHE thought she could get another high paying job when she wanted to).... and with that, there isn't the same pressure/depression of knowing your lot won't/can't get better.

honeythewitch

I have no idea of this lady's circumstances that lead to her giving up her job but I am sure it must have been something drastic because her and her child went hungry, and nobody would put themselves in that position lightly.

I think she has obviously coped very well with her situation and if she can help others do the same then it can only be a good thing, surely?