Only freedom will do

edinburgher

I have been thinking about this topic a lot El, so a timely addition to the thread. I am looking for charities to support in my local area that will make any sort of difference, luckily there seem to be some great options.

Leaving politics out of it as much as I can, I honestly wonder what the consequences of the recent upheaval will be (when coupled with the current govt's attempts to reign in the welfare bill).

We grew up relatively poor in what felt like a poor world. My Mum recently recounted a story about how she was given free vegetables from our local church garden and tried her best to turn them into proper meals. That was just the end result of a divorce and a lack of career planning, we still had the knowledge to cook for ourselves (and were never at real risk of losing a warm home with electricity). But it didn't seem like we were particularly poor compared to our peers.

The last few decades seems to have been a bit of a reversal of this trend, with material signs of wealth apparently on the increase (smartphones, big TVs and dirt cheap clothing). Despite this, it seems like people are poised over the abyss even more than they might have been 20-30 years ago. Jobs can be outsourced overnight, automation is destroying entire industries (including some highly skilled white collar ones) and I can't help but feel that the future will be infinitely less stable for poorer people. When jobs, knowledge (how to cook for yourself) and safety nets are all gone, what next when you have a problem?

I suppose what I'm saying in a longwinded way is that rising prosperity has allowed us to make mistakes (i.e. loads of daft tech, luxury brands and more living space than we need), but that it will be very difficult for a lot of people to adjust to a simpler life when/if that needs to become a reality for them.

It's a big part of the reason why I simplify what I can, it allows us choices for daft things that really aren't essential....

Gosh, aren't we cheerful this morning? :eek:

Watty1

Rather random but reading these last few posts reminded me of my mum. At one point in my childhood she came up with the idea of making oxtail soup because it was so cheap. She would make a huge pot of it and we would eat it for 4 or 5 days. And breath with relief when it was done - only to find when we came in for dinner the next night she had made more of the stuff. I can remember laughing at our kitchen table about this soup and that she just kept making it. I know now it would have been because money was so short but at the time it was done with such love and humour we all thought it was because she couldn't think of anything else to cook :rotfl:

edinburgher

That made me smile Watty

The irony being that oxtail is now relatively expensive - kind of like how oysters were (historically speaking) - food for the poor and now they're a luxury product.

elantan

I remember growing up our church fed us for over 2 years, every fortnight we would have to travel to go to a church outwith our area to pick up food for our family, I have 7 brothers and 3 sister and only our father worked, as an adult I am not even slightly religious ( spiritual yes, religious no) we were from a less well known religion at the time and there are many things as an adult I can say about it ( but wont) but I will never forget the church feeding our family for two years, they also gave my family money for carpets and things as well... without it we would have starved ... of that I have no doubt.

I spose in a way it's part of that that drives me as an adult, that has allowed me to notice this that maybe others don't, I've done a lot of volunteering in my time Ed, and whilst I will say it can be rewarding and you can make a difference I would caution you that politics ( work place) is alive and kicking and will leave you with a horrible taste in your mouth, this is the reason I no longer volunteer but rather have changed my direction of helping people if that makes sense?

I think it's as adults exeriencing money difficulties ourselves we can see with new eyes and an appreciation what our parents did ( or didnt do) for us as children

Right let's cheer this up a bit


Ed what coffee did you get ?

misscousinitt

Lack of cooking knowledge always infuriates me.

The decline in home economics and the skills not being passed on through the family is really sad.

In my first year of senior school (11years old), we did 4 modules of craft during the year and we each tried our hand at cooking, needlework, metalwork and woodwork.

By the end of that year I could: wash up, cook a full english breakfast, make soup, make cheese & potato pie and make raspberry buns. I could also cut metal, solder, do basic sewing repairs and cut wood (though my strengths lay with cooking and metalwork). It was good all round introduction to skills that have taken me forward.

This doesn't happen so often in schools now because of budget cuts and lack of facilities and of course the skills are not being passed on as they haven't been learned.

I am glad that there are a good many of us that can cook and pass these skills on - but there is such a large gap in learning these skills that is so evident in the population today.

PS - I know that there are so many other factors at play here, but I think this is a major failing that hasn't helped the situation at all. Even if I was to be on a reduced income - I wouldn't starve as I know how to cook!

MCI

PPS Love the oxtail story!! x

edinburgher

We went for this one from Kingdom Coffee - it's an espresso blend and is absolutely delicious:

http://kingdomcoffee.co.uk/triple-certified-fairtrade-organic-rainforrest-alliance

elantan

Is it very finely ground ? I was reading espresso is finely ground like a Turkish coffee ... almost powder like ?

Ps good price, sounds like it will be tasty

AlexLK

I find it incredibly sad reading posts like the last few on here and until working and volunteering in the 'difficult school' had not realised that there were people in the UK that struggled to feed themselves or clothe their children that weren't drug addicts / had some other expensive 'habit' that meant all their money was spent on themselves. Being honest I can't comprehend growing up in an environment where parents were conscious of spending on food to the point of eating as cheaply as possible. I do plan meals and have a general budget for food but we still eat some things others would consider quite decadent. The thought of eating the same things for weeks on end or turning free vegetables into proper meals (presumably without other ingredients) makes me feel ill.

Personally, I don't buy the 'didn't learn how to cook' argument for continually eating junk, though as I'm sure a lot of us left for uni not really knowing how to cook and learnt along the way. I also don't understand why if you were living in poverty you wouldn't grow fresh vegetables in your garden, buy fruit as snacks rather, get friendly with a local gamekeeper than eat junk which has got to be more expensive in the long run? One lunch I make for my son to take to school is roasted veg cous cous which I imagine per helping is really cheap, probably less than £1? It has got to be cheaper (and healthier) than taking a packet of biscuits (probably more like £2) to school?

elantan

I see you've assumed people have gardens and live in the country? For some they live in flats with no garden so can't grow food, we have a desperate shortage of allotments just now so not everyone can have a garden to grow food in, gamekeepers tend not to live in city centres, are these people expected to go around asking total strangers if they are gamekeepers and can they be friends ?

Yes i agree peoplet should learn to cook ... I merely wish it was that simple, some people can't afford electricity ... and that they had someone to teach them how to cook and how to budget, a lot of people can't budget...

As for the expensive habits including drug taking, I have yet to meet a 7 year old kid that says to me ... when I grow up I want to be a heroine addict ... or an alcoholic, I have yet to meet an adult that says oh today I fancy becoming an addict ...

It is a very deeply complex issue and I know there are situations where people don't help themselves I accept that, I accept there are also many people that abuse the kindness of others ...

Biscuits can be bought for 30p or less ... buying an apple can be more expensive and won't fill a child up as much ...

There are many working poor people in this country as well as many non working poor people in this country ... but I can assure you watching a young 20 something person dying before your eyes for the reasons of poverty is painful ... it hurts ... then taking a family full of hope for that young person up to a specialist area and noticing that they are suffering themselves can tear a person apart

chickadee

Interesting discussion on your diary today Ed.

Alex, whilst that may be how it is done in rural Derbyshire, people living in poverty in inner cities don't have the luxury of a garden to grow things in, no gardens in terraced houses or high rise flats. The thoughts of the local gamekeeper made me laugh! I agree that the 'never learned to cook' thing can sound like an excuse but if your parents never cooked, it just isn't something that is even on your horizon. Did you ever see that terribly sad Jamie Oliver series where he was showing families how to cook the most basic of meals? One child, about two or three years old, couldn't recognise a carrot or a potato, but she knew just from the packaging what the meals in takeaway containers were. Some people are starting from a very low baseline.

When I was young, we lived in a terraced house and were lucky to have a garden. One year my Dad thought he would grow some vegetables and he wanted to grow things that we couldn't already buy cheaply like carrots and onions. He carefully prepared the ground, digging, weeding and spreading what seemed like a ton of manure. Then he carefully tipped his seeds of choice into his hand, just as a gust of wind came and blew these dust-like seeds everywhere. He had chosen to grow celeriac, which looks like an ugly turnip but tastes of celery, very exotic! He was distraught. Not as distraught as my poor mum, when all of the seeds had grown into very healthy celeriac plants and she had to try to think of what else she could make with the damn things. We had celeriac soup, celeriac mash, boiled celeriac, celeriac hidden in stews, etc. etc. I'll never eat the stuff again!

We also had a friendly neighbour who worked at an abbatoir and he would bring us very cheap meat. We were well-fed.

Oh, and I whilst it is cheap enough, roasted vegetable cous cous probably isn't on the radar of poverty-stricken families. And a packet of biscuits is more like 35p than £2.