eat for 50p a day

Fire_Fox

meg72 wrote: »

thank you too, for me it was definitely an eye opener into how some people have to live, I joined the foodsurviving on 50p a day on facebook and wept at some of the posts, I just thought if I could help a bit, I should, after all even on a very basic pension I`m well off compared to some. I think we get a bit complacent, like this is England welfare state and all that, no one goes hungry, it was a shock to me to read that they do, what I found the most heartbreaking was the fact that we do have hungry children in this our welfare state.

I live in the centre of a city that is widely accepted to be very deprived, and have previously lived and worked in another very deprived city. There are numerous bookmakers, pawn shops, places that offer short-term/ instant loans, and 'hire-purchase' furniture/ electricals shops within a few minutes walk of my flat. Many many more than a decade ago.

On top of that there are the numerous adverts on television for betting and gambling companies and websites, 'payday loans' and other 'financial services' with extortionate interest rates ..... Debt- mongers and loan sharks.

Oftentimes families are not on a very low income (benefits or wages) but trapped in a cycle of debt and crippling interest rates. Completely unaware that interest rates can be frozen and payments set at an affordable rate (= debt management plan).

The huge number of these establishments make it seem completely normal to exist on credit. Make it seem completely normal to have laid out every penny within a couple of days of getting paid (benefits or wages). We have laws on sales of or advertising on smoking, alcohol and sugary foods, but little real control on these debt-mongers and loan sharks.

Actually single person households are some of the most likely to have an income level that leaves them living well below the poverty line, unable to afford basics like heating. Even without crippling debt.

Bit of a rant, sorry!

meg72

steve900 wrote: »

Can I add that I have just received a message pop up on my screen from moneysavingexpert.com Head Office telling me to be nice to moneysavers due to a previous reply I wrote here.

Member suki1964 I assume it is a reply I made to yourself. You changed the tone of this thread yesterday evening. This was a very interesting thread and when I got to the end of it, your reply was the final one saying well done but that you are not accepting what has been written.


think it wrong that the thread has taken this change of tone member suki1964, I really do.[/QUOTE


So sorry you have received that, don't post anything else on this thread, its finished, I did think it was worth trying to salvage but this lady obviously has issues that are not going to be resolved by being nice. I have received a lot of Pms saying I should report her but didn't want to do that but I will now..to talk to nice people come over to cooking for one or slimming world alternatively you can send a pm to me

meg72

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I live in the centre of a city that is widely accepted to be very deprived, and have previously lived and worked in another very deprived city. There are numerous bookmakers, pawn shops, places that offer short-term/ instant loans, and 'hire-purchase' furniture/ electricals shops within a few minutes walk of my flat. Many many more than a decade ago.

On top of that there are the numerous adverts on television for betting and gambling companies and websites, 'payday loans' and other 'financial services' with extortionate interest rates ..... Debt- mongers and loan sharks.

Oftentimes families are not on a very low income (benefits or wages) but trapped in a cycle of debt and crippling interest rates. Completely unaware that interest rates can be frozen and payments set at an affordable rate (= debt management plan).

The huge number of these establishments make it seem completely normal to exist on credit. Make it seem completely normal to have laid out every penny within a couple of days of getting paid (benefits or wages). We have laws on sales of or advertising on smoking, alcohol and sugary foods, but little real control on these debt-mongers and loan sharks.

Actually single person households are some of the most likely to have an income level that leaves them living well below the poverty line, unable to afford basics like heating. Even without crippling debt.

Bit of a rant, sorry!

Lol don't we all need to rant, no need to say sorry, you make a very true assessment but to me the thought of hungry children jerks ny strings everytime

honeythewitch

If absolutely forced, I would do a weeks worth of 50p a day meals using nothing i had in stock, and without yellow stickers, like this....


Forty value sausages from Iceland £2.00

Four packets of asda instant mash £0.28 each

One wholemeal loaf from Tesco basic range. £0.36

With tuppence change.

It would be extremely grim indeed, but I would have sausage sandwiches in the morning, and sausage and mash at night. It seems to be the best nutrition for the least outlay I can find.

suelizab

well, after reading through that what a load of bullies you are .

-taff

Not really. The post, and a subsequent one, that started all this off have been deleted. So the thread looks a bit odd now.

honeythewitch

suelizab wrote: »

well, after reading through that what a load of bullies you are .

I have only made one post and spoken to no-one!

Did you have a go at it, Suelizab? I found it nearly impossible and very sobering.

maman

suelizab wrote: »

well, after reading through that what a load of bullies you are .

-taff wrote: »

Not really. The post, and a subsequent one, that started all this off have been deleted. So the thread looks a bit odd now.

Hardly bullies although it was very one sided. The thread was all about trying a limited, cheap menu for charitable purposes. All but one poster was fulsome in their praise for the sentiment and the achievement.


One poster chose to applaud the achievement but, at the same time, question that it could/had been done at all which many found offensive.


I'm still unsure whether the one and only poster who was critical was just naïve or obtuse. I found it very difficult to get her to understand/accept that it could be done, that it perhaps wasn't the healthiest meal plan but that was part of the point of the exercise (i.e. that many people, including many children are hungry).


So, many posters spoke up against the one mainly because she seemed to question the integrity of the OP who was simply trying to do a bit of good. I wouldn't call that bullying.

[Deleted User]

Come on chums we are all trying to get along, and all may have differing opinions.
Meg72 I think was doing her best to show how ,sadly so many folk have to survive on very little, note I said survive ,not live

.There are millions of people in the world who actually have to survive on $1 a day through ,often not by choice.

I for one would not like to have to do it and I applaud Meg72 for having a go. If it meant she had some free stuff given to her, or had to use something already in the cupboard (and be honest, not many people do have totally bare cupboards ,even pepper and salt is in mst houses)then if it helped to streetch the food a little then so be it .

Many years ago when young and very broke with almost a week before I got paid I had to exist on a tin of Birds custard powder and milk (via the milkman ) for almost a week. My cupboards were very bare owing to have only just moved into a bedsit from leaving home at 17.
I have never been that broke since, or for that matter had as empty cupboards as I did then
I had 12 tea bags which were used several times that week until I just couldn't squeeze another cup out of them . but I knew that 6 days later my wages would go into my pocket, and apart from making sure I had enough shillings for the meter, and paying my rent I budgeted my cash out to almost the penny ,making sure I always had a small stash of tinned something at the back of the cupboards 'just in case' for emergencies

Sadly there are people today in this country in the 21st century (not 1960) who have to live a hand -to-mouth existence from week to week and if it were not for food banks, and people who give them a helping hand well, they wouldn't starve as in the third world ,but they would be pretty hungry at times.

One of my granddaughters is a primary teacher and she always can spot the hungry children in her class, and bless her she makes sure there is always a tin with biscuits in, and will say to the ones who come to school with very small lunch boxes 'oh help yourself to some biscuits I am trying to what my weight ,or 'better help use these up before they go soft' .Most of the teachers in her school do this as well.

Thank goodness there are folk like this around and well done to Meg72 for pointing out how hard some have to live .I have seen the F/B page and its really sad to see and read how some folk are existing today.

There seems to be quite a lot of underlying poverty in this country which as we are a pretty wealthy country is very sad.it was hoped that hungry children vanished with the Victorians ,sadly it seems to be still with us
By let's not fall out about it life is far too short and precious

JackieOxx

[Deleted User]

Thank you Meg for showing us that it could be done on 50p a day, it would be hard and we'd probably be hungry all the time but if many people have no choice but to live on 50p a day and their children are going hungry too you have raised awareness and highlighted a substantial problem in this country that many of us were not totally aware of before. A very good thing to have done and I'm sorry to see such a useful thread derailed because of differences of opinion. It behoves us all to think of how our posts come over to others, to use words carefully because words can wound as deeply as needles!