30 p meals ???

joedenise

Ours started out on the packing shelf beyond the tills but I just used to go through and get one while DH waited the other side with the trolley as they didn't like you taking the trolley through even though it was the first thing we put in it!

The last couple of times I've seen them they've been on a shelf just in front of the tills which is a much more logical position for them but being that much smaller there is never more than 2 as that's all the room there is but perhaps, but I don't know, they sometimes replace them with another 2 once those are sold.

The boxes are never put out at the same time in my nearest store but usually between 9.15am and 10am so it's just luck if there are any at the time I go in as that varies between those times too!

LadyHarriet

Grumpelstiltskin said:

I agree the 30p is not doable in the long term but actually how many of the people frequenting food banks are actually short of cooking facilities etc and how many have all the basics needed to cook?

I'm a food bank volunteer - ours covers a wide area, from our small market town out to very rural areas. While some of the families that we help are in a conventional house, we have a number in temporary accommodation -  bed-sits in town which have very limited cooking facilities, b&b accommodation, or caravans on farms (not the well-equipped holiday let ones, either), clients sofa-surfing and we had one client who was literally living in her little van! There's a reason why we have an entire trolley full of food marked 'Easy Cook'. It isn't ideal.  

bouicca21

I’m going away for the week so have been using up odds and ends.  Just wanted to say that for todays fridge bottom breakfast I followed the suggestion in that video of shredding lettuce and adding it to fried rice along with onion and a bit of bacon.  It’s surprisingly good.

Mrs_pbradley936

euronorris said:

I do wonder what meals he is suggesting they cook for 30p, which are 'nutritious and filling' as he has said. And is there a range of them? Or is only one of them at that price?

I'm genuinely interested to see what the meals are, as I'd be hardpressed to prepare a variety of nutritious meals at 30p a serving unless I was getting ingredients from somewhere like Olio, or a too good to go.

In the full interview he explains how a chef went shopping with £50 and prepared (from scratch) over 150 meals. So to be fair if you only caught the headlines then he sounds rather pompous but if you hear the full speech then it is about buying sensibly.  For example I like raw grated carrot in a salad and in Tesco grated carrot is 60p a bag but a single carrot cost 5p and I had to grate it. At his food bank they offer shopping and cooking courses to explain it all.

bouicca21

But as others have pointed out, food bank users are unlikely to have 50 quid to spend, storage space to keep all that food, let alone access to an industrial kitchen to cook in or freezer capacity to store those 150 meals.

 »rather pompous » is an understatement 

euronorris

bouicca21 said:

But as others have pointed out, food bank users are unlikely to have 50 quid to spend, storage space to keep all that food, let alone access to an industrial kitchen to cook in or freezer capacity to store those 150 meals.

 »rather pompous » is an understatement 

This. And cant afford the energy to cook all that food. Many people using the foodbanks are on prepaid energy meters, which are even more expensive. Not to mention it sounds like 150 portions of the same meal. That's entirely unrealistic.

Pollycat

Mrs_pbradley936 said:

euronorris said:

I do wonder what meals he is suggesting they cook for 30p, which are 'nutritious and filling' as he has said. And is there a range of them? Or is only one of them at that price?

I'm genuinely interested to see what the meals are, as I'd be hardpressed to prepare a variety of nutritious meals at 30p a serving unless I was getting ingredients from somewhere like Olio, or a too good to go.

In the full interview he explains how a chef went shopping with £50 and prepared (from scratch) over 150 meals. So to be fair if you only caught the headlines then he sounds rather pompous but if you hear the full speech then it is about buying sensibly.  For example I like raw grated carrot in a salad and in Tesco grated carrot is 60p a bag but a single carrot cost 5p and I had to grate it. At his food bank they offer shopping and cooking courses to explain it all.

But why did he use such a ludicrous and irrelevant example as cooking for 50 people?

weenancyinAmerica

During World War II, there were soup kitchens where those who had been bombed out could go and eat. Maybe he is recommending a return to soup kitchens and communal meals?

Floss

I think it's been mentioned before, but some food bank users may be in B&B type temporary accommodation without any proper cooking facilities so whether they can or cannot cook is irrelevant if you don't have anything to cook on.

RAS

There are already a number of places that offer cooked meals, although they had to go "take-away" during Covid. Many are pay as you feel but accept that very poor folk can't afford much. Some are free but generally by referral.

And I've been in the kitchen when someone turned up who had no food. A neighbour had told them to try the place during a service. Wasn't great, but a couple of catering size tubs of food, some that could be eaten cold, for a family of five rustled from the left-overs in the catering fridge.  

I priced up beans on toast at, half a tin of beans, 10gm marg on budget wholemeal slice. If you were prepared just to heat the beans, it's about 30p at normal unit prices, including 2 slices. About 350 calories.

Also priced 80gm cheapest spaghetti, half an onion, 10gm oil and tinned tomatoes. About 60p for two portions but you might be able to make the sauce stretch for more people. Cooking the ingredients would exceed the 30p limit. And you'd need £1.90 to shop for the ingredients "in bulk". About 460 calories.

Adding a 20g cheese to either would cost 9/10p per portion and double the shopping cost. And add 80 calories.

Atomic shrimp is really good but he's not counting the cost of cooking, has a well equipped kitchen, is only feeding himself and has a enough knowledge of different food cultures and confidence to experiment.