Food Poverty Crisis: A political hot potato...

If you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you'll have missed out on the news that demands for food parcels from local food banks have TRIPLED in this past year. I regularly refer people through my job to them now, as many of my clients are on very limited income or have lost out on benefits, and literally have no other place to turn to. It's a political hot potato (excuse the pun) where some politicians such as Edwina Currie have made outrageous remarks about the kind of people who use them, claiming that people will use them simply because they're there - "makes sense: high quality fresh food, no charge... rational choices, who wouldn't?" This implies that people are taking advantage, when I bet your bottom dollar that the likes of Ms Currie haven't ever had to face the feeling of utter despair, embarrassment and shame that people queuing up outside feel. Service users include families who were once earning good money, but for whatever reason have found themselves in need of such a vital resource. 

Thanks to Jack Monroe, Guardian columnist, anti-poverty campaigner and single mum, I'm far more aware than ever of how worrying an issue it is, and it yet again makes me think about the way in which we buy and eat food. Yes, Tom and I have no need for a food parcel as we are at the moment, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't feel more responsible for how we spend our money and feed ourselves. For a better explanation as to what the fudge is going on, please watch the clip from This Morning below, which features Jack and her story coping through poverty... (sorry, I don't know how to imbed the video. Just click on the link below)

This Morning - Hot Topics: Food Poverty Crisis - Food Banks

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If you want to learn more, and find out how to eat on a super, super low budget but still have a nutritionally balanced diet, I urge you to go and see Jack's website, www.agirlcalledjack.com.

What with being ill for 90% of this week, food shopping has been the last thing on my to-do list. I got to a point yesterday where I was dipping digestive biscuits into hot chocolate powder, made into a paste with a little water, as a sweet treat and something to eat... Oh dear. However I don't really have the money to go and do a big food shop yet, but we need something in the fridge that will fill us up and keep us going until sometime next week when we can go and shop properly.

I don't usually like shopping in smaller supermarkets like our local Co-op, but at the right time of day there is a lot of meat and veg on sale at reduced prices. They all sell pre-packed veg at a reasonably good price. This was my shopping bag today:

Casserole veg bags - £1 each

Casserole mix - 96p

Pasta - 62p

10 eggs - £1.50

Chopped tomatoes - 58p

Bread - 98p!!

Lemon curd - £1.40 (that was my treat for today!)

Chicken casserole is now cooking in the trusty old slow cooker, ready for a bit of a late supper later on. Both bags of veg contained enough to feed us easily until Tuesday. I added 6 frozen chicken breasts to that - had to slightly defrost them first and then cut them up. £2 a bag from ASDA, and I already had those in the freezer from our big supply we had last month from my brother.

I feel that some of the issue with the food crisis is that there are many people out there who haven't had the luck to really learn how to make a meal out of what's available. The food bank parcels are made up of mainly dried and tinned food, and eating them on their own is one thing but it isn't that interesting or tasty. Plus, a lot of the tinned veg is stuff like chikpeas, which even I struggle to know how to cook with sometimes!!

I'd be interested to know what the rest of you think about this... How do you make things stretch out and last? Do you like to make up your own recipes with what's in the fridge and in the cupboards? Or do you struggle?

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

BB xx