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Delusional Conservative Says Families Should Just Eat Plain Pasta, Poverty Activist Destroys Him With Her Answer
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Delusional Conservative Says Families Should Just Eat Plain Pasta, Poverty Activist Destroys Him With Her Answer

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According to Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s 2022 UK Poverty report, more than a fifth of its population (22%) are in poverty. That’s 14.5 million people.

Of these, 8.1 million are working-age adults, 4.3 million are children and 2.1 million are pensioners.

Of the working-age adults, the report noted that lone parents are by far the most likely of any family type to be struggling with poverty.

To illustrate the issue, the BBC recently did a piece on one of them, Rebeccah, who works as a nurse in Leicester. In it, the woman explained that she simply cannot afford enough food for her three children and herself, so she sometimes goes without.

Rebeccah said the rising cost of living has pushed her close to breaking point, but she is trying to find ways to cope, including accepting donated groceries from neighbors.

But Kevin Edger, a man from London, who calls himself a conservative and a political enthusiast, thinks Rebeccah and those alike can solve everything with smarter budgeting.

A few days ago, a conservative political enthusiast from London, England, said struggling families should just live smarter

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When Bored Panda reached out to Edger, he replied that our initial headline for this piece (Delusional Conservative Says Families Should Just Eat Plain Pasta, Poverty Activist Destroys Him With Her Answer) wasn’t the best representation of what he meant. “Never in my tweet did I say people should just eat plain pasta,” he told us.

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So we edited it for clarity.

“It was an example of something that is cheap to buy. If you actually read past my first sentence … I said if you shop and cook properly, you can do healthy cheap meals. Therefore, I made clear you would buy other ingredients and cook them to make a full meal.”

But writer Jack Monroe, who is also known for campaigning against poverty, broke down this claim to show how absurd it actually is

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The before-mentioned Joseph Rowntree Foundation report also noted that families with 3 or more children are almost twice as likely to be poor as one- or two-child families (47% compared with 24%).

This means around 1 in 4 children in one- or two-children families are in poverty, compared with almost 1 in 2 children in families like Rebeccah’s, with 3 or more children.

However, when analyzing the big picture, poverty rates vary greatly depending on the age of children in the family—having younger children affects their parents’ ability to work, the hours they can work, and their pay. 36% of children in poverty live in families with a youngest child aged under five, 28% in families with a child aged between five and ten, 26% in families where the youngest child is aged 11 to 15, and 25% in families where the youngest child is 16 to 18 years old.

Monroe finished with strong words

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So far, it’s likely that the poverty rates for larger families will continue to increase. These households have a higher proportion of their incomes made up of benefits (despite increasing employment rates for such families in recent years), so are disproportionately more sensitive to political decisions, such as the past benefits freeze or the recent cut in Universal Credit for workless families.

Such families are also disproportionately affected by the benefits cap. Beyond this, though, looking at the latest data, the report concluded there’s no visible effect of the two-child limit policy which explicitly targets these families. This has withdrawn means-tested support from third and subsequent children born since April 2017. The data also reveals that over half of families containing three or more children have their youngest child born before this date, so are unaffected. As time goes on, more and more families will be affected.

And people couldn’t agree with her more

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Another very concerning thing is that 2.9 million individuals in poverty in the UK have a low or very low food security status, meaning they are unable to access enough, varied, and/or nutritious quality food. So basically, 1 in 5 (20%) individuals living in poverty are eating plain pasta. Or an equivalent of it.

To get a better understanding of this 20%, consider this: only 4% of individuals who are not in poverty have a low or very low food security status, highlighting the strong relationship between food insecurity and poverty.

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The key takeaway from these numbers is that unless people receive sufficient income, they will simply continue to struggle to have access to good quality and quantity of food.

According to Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Covid-19 pandemic has recently threatened the food security of millions of people even further. “Reduced incomes, increased unemployment and higher food prices have greatly reduced access to food for those affected,” it said. “There are actually key design features of the social security system that directly lead to higher food insecurity and have contributed to the rise in food bank use. Having to wait five weeks for the first Universal Credit (UC) payment, low Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates and LHA caps relative to housing costs, the ‘bedroom tax’, and the structure and process of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment are all factors.”

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Now that the £20 uplift has been withdrawn, many more people will be struggling to buy food for their families, especially if they live in workless households. As the economic fallout following Covid-19 takes time to resolve and people’s resources continue to be eroded by the high cost of living, greater numbers are likely to be food insecure and end up needing to use food banks to survive.

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Some even shared their own personal struggles

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The title and text of this article have been changed after Bored Panda received Kevin Edger’s comment on the situation.

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Rokas Laurinavičius

Rokas Laurinavičius

Writer, BoredPanda staff

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Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

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Rokas Laurinavičius

Rokas Laurinavičius

Writer, BoredPanda staff

Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

Kotryna Br

Kotryna Br

Author, BoredPanda staff

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Kotryna is a Photo Editor at Bored Panda with a BA in Graphic Design. Before Bored Panda, she worked as a freelance graphic designer and illiustrator. When not editing, she enjoys working with clay, drawing, playing board games and drinking good tea.

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Kotryna Br

Kotryna Br

Author, BoredPanda staff

Kotryna is a Photo Editor at Bored Panda with a BA in Graphic Design. Before Bored Panda, she worked as a freelance graphic designer and illiustrator. When not editing, she enjoys working with clay, drawing, playing board games and drinking good tea.

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Hedgeh og
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Jack Monroe is a badass doing amazing work. People with hot takes about things they've never experienced (like food poverty) should take all the seats and listen to the experts.

Lsai Aeon
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's even worse when you have dietary restrictions due to allergies or autoimmune diseases like Celiac/Coeliac. That cheap pasta is deadly to a lot of the poor

Naesil 🇫🇮
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can imagine, like you could not eat the cheap pastas, cant make your own cheap bread (which tastes awesome when its freshly baked) etc.

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Penny Fan
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's always the people who have never lived poor who think they can tell the poor how to live.

Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mother was never gainfully employed in her life. She even had a maid service, so was never working herself to the bone doing housework and childcare. But she would always be the first to tell YOU how to do YOUR—-paying—-job! And her “advice” was always dead wrong. Imagine that.

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Tamra Stiffler
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Really, putting the "delusional" in front of conservative is just needless repetition. Conservative implies delusional.

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Emmydearest
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pasta is at the base of the Mediterranean (Italian) diet and it may seem healthy and inexpensive and all but one can't live with pasta only (and it's not very healthy either). It's pasta, yes, but paired with fresh vegetables and plenty of fruit, sometimes fish, not too much meat, a little unsaturated fats (EVO oil) and no processed food. It's not just pasta. Eat pasta twice a day everyday and tell me if you're still healthy. Fortunately here in Italy eating like that is not super expensive, produce are still relatively cheap. But I'm aware that in some places veggies and fruits cost more than junk food, which is insane.

M Rob
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The carbs (pasta, bread etc) are fillers. The nutrition is from... Protein, vegetables and fruits.

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Richard A Petro
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've a much better suggestion and it's actually from the group "Aerosmith". Don't eat pasta but "Eat The Rich" for as long as we have folks like Mr. Edger who, I would guess, actually believe the "poor" are poor due to their lack of initiative, drive or education (Funny, they NEVER mention "lack of money" or a "living wage") we will always see the "haves" denigrate the "have-nots". G.B. Shaw explained it quite simply, "The more I see the moneyed classes, the more I understand the guillotine".

Mikey Kliss
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good to see Conservatives are s**t no matter which country they're in

Rahul Pawa
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This week in unnecessary censorship: Dickensian. Apparently Charles Dickens' name is impolite now.

Id row
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Delusional conservative - isn't that a bit redundant?

HellVetios
Community Member
2 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Yes. It's the conservatives that are delusional. It's the conservatives that want communisnm, endless immigration, 684 genders, political correctness, and so on. Sure, the conservatives are delusional. Whatever fits in your POV of the world buddy.

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Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They used to say that about bread, because it was cheap. In fact, many poor families used more bread than fillers like PB&J or lunchmeat when making sandwiches because its bulk would make an empty stomach feel full. But by itself, it’s not very nutritious. And one commenter mentioned that even poor people can have food sensitivities like Celiac, where the wheat in cheap bread—-or cheap pasta—-can make them seriously ill, or even kill them. And, believe me, the gluten-free alternatives are far far far from cheap (and don’t taste as good either).

DC
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

... when will we finally get on our feet and end the redistribution of wealth towards the top? The key problem is ... exactly that. It's not Syrian or Ukrainians or any other refugee, it's not the unemployed who are given too much, it's simply too much of any profit ending up outside the creation of wealth, just being stored unused, in someone's hands who already has more money than they could ever spend. We, as a society, should not be obliged to keep a few pet billionaires and allow them to suck the life out of economy and the working class...

CelticElff
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

BP, FFS, you should not censor Dickensian as it's referring to Charles DICKENS, an author. What next, "Richard 'D**k' Nixon"? "Phillip K. D**k"? Get a f**king grip.

KT
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Absolutely shameful behaviour. He's not very smart if he posts something as brain dead as that comment is he? Nurses deserve better wages in the UK, they are very underpaid. The excuse? They don't want people doing that job for money

A Jones
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Moral of the story, you're a bloody goon (Kevin) if you give advise to others that you have never/won't do yourself.

April Stephens
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good points so far. This is very minor, but it's also hardship culturally to eat only pasta. Can you imagine eating plain pasta on every holiday, birthday, anniversary, and beautiful day for a picnic/cookout? You'd never be able to host anyone for dinner, eat your own family's recipes, or chat about what recipe you made. It disconnects you from your community. Actually, that is really grim.

Tigerpacingthecage
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It IS really hard to eat healthy food on a budget. Even when you make it from scratch (and you also need TIME for that - a luxury many poor families don't have.). Cheap food is processed and rarely have any real nutritional value. Also, it's not really healthy to eat the exact same thing every day. Let's say you do a stir fry with frozen vegetables, some rice or noodles and a small amount of a cheaper source of protein (like chicken or beans) - could be relatively cheap and relatively healthy - but are you supposed to eat that 3 meals/day everyday? How do you convince your kids to eat that? Variety is a huge part of eating healthy. And that means more items and spending more money. And I wish they could find a way to reduce prices on greens (both frozen and fresh). We would save so much in health care and work better if we all could afford vegetables as a base instead of starchy things like pasta or rice (and now even potatoes are getting expensive).

Kate Jones
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The problem is the misunderstanding that wealthy people have on how money is budgeted. If you take me, for example. I make 22 an hour at my job. To a lot of people that sounds like a lot. But I work in Boston where the median rent is about 2500 dollars which I can't afford. So I drive an hour to/from work to live where rent is closer to 1700 (and it's not a great place. 3rd floor walkup and the cops are at this building every night because of drugs or BS). If you break that down plus gas and utilities, groceries, car upkeep... You're barely surviving. I'm not struggling like this woman does but I'm also single with no kids so it's easier for me. Rich people are like 'why don't you save for a house?' Every raise I get coincides with a hike in health insurance or rent increase. You can never win. So you have make double your living costs to be able to keep up and save. Unless your married or rich like this guy is- that's not possible.

Kate Jones
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also, just to add... veggies are ridiculously expensive in this area. Eating healthy is absolutely more expensive. If my food budget is 25 dollars am I going to buy a package of pasta sides that will fill me up and feeds 2 for 1 dollar or make something with veggies that will cost me 20 dollars just to buy the ingredients for, and will spoil in the fridge within 3 days? Just for reference, a bell pepper in my location is 2.99 each. A bag of broccoli is 4.99. I just did groceries today so it's funny because I love scallions and 1 bunch of scallions was 1.89 today I was so mad! The cheapest thing is apples and even they are like 89 cents each. I despise when people say it's easy to eat healthy. It's not.

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Mourlie
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I just have to say it since nobody else did - 100g of dry pasta have 350 kcal, not 150. The 150 are for cooked pasta. But obviously this is still not enough for a meal on its own and far from healthy.

Aradia Sayner
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

“Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well- warmed, and well-fed.” ― Herman Melville

Trey Shipp
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Glad I don't have a twitter account always see a bunch of BS on there.

Seabeast
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What do you want to bet this jackass has never been grocery shopping, never had to live on a strict budget, and doesn't even know how to cook?

K Witmer
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Growing up w a poor single mother I learned ingenious ways to save money. Some things not exactly ethical but you do what you gotta do. It's exhausting to always think of ways you're going to make your little bit of money stretch. Got to the point through my teens and 20s even though we were way better off financially I ate very little. Couldn't bring myself to eat three meals a day. It felt like an enormous waste or indulgence. I had to relearn my relationship w food over the years. I still find myself feeling indulgent bc I buy the new dawn squeeze soap bottle that costs 3$ more for the convenience. Being able to spend what you want at a grocery store wo looking at price is anxiety inducing to me still to this day even though I have the privilege of not worrying about it which im very grateful for.

finisz
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Man, the word DICKENSIAN is censored. BP is full of idiots.

alloutbikes@yahoo.com
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

USA here. We have food pantries and some lady in my town cooks a meal once a week no questions asked. There are small pantries-little boxes people put non perishables in and those in need take what they need. Our small town has at least 2 food banks. The next town over has one food bank. We are in this together.

Faith M
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe if her government didn’t take 30% of her pay……..

lakitha tolbert
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've noticed the people with the most and worst advice about how to live in poverty, are never the people who have ever actually experienced poverty!!!! And why don't we ever ask poor people how they did it, since presumably, they are the ones who survived it?

Wai Keet
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And over here in sunny Singapore where the ministers are the HIGHEST earners in the world as compared to their foreign counterparts, they think that the elderly collecting old cardboard boxes to sell as scraps are actually doing it for fun or for exercise. I hope the people get smarter in the next election and vote these clowns out.

Mari
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have a few ideas for Kevin : when it rains, collect water in a pan to cook your pasta in it. Drain the pasta and cry tears on top of your pasta, it will give a delicious salty taste.

Katinka Min
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It gets really expensive, once you actually want some protein on your diet or healthy(!) fats. Veggies are expensive where I live -- even cabbage has become expensive and I'm not even gonna start on salad. Minced meat is a tad cheaper, but fish is out of this world pricey. And that is just the main meals. There is still breakfast and lunch and stuff to drink. German benefit payment calculates 5€/day per person - which is simply not doable if you want to cook, so people go to food banks. What is really cheap is junk food: Super cheap canned stuff, stuff full of sugar. But a HEALTHY diet is costly.

seedogg
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Anyone know what Kevin Edger's (@KEdge23) official response/reply to Jack Monroe's rebuttal? (Going back to find the original Twitter post is not practical)

Carrie Laughs
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

seedogg - Kevin replied to Jack "did I say to eat that and only that? No, I just pointed out that there is no need to skip meals when some food is so cheap and you can do a meal for pennies. Get off your high horse." He then restricted replies only to people on Twitter that he follows or mentioned. Cowardly effing fcukwit. The nerve that he would say that to Jack Monroe with her knowledge of feeding families on the cheap!

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Katherine Boag
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Needed to include her subsequent comments about also needing to afford something to cook the pasta in and electricity to cook it with as well

alloutbikes@yahoo.com
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

David commented that being poor changes a person. It may, but being hungry certainly does.

KimB
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What the hell does a nurse in the UK make? Here in the states nurses make a great living earning somewhere between $30-50 USD per hour for registered nurses...practical nurses or LPN's don't make as much but it's far from minimum wage. Either way it's very sad that a nurse cannot afford housing and food for her kids on one income. UK leaders shame on you for not paying your nurses livable wages!!!

Aimee Wray
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What people like Kevin seem realise is that starvation is more than not having food in your belly. I work with kids with beige/restricted diets because of sensory issues who often end up having to go into hospital because they are malnourished because they only eat one or two things.

Queerios
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hey BoredPanda, I think Jack Monroe uses they/them pronouns, not she/her!

RafCo
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cure for hunger? Eat the rich. Most movie takes on the HG Wells' Time Machine missed the bigger point. The Eloi weren't the victims in his book. They got to live a live of absolute luxury, but the price was their bodies to feed the mass of exploited working class they created. I still think the Eloi got the better end of the deal. HG Wells had serious issues with capitalism. From his perspective within the the industri revolution, the Morlocks are the inevitable result of worker exploitation.

maper sam
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

don't you get tired of this s**t?? f**k you, demoncraps!!

Aston Kuter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Everyone brings up single mothers like they're some kind of heroes! I was raised by a single mother and would not wish her struggles on anyone! But they're not heroes. Unless a tragedy befell them, husband died, something horrible like that happened, to have 3 kids without any sort of a safety net (dad, parents, savings, good job etc etc) then to complain that you can't feed them... that's just lack of personal responsibility! Can't feed your kids? Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you fed your vagina! And maybe take off that nose ring now that you're a mother of 3.

George Gameston
Community Member
2 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

He is obviously explaining that food does not need to expensive. For the record, a lot of poverty families in the UK rely on processed foods and takeaways - which (unlike the USA) is significantly more expensive than simply cooking from scratch with healthy fresh ingredients. It's a common tactic of the fringe extreme left wing to take a quote out of context and pretend that something else is being said and then stand up in outrage at the invented statement. It's gets boring and fools no-one but themselves.

Tom Hanlin
Community Member
2 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Perhaps it's different in the UK but, in America, I can walk down to any of five different food banks and get more free food than I can eat. And clothes. And toiletries. Before I found out about this, I was living on a very trim food budget with calculations for decent nutrition (Calories, vitamins, minerals, fiber, ...) which ran me about $150/month for the more luxurious version. It was still a stretch but, that's not a huge amount of money. I'm still going with mostly the free food I can get because, $150 is a lot to spend on luxuries. Buying food is a luxury when you can get it for free.

Laugh Fan
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the UK you need a referral before you can go to a food bank. The Citizen's Advice Bureau is one way to get a referral but there are others. There are around 2300 food banks in the UK.

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Hedgeh og
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Jack Monroe is a badass doing amazing work. People with hot takes about things they've never experienced (like food poverty) should take all the seats and listen to the experts.

Lsai Aeon
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's even worse when you have dietary restrictions due to allergies or autoimmune diseases like Celiac/Coeliac. That cheap pasta is deadly to a lot of the poor

Naesil 🇫🇮
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can imagine, like you could not eat the cheap pastas, cant make your own cheap bread (which tastes awesome when its freshly baked) etc.

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Penny Fan
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's always the people who have never lived poor who think they can tell the poor how to live.

Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mother was never gainfully employed in her life. She even had a maid service, so was never working herself to the bone doing housework and childcare. But she would always be the first to tell YOU how to do YOUR—-paying—-job! And her “advice” was always dead wrong. Imagine that.

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Tamra Stiffler
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Really, putting the "delusional" in front of conservative is just needless repetition. Conservative implies delusional.

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Emmydearest
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pasta is at the base of the Mediterranean (Italian) diet and it may seem healthy and inexpensive and all but one can't live with pasta only (and it's not very healthy either). It's pasta, yes, but paired with fresh vegetables and plenty of fruit, sometimes fish, not too much meat, a little unsaturated fats (EVO oil) and no processed food. It's not just pasta. Eat pasta twice a day everyday and tell me if you're still healthy. Fortunately here in Italy eating like that is not super expensive, produce are still relatively cheap. But I'm aware that in some places veggies and fruits cost more than junk food, which is insane.

M Rob
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The carbs (pasta, bread etc) are fillers. The nutrition is from... Protein, vegetables and fruits.

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Richard A Petro
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've a much better suggestion and it's actually from the group "Aerosmith". Don't eat pasta but "Eat The Rich" for as long as we have folks like Mr. Edger who, I would guess, actually believe the "poor" are poor due to their lack of initiative, drive or education (Funny, they NEVER mention "lack of money" or a "living wage") we will always see the "haves" denigrate the "have-nots". G.B. Shaw explained it quite simply, "The more I see the moneyed classes, the more I understand the guillotine".

Mikey Kliss
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good to see Conservatives are s**t no matter which country they're in

Rahul Pawa
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This week in unnecessary censorship: Dickensian. Apparently Charles Dickens' name is impolite now.

Id row
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Delusional conservative - isn't that a bit redundant?

HellVetios
Community Member
2 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Yes. It's the conservatives that are delusional. It's the conservatives that want communisnm, endless immigration, 684 genders, political correctness, and so on. Sure, the conservatives are delusional. Whatever fits in your POV of the world buddy.

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Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They used to say that about bread, because it was cheap. In fact, many poor families used more bread than fillers like PB&J or lunchmeat when making sandwiches because its bulk would make an empty stomach feel full. But by itself, it’s not very nutritious. And one commenter mentioned that even poor people can have food sensitivities like Celiac, where the wheat in cheap bread—-or cheap pasta—-can make them seriously ill, or even kill them. And, believe me, the gluten-free alternatives are far far far from cheap (and don’t taste as good either).

DC
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

... when will we finally get on our feet and end the redistribution of wealth towards the top? The key problem is ... exactly that. It's not Syrian or Ukrainians or any other refugee, it's not the unemployed who are given too much, it's simply too much of any profit ending up outside the creation of wealth, just being stored unused, in someone's hands who already has more money than they could ever spend. We, as a society, should not be obliged to keep a few pet billionaires and allow them to suck the life out of economy and the working class...

CelticElff
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

BP, FFS, you should not censor Dickensian as it's referring to Charles DICKENS, an author. What next, "Richard 'D**k' Nixon"? "Phillip K. D**k"? Get a f**king grip.

KT
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Absolutely shameful behaviour. He's not very smart if he posts something as brain dead as that comment is he? Nurses deserve better wages in the UK, they are very underpaid. The excuse? They don't want people doing that job for money

A Jones
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Moral of the story, you're a bloody goon (Kevin) if you give advise to others that you have never/won't do yourself.

April Stephens
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good points so far. This is very minor, but it's also hardship culturally to eat only pasta. Can you imagine eating plain pasta on every holiday, birthday, anniversary, and beautiful day for a picnic/cookout? You'd never be able to host anyone for dinner, eat your own family's recipes, or chat about what recipe you made. It disconnects you from your community. Actually, that is really grim.

Tigerpacingthecage
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It IS really hard to eat healthy food on a budget. Even when you make it from scratch (and you also need TIME for that - a luxury many poor families don't have.). Cheap food is processed and rarely have any real nutritional value. Also, it's not really healthy to eat the exact same thing every day. Let's say you do a stir fry with frozen vegetables, some rice or noodles and a small amount of a cheaper source of protein (like chicken or beans) - could be relatively cheap and relatively healthy - but are you supposed to eat that 3 meals/day everyday? How do you convince your kids to eat that? Variety is a huge part of eating healthy. And that means more items and spending more money. And I wish they could find a way to reduce prices on greens (both frozen and fresh). We would save so much in health care and work better if we all could afford vegetables as a base instead of starchy things like pasta or rice (and now even potatoes are getting expensive).

Kate Jones
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The problem is the misunderstanding that wealthy people have on how money is budgeted. If you take me, for example. I make 22 an hour at my job. To a lot of people that sounds like a lot. But I work in Boston where the median rent is about 2500 dollars which I can't afford. So I drive an hour to/from work to live where rent is closer to 1700 (and it's not a great place. 3rd floor walkup and the cops are at this building every night because of drugs or BS). If you break that down plus gas and utilities, groceries, car upkeep... You're barely surviving. I'm not struggling like this woman does but I'm also single with no kids so it's easier for me. Rich people are like 'why don't you save for a house?' Every raise I get coincides with a hike in health insurance or rent increase. You can never win. So you have make double your living costs to be able to keep up and save. Unless your married or rich like this guy is- that's not possible.

Kate Jones
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also, just to add... veggies are ridiculously expensive in this area. Eating healthy is absolutely more expensive. If my food budget is 25 dollars am I going to buy a package of pasta sides that will fill me up and feeds 2 for 1 dollar or make something with veggies that will cost me 20 dollars just to buy the ingredients for, and will spoil in the fridge within 3 days? Just for reference, a bell pepper in my location is 2.99 each. A bag of broccoli is 4.99. I just did groceries today so it's funny because I love scallions and 1 bunch of scallions was 1.89 today I was so mad! The cheapest thing is apples and even they are like 89 cents each. I despise when people say it's easy to eat healthy. It's not.

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Mourlie
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I just have to say it since nobody else did - 100g of dry pasta have 350 kcal, not 150. The 150 are for cooked pasta. But obviously this is still not enough for a meal on its own and far from healthy.

Aradia Sayner
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

“Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well- warmed, and well-fed.” ― Herman Melville

Trey Shipp
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Glad I don't have a twitter account always see a bunch of BS on there.

Seabeast
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What do you want to bet this jackass has never been grocery shopping, never had to live on a strict budget, and doesn't even know how to cook?

K Witmer
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Growing up w a poor single mother I learned ingenious ways to save money. Some things not exactly ethical but you do what you gotta do. It's exhausting to always think of ways you're going to make your little bit of money stretch. Got to the point through my teens and 20s even though we were way better off financially I ate very little. Couldn't bring myself to eat three meals a day. It felt like an enormous waste or indulgence. I had to relearn my relationship w food over the years. I still find myself feeling indulgent bc I buy the new dawn squeeze soap bottle that costs 3$ more for the convenience. Being able to spend what you want at a grocery store wo looking at price is anxiety inducing to me still to this day even though I have the privilege of not worrying about it which im very grateful for.

finisz
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Man, the word DICKENSIAN is censored. BP is full of idiots.

alloutbikes@yahoo.com
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

USA here. We have food pantries and some lady in my town cooks a meal once a week no questions asked. There are small pantries-little boxes people put non perishables in and those in need take what they need. Our small town has at least 2 food banks. The next town over has one food bank. We are in this together.

Faith M
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe if her government didn’t take 30% of her pay……..

lakitha tolbert
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've noticed the people with the most and worst advice about how to live in poverty, are never the people who have ever actually experienced poverty!!!! And why don't we ever ask poor people how they did it, since presumably, they are the ones who survived it?

Wai Keet
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And over here in sunny Singapore where the ministers are the HIGHEST earners in the world as compared to their foreign counterparts, they think that the elderly collecting old cardboard boxes to sell as scraps are actually doing it for fun or for exercise. I hope the people get smarter in the next election and vote these clowns out.

Mari
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have a few ideas for Kevin : when it rains, collect water in a pan to cook your pasta in it. Drain the pasta and cry tears on top of your pasta, it will give a delicious salty taste.

Katinka Min
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It gets really expensive, once you actually want some protein on your diet or healthy(!) fats. Veggies are expensive where I live -- even cabbage has become expensive and I'm not even gonna start on salad. Minced meat is a tad cheaper, but fish is out of this world pricey. And that is just the main meals. There is still breakfast and lunch and stuff to drink. German benefit payment calculates 5€/day per person - which is simply not doable if you want to cook, so people go to food banks. What is really cheap is junk food: Super cheap canned stuff, stuff full of sugar. But a HEALTHY diet is costly.

seedogg
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Anyone know what Kevin Edger's (@KEdge23) official response/reply to Jack Monroe's rebuttal? (Going back to find the original Twitter post is not practical)

Carrie Laughs
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

seedogg - Kevin replied to Jack "did I say to eat that and only that? No, I just pointed out that there is no need to skip meals when some food is so cheap and you can do a meal for pennies. Get off your high horse." He then restricted replies only to people on Twitter that he follows or mentioned. Cowardly effing fcukwit. The nerve that he would say that to Jack Monroe with her knowledge of feeding families on the cheap!

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Katherine Boag
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Needed to include her subsequent comments about also needing to afford something to cook the pasta in and electricity to cook it with as well

alloutbikes@yahoo.com
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

David commented that being poor changes a person. It may, but being hungry certainly does.

KimB
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What the hell does a nurse in the UK make? Here in the states nurses make a great living earning somewhere between $30-50 USD per hour for registered nurses...practical nurses or LPN's don't make as much but it's far from minimum wage. Either way it's very sad that a nurse cannot afford housing and food for her kids on one income. UK leaders shame on you for not paying your nurses livable wages!!!

Aimee Wray
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What people like Kevin seem realise is that starvation is more than not having food in your belly. I work with kids with beige/restricted diets because of sensory issues who often end up having to go into hospital because they are malnourished because they only eat one or two things.

Queerios
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hey BoredPanda, I think Jack Monroe uses they/them pronouns, not she/her!

RafCo
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cure for hunger? Eat the rich. Most movie takes on the HG Wells' Time Machine missed the bigger point. The Eloi weren't the victims in his book. They got to live a live of absolute luxury, but the price was their bodies to feed the mass of exploited working class they created. I still think the Eloi got the better end of the deal. HG Wells had serious issues with capitalism. From his perspective within the the industri revolution, the Morlocks are the inevitable result of worker exploitation.

maper sam
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

don't you get tired of this s**t?? f**k you, demoncraps!!

Aston Kuter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Everyone brings up single mothers like they're some kind of heroes! I was raised by a single mother and would not wish her struggles on anyone! But they're not heroes. Unless a tragedy befell them, husband died, something horrible like that happened, to have 3 kids without any sort of a safety net (dad, parents, savings, good job etc etc) then to complain that you can't feed them... that's just lack of personal responsibility! Can't feed your kids? Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you fed your vagina! And maybe take off that nose ring now that you're a mother of 3.

George Gameston
Community Member
2 years ago

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He is obviously explaining that food does not need to expensive. For the record, a lot of poverty families in the UK rely on processed foods and takeaways - which (unlike the USA) is significantly more expensive than simply cooking from scratch with healthy fresh ingredients. It's a common tactic of the fringe extreme left wing to take a quote out of context and pretend that something else is being said and then stand up in outrage at the invented statement. It's gets boring and fools no-one but themselves.

Tom Hanlin
Community Member
2 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Perhaps it's different in the UK but, in America, I can walk down to any of five different food banks and get more free food than I can eat. And clothes. And toiletries. Before I found out about this, I was living on a very trim food budget with calculations for decent nutrition (Calories, vitamins, minerals, fiber, ...) which ran me about $150/month for the more luxurious version. It was still a stretch but, that's not a huge amount of money. I'm still going with mostly the free food I can get because, $150 is a lot to spend on luxuries. Buying food is a luxury when you can get it for free.

Laugh Fan
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the UK you need a referral before you can go to a food bank. The Citizen's Advice Bureau is one way to get a referral but there are others. There are around 2300 food banks in the UK.

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