Is anybody here living entirely on benefits?

[Ethel]

Is it as bad as this young couple claim? Are you going to bed hungry and eating rotting vegetables?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlan ds/7643652.stm

I am trying to understand how this can be so.

[B00]

Got to admit, I only half watched the video, but did it explain why he at least wasn't working?

I assume they are both on benefits? I did hear the bit where they said they were living on one meal a day, must be one ruddy big meal then as she at least was overweight!

Both myself and Mr Boo both work, and we're only just above the breadline, however neither of us or more importantly Mini Boo have gone without good healthy food inside us each day.

I'm very curious to know exactly what they're spending their food shopping allowance on. Would it be ready made meals an frozen overpriced rubbish by any chance? Before now I've been known to make a �3.00 chicken last 3 of us 3 days, by bulking it out with veg (can still be bought cheaply) and making soup with the carcass etc. Cheap nutricious meals can be had for almost next tot nothing.

[jake-the-peg]

They can if you know how.

You're not dealing with the intellectual elite of our society here.

I'd guess a significant number are in the bottom IQ quartile probably a fair few can't read and write well.

Telling them to rustle up a stew and make soup with the bones is probably not going to help.

Chances are many skipped large amounts of school and hanging around the family home to pick up home economics hints from Mum wasn't on the agenda.

You can't just place yourself in the same position and think what you would do.

Imagine yourself in a country lets say Japan, where you can't read the language have difficulty talking to people don't recognise the food and don't have a job.

And even then you have intellectual resources to draw on.

I think that may be what you're missing from the equation

[jake-the-peg]

Sorry just realised that could be taken wrongly.

Didn't mean to imply you weren't applying intellectual resources to the question but that what you might be missing was the background of the people involved.

[B00]

Yeah, guess you're right Jake.

my cooking, throughout the years, due to necessity has become more and more inventive I can tell you! However I myself was not exactly raised by Delia Smith either, my mum's forte (God love her) was making gravy from Bovril...from Bovril!!!

Anyhoo- im straying from the point here...Maybe the solution is to educate these adults on simple home cooking whilst they still at school? And no, I dont mean by making spag bol or lasagne, I mean REALLY simple. Like stretching the aforementioned chicken into 2/3 meals to feed an entire family.

I still dont understand why he's not working? Apologies if I missed if he said why he wasn't- but surely to God even someone with the IQ of a walnut would try to get a job to get his family out of such misery?

[puddicat]

Entirely agree Boo,we have to cooking back into schools,from primary if allowed,and learn how to cook healthy,cheap,and nutriious food,, bring back the home eccy teacher!!!!

[B00]

Yep Puddi, and like I said, not arty farty meals either, but proper "line ya stomach for a couple of quid" kind of meals. I know times are hard, but it's still possible to eat relatively well for almost next to nothing.

It would also help if these famlies prioritise their money too. I'm not saying this is the case here with the family highlighted. But I work in a local co-op and quite a few customers pay for their fruit and veg with "sure start" vouchers. Now I was lead to believe that this voucher was meant to provide basic fruit/veg and dairy products for their children. However after seeing them purchase long life steralised milk and the more exotic type of fruit, I'm often tempted to ask how much is actually going their childs way.

[jake-the-peg]

True but it's not going to help if they're never at school or messing around when they are.

The whole thing is an interconnected downward spiral

You have to start with the next generation and try and get them a more stable familly life and a better education.

And you have to break the anti-intellectual "swot" pressure from other kids when they see one of their kind working

[puddicat]

Was thinking that the community schools could help parents learn how to cook,, i know that are alot of food cooperatives around the uk, they could all come together on this, i for one would give my time up to teach them!!!

[puddingqueen]

We now shop in Netto and have done since July, there is 3 of in in the family and a cat and our food bill is about �55 a week, he says he shops in Tesco, well thats one of the most expensive shops you can buy food in, why can't he shop in Netto or Lidl, we manage it. We work full time too but we are also struggling with bills like anybody else.

[puddicat]

Maybe no lidl or netto or aldi near him, but we have a couple of shops here, farmfoods and a like, and i shudder at what some of these parents buy,frozen chips, pizzas,crap, not one piece of fruit or veg in there trolley, its education and more education until they get the message!!!!

[Ethel]

No, no mention of why he isn't working, but they do get �650 per month.

Didn't explain if they have to rent and / or rates out of that, but they do seem to live on 'cheap sausage, cheap beans and chips'.

I'm trying to understand if the problem is too little money or mismanagement of money.

[shaneystar2]

To answer your question question Ethel in short ..No .
I'm afraid I agree with Jake .What goes around comes around and if people have never been shown how to manage there is not much hope . I have had to tighten my belt many times .
It's the same old story ....the breakdown in society .
No family network to show youngsters how to manage .
He seemed to be more concerned with Christmas !
And they seem to eat a lot of chips . She says she's obese so what the hell is she eating !!
We survive on our pension which isn't mega money .OK our house is paid for but we still have to pay the same as everyone else for our utilities etc .I'm sure for the money they pay for cheap sausages chips and beans they could spend much less and have healthier meals .........if they got off their arses and made an effort !!

[B00]

We, as a family of 3 (one less than theirs) have survived on less than �650 per month. Sure it was damn hard, and that's how and why I became inventive with my meals!

I really hope i'm not coming across as pious here, but I really do find it hard to sympathise with people who seem incapable and or unwilling to help themselves.

Does it really take brains to buy potatoes instead of frozen chips? Or a chicken/small joint instead of a pizza?

[moonshadow]

I think the problem is they are bone idle Ethel. You only have to look at the house it looks dirty and very untidy, the cooker was filthy, with writing all over the walls.If for some reason they can't work what are they doing all day? I did notice a decent TV, DVD player, hi-fi etc and very large engagement ring.The mother on quite a few occassions mentions she just wanted nice things for 'the babby' so why don't they get off their lazy, fat backsides and get a job so that lovely little boy is not brought up in a family of welfare scroungers. I agree with puddingqueen,shopping at Tesco isn't the answer to cheap meals.

[Ethel]

I would hate to think of people in the UK literally starving because they weren't getting enough money but I can't believe this is the case.

I may be cynical but I was looking for the plasma tv, the computers, cigarettes, booze but didn't see any of that.

I have had to rethink my own heating habits recently. I make a lot of broth, soups, stews, stocks and so on that can take hours to cook. I also use traditional cuts of meat that can't be cooked quickly. I am trying to calculate if this is a false economy with the high cost of fuel. Maybe I'll make a hay oven. :)

[jake-the-peg]

�650 a month?

A two bedroom flat in Birmingham will cost that to rent. say you could get something for �400

Band A council tax in Ladywood is �70 a month add in electricity, gas, water rates

Food and clothes isn't going to be much of a budget is it?

[Ethel]

But would they be paying rent? Or is this paid directly to the landlord and extra to the money they receive?

[cazzz1975]

chicken costs a fortune these days!

[B00]

I believe a slow cooker is fairly cheap to run Ethel, least i hope so, mine seems to be permanently on!

[Ethel]

Cazz - I saw fresh chickens in my local co-op today for �2.50 each.

They weren't organic, or corn fed, but it was whole fresh chicken nevertheless.