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.

[LoftyLottie]

Quite simply I have to say I agree with Jake and Shaneystar on this. It simply isn't possible to get people like this to understand how to change.

I can't add any more.

[Ethel]

I have considered a slow cooker, although my cooker has a 'slow cooker' setting.
I do use my pressure cooker a lot. :)

[moonshadow]

Try a slow cooker Ethel they use very little electricity and you can use very cheap cuts of meat. I have only just started using one about a month ago and have had some wonderful, very cheap, delicious meals.

[Ethel]

Yes, I think I will have to do that, thanks.

[jake-the-peg]

I don't think I said it was impossible to get people to change but it is difficult.

And I do know that the journalistic equivilent of slapping them around the face and saying "pull yourself together" doesn't work.

If you put me in charge of the system ( please dont ) I'd want to think about mentoring schemes.

Ways of finding people who've lived like this and gotten themselves out of it and getting them to spend time with people like this showing them how they can too.

Having someone from the council who's probably got a degree in Social Work come round once a month is not going to chsnge things

[B00]

I'm laughing to myself whilst re-reading all this. Tonight for tea the Boo household is on frozen chips and pizza...lololol.

[Rosetta]

Lets see what Jamie OLiver comes up with lol. I see he is on TV tonight on this very subject

[donella]

hmmm, watched the video, and the first thing i noticed was they are both over weight and the child is not, the second was the TV hi fi equipment!!
i work part time (i cant work full time due to health reasons) and i get benefits which brings me up to �5 better off than those on a giro (works out that after housing i have about �65 per week)
i have 2 dogs 2 chickens and 1 cat, all of which have premium food (but the chickens cost pence to feed and in the summer do provide me with eggs)
i eat very simply, mostly value potatoes, onions and carrots, im lucky enough that i have a small garden and grow some of my own food,
however,
due to the massive increase in fuel costs i sit here shivering as i cant afford to heat the place until its really necessary, then i will just heat one room, also affording to put petrol in the car is getting harder (i need the car for work),
on the plus side, i have lost weight in the last 2 years, 2 stone now!!

[cazzz1975]

my daughter had sausage, beans and chips today at school...should I be phoning the NSPCC?

[Ethel]

Nothing wrong with that once in a while, boo.

I enjoy toad in the hole every month or so, for a change. :)

Maybe the unemployed should be forced to attend money management and home skills courses, but how condescending is that? Many people find themselves unemployed entirely through no fault of their own, and get back to work as soon as.

Maybe it should be for long term unemployed.

I did find my belief in that news story stretched when they said they were forced to buy an eat green potatoes because they could afford nothing better.

[LoftyLottie]

I can remember all the lentil stews I made years ago - made with a ham bone - packed with veg. and eaten with crusty bread. I haven't done this for years, but actually might give it a go very soon. I quite honestly believe that cheap meals can be the tastiest and most satisfying.

Enjoy your pizza and chips Boo! ;o)

[Ethel]

Sorry, donella, missed your post there.

I haven't put my heating on at all since I switched it off at the end of last winter, but my house is very well insulated and I do wear a hat indoors. :)

My neighbour keeps chickens and I am a lucky recipient when he has a flurry of eggs.

[Bathsheba]

Ethel- please describe your hat :-) xxx

[Ethel]

It's woolly with a bobble. I have several.

Keep your head and ears warm and the rest of your body keeps a bit warmer too.

[wonkon-wonk]

if non of them work why don'y they tidy that sh*t tip up?

[LoftyLottie]

Our heating has been on for an hour a day Ethel over the last week. Last year we gave up on the heating when the oil ran low in January and just used the wood burner in the lounge (luckily we have a good supply of wood from our garden and my mother's). The radiators are never on in bedrooms any more.

I can just imagine you in your hat Ethel. Is this you? ;o)

http://pro.corbis.com/images/42-18288941.jpg?s ize=572&uid=%7B5B1F503F-13A4-4005-8889-63BFAFD AA2FF%7D

[Bathsheba]

But Ethel- what about when you go outside? Do you put another one on top? Otherwise you won't "feel the benefit" :-) xxx

[LoftyLottie]

I was taught that if you kept your head, wrists and feet warm then the rest of you would stay warm as well. Perhaps we should all be knitting wrist warmers or fingerless gloves in readiness for winter.

[Ethel]

I put my posh hat on when I go out and if it's really cold, put my hood up as well.

I am a stranger to glamour

[puddicat]

Why dont we ask for a job lot for us abers, with answerbank embroidered on the bobble hats, then we could create a secret sign that only us abers knew!!!