Instead Of Shaming A Mum Making An ‘Unhealthy’ £1 Meal, We Should Be Asking Why So Many Are Forced To Feed Their Families On So Little

A woman who posted her children’s dinner in a Facebook group about feeding families on £1 a day has been shamed for not providing health enough meals for her children. With her post picked up by the tabloid press, her story has started a vital conversation about food poverty in the UK.

‘Kids tea they don't always need veg to be healthy portions for a 14 and 8-year-old,’ the mother wrote captioning an image of sausages, mash and tinned spaghetti. As soon as she posted the picture, which was seemingly an attempt to support fellow mums who struggle to get their children to eat vegetables, it was flooded with comments.

‘All I see is carb overload,’ one Facebook user commented. ‘Children don’t need veg every sitting but that’s not a healthy balanced meal,’ another added. Several used the post to call for better education into nutrition.

And while nutritional education for parents is important, the shaming of a mum just trying to do her best as the UK enters its worst recession for 300 years doesn't feel right. Maybe we shouldn’t be quite as shocked that a mum didn’t include vegetables in one of her kids dinners as by the fact that so many are now feeding their families on £1 a day.

The Facebook group the mother posted in, which is one of many supporting families struggling to feed their families, has over 100,000 members. Another called ‘Feed your family on a budget’ has over 220,000 while ‘Feed yourself for £1 A day' has near 240,000.

‘We went from 20,000 to 109,000 members in six months,’ one of the group admins for Feed your family on £1 a day, Helen Dodds, told Grazia. ‘Not being able to either purchase food items during lockdown or afford as much, we have seen a rise on batch cooking from scratch, freezing items even if they say on the package not to and reverting to old school recipes.’

Dodd says that there has been a substantial rise in members posting pictures with reduced label stickers asking what they can possibly make with what they’ve managed to buy for cheap. And when you look at the other stats around food poverty, it’s hardly a surprise so many families are struggling to put nutritious meals on the table.

According to a YouGov poll by the Food Foundation, 2.4million children are living in food-insecure households in the UK. That means millions without the ability or access to food that makes up a healthy diet. The Trussell Trust also shows that a record number of 1.9million food bank parcels have been given out in the year April 2019 to March 2020.

Yes, that’s before the coronavirus pandemic put millions out of work – with the number of people claiming benefits for unemployment or being on low incomes rising 120% from March to August sitting at 2.7million last month. In fact, in April The Trussell Trust reported an 89% increase in the need for emergency food parcels during April alone.

Ultimately then, we shouldn’t be asking why a mum feeding her kids couldn’t add vegetables to a plate, we should be asking what we can do to help the millions unable to provide healthy diets for their children.

If you're struggling with food insecurity, click here to find out more about The Trussell Trust

If you want to donate or volunteer to help tackle food poverty, click here____.

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