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For many of us, early January is a difficult time. Credit card and tax bills are looming, waistlines are bulging, and it’s dark by 4pm. As I write, the cost-of-living crisis is hitting hard and strikes are paralysing public services. Half the country is doing Dry January, the other half is doing Divorce Month, and some unlucky sods are doing both simultaneously. Happily, though, austerity guru Jack Monroe has a new book, Thrifty Kitchen to cheer us all up.
Some of the suggested “home hacks” in this book have attracted particular mirth, seeming as they do to involve great effort and even high personal risk for exceptionally low reward. For instance, should you be desperate to get your hands on an egg ring — that is, a metal ring that helps you form perfectly round fried eggs — but unable to afford the £2.10 that would obtain you one from Amazon, Monroe suggests removing the lid and the bottom from a tuna tin, sanding the rough edges away, and washing afterwards to remove “any tiny dusty bits of metal”.
Should you be poor enough to lack a tin opener, meanwhile — currently on sale in Tesco for 60p — she suggests using a “small sharp knife that you are not particularly attached to, a hammer or mallet, a bit of vigour, some patience and a VERY steady hand”. As the internet has pointed out, combining both of these suggestions to produce an egg ring seems to make it likely that by the end of the process, you won’t be particularly attached to your fingers either.
It is hard to know to whom these tips are really addressed. It seems improbable that the average cash-strapped and harassed parent is going to need — or indeed have time for — any of them. The most obvious candidate for lacking a tin opener is someone homeless or in temporary accommodation, but having perfectly circular fried eggs is surely an unlikely priority here. Other tips in the book involve making firelighters by stuffing cardboard toilet rolls with tumble dryer fluff; filling worn-out socks with lavender for a microwaveable “hot pocket”; making a rolling-pin out of a glass bottle filled with ice; and gluing ring-pulls into your handbag to keep your sunglasses secure. Perhaps, then, the envisioned reader is a pastry chef living in the woods, but still with access to a lot of home appliances.
If you are familiar with Monroe, you’ll know that fearlessly confecting the imaginary habits of poor people is something of a habit of hers. If you aren’t: she’s a queer, tatted, highly articulate and Very Online single mum who mostly writes about low-cost food. Ten years ago, she stumbled into fame at the height of the government’s austerity programme by writing a blog post about not being able to feed her son or heat her home in Southend-on-Sea. Since then, she has authored several cookbooks and continued her blog, heavily mining her own lived experience to evangelise about how to eat cheaply and well when you’re hard up. Nigella Lawson is a big fan and offers a fulsome tribute in the new book.
These days, Monroe seems professionally wedded to a narrative of personal struggle and sudden dramatic changes of fortune, for better or worse. She has a huge Twitter following, regularly detailing physical and mental health challenges, struggles with alcohol, a rollercoaster love-life, and anecdotes that heavily imply that the wolf is never far from the door. She’s helped by a fluent writing style that cycles rapidly through a variety of clickable moods: cheerful resilience in the face of adversity, living-my-best-life showboating, sassy clapbacking, ruefully relatable parenting moments, and so on. In short, she’s the acceptable face of modern poverty in the eyes of many middle-class progressives — and they adore her for it.
Equally though, the very characteristics that make her so pleasing to some make her absolutely infuriating to others. And just imagine — some of these infuriated people are actually poor and/or working-class. It’s no doubt a hard job to stand in for an entire demographic in the public imagination but still, Monroe’s apparently inability to keep a story straight about whether she’s really a downtrodden victim of a cruel system or rather #winningatlife tends to get on the nerves of readers feeling permanently crushed by rising interest rates, rents, energy bills, and food prices. In the last year or so, an army of determined internet sleuths has arisen to challenge the official back story of poverty, obsessively documenting internal discrepancies within Monroe’s voluminous Twitter output, cross-referenced with her many heartfelt Guardian op-eds, interviews, and blog posts. Understandably wounded, the writer is now apparently psychologically locked into an escalating and ultimately unwinnable confrontation with a multi-headed hydra of critics on Twitter.
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Subscribe“Once you have unscrewed your face, consider that the real attraction of Monroe’s writing for readers cannot possibly be that it gives impoverished people genuinely delicious things to eat, still less that it saves them lots of money. After all, no amount of repurposing stale cornflakes or fiddling about with ring pulls is going to make even the smallest dent in household bills these days.”
More to the point, a lot of it looks less cost-efficient anyway. The part about washing the tomato sauce off spaghetti hoops and then reducing the sauce into tomato puree is about the stupidest idea, in terms of resource and energy use, that you could come up with. The tinned food is already the product of an energy intensive manufacturing process that has been carried out precisely so that the end user doesn’t have to do anything except warm it up. What is proposed in this instance is simply an energy-wasteful – and therefore more expensive – way to produce two disgusting meals out of a single edible one – but without actually increasing the total amounts of calories ingested anyway.
To put it in engineering terms, it throws away the embedded energy in the canned food. I’m sure we’ve all seen the online memes in which someone has employed their carpentry skills to make something useful out of an old pallet, well this is the reverse: making an old pallet out of a coffee table that you’ve just bought in a shop.
Idiotic.
Brilliant stuff.
A great comment on a great article about a fraud who sells poverty porn alongside the world’s worst recipes to idiot middle-class Guardian readers.
I agree that it’s stupid, and the gas used in boiling down the sauce would cost more than the equivalent amount of puree from Lidl (which would taste better). However, the justification I’ve seen put forward for rinsing spaghetti hoops is that people getting food parcels might end up with too many spaghetti hoops and would therefore appreciate advice on how to vary the monotony!
We hate the poor if we’re putting in spaghetti hoops…
We hate the poor if we’re putting in spaghetti hoops…
If presented with the spaghetti hoops idea without context, my guess would be that it was from Top Tips in Viz.
As a general rule, unless you get it a bargain price, processed food is poor value.
Brilliant stuff.
A great comment on a great article about a fraud who sells poverty porn alongside the world’s worst recipes to idiot middle-class Guardian readers.
I agree that it’s stupid, and the gas used in boiling down the sauce would cost more than the equivalent amount of puree from Lidl (which would taste better). However, the justification I’ve seen put forward for rinsing spaghetti hoops is that people getting food parcels might end up with too many spaghetti hoops and would therefore appreciate advice on how to vary the monotony!
If presented with the spaghetti hoops idea without context, my guess would be that it was from Top Tips in Viz.
As a general rule, unless you get it a bargain price, processed food is poor value.
“Once you have unscrewed your face, consider that the real attraction of Monroe’s writing for readers cannot possibly be that it gives impoverished people genuinely delicious things to eat, still less that it saves them lots of money. After all, no amount of repurposing stale cornflakes or fiddling about with ring pulls is going to make even the smallest dent in household bills these days.”
More to the point, a lot of it looks less cost-efficient anyway. The part about washing the tomato sauce off spaghetti hoops and then reducing the sauce into tomato puree is about the stupidest idea, in terms of resource and energy use, that you could come up with. The tinned food is already the product of an energy intensive manufacturing process that has been carried out precisely so that the end user doesn’t have to do anything except warm it up. What is proposed in this instance is simply an energy-wasteful – and therefore more expensive – way to produce two disgusting meals out of a single edible one – but without actually increasing the total amounts of calories ingested anyway.
To put it in engineering terms, it throws away the embedded energy in the canned food. I’m sure we’ve all seen the online memes in which someone has employed their carpentry skills to make something useful out of an old pallet, well this is the reverse: making an old pallet out of a coffee table that you’ve just bought in a shop.
Idiotic.
Jack Monroe sounds like Viz Top Tips with the humour removed.
Not read Viz for a while, has it embraced non-binary yet?
It was woker when I saw it last; had a go at Brexiteers in quite a snide way.
As far as I can make out, Viz has yet to tap into a potentially very rich seam of their normally very non-PC humor.
I wonder why?
I stopped reading it a couple of years back. It went downhill after the Donald Brothers left. No strips like Modern Parents by John Fardell for a long time either.
In the end, rather than laughing at him, I began to agree with Major Misunderstanding.
Millie Tant has been in for years…
Millie Tant was always my favourite character along with the modern parents and student grant. I haven’t read it in quite a few years. I think I’ll ask for teh annual from my wife this year. I had read that Viz had inevitably watered down their best characters but I shall read and report back.
Millie Tant was always my favourite character along with the modern parents and student grant. I haven’t read it in quite a few years. I think I’ll ask for teh annual from my wife this year. I had read that Viz had inevitably watered down their best characters but I shall read and report back.
I stopped reading it a couple of years back. It went downhill after the Donald Brothers left. No strips like Modern Parents by John Fardell for a long time either.
In the end, rather than laughing at him, I began to agree with Major Misunderstanding.
Millie Tant has been in for years…
I saw the Xmas annual. It was still refreshingly offensive, and had a very funny piece taking the piss about middle-class wokerati
It was woker when I saw it last; had a go at Brexiteers in quite a snide way.
As far as I can make out, Viz has yet to tap into a potentially very rich seam of their normally very non-PC humor.
I wonder why?
I saw the Xmas annual. It was still refreshingly offensive, and had a very funny piece taking the piss about middle-class wokerati
Ah, you beat me to it.
Lefties don’t do humour.
Absurd comment.
No, it really isn’t
No, it really isn’t
Absurd comment.
Not read Viz for a while, has it embraced non-binary yet?
Ah, you beat me to it.
Lefties don’t do humour.
Jack Monroe sounds like Viz Top Tips with the humour removed.
Times are really tough when you can’t fry a perfectly circular egg and instead have to fry it as it comes out of the shell.
A wonderfully written article.
I do hope the target of this article tells us how to grow a very affordable square watermelon using an old pallet broken apart into free lumber to make the frame.
Where are they going to find all these pallets? They’re busy burning them to save the planet from fossil fuels.
Burning pallets would be a very bad idea, since they are made from highly treated timber – possibly even impregnated with arsenic. The smoke could make you rather ill.
Burning pallets would be a very bad idea, since they are made from highly treated timber – possibly even impregnated with arsenic. The smoke could make you rather ill.
Where are they going to find all these pallets? They’re busy burning them to save the planet from fossil fuels.
A wonderfully written article.
I do hope the target of this article tells us how to grow a very affordable square watermelon using an old pallet broken apart into free lumber to make the frame.
Times are really tough when you can’t fry a perfectly circular egg and instead have to fry it as it comes out of the shell.
Personally my thrift heroines are my English ancestors, agricultural worker’s wives as described in Lark Rise to Candleford, Reuben’s Corner and other first hand accounts. Toast with dripping or lard for children’s breakfasts, bread, cheese and an onion for a working man’s lunch, while the woman would treat herself to a fresh fried herring in the middle of the day if she got the chance.
Going back further to the medieval period there was pottage, a kind of stew cum porridge of grains, vegetables, peas and beans, a bit of bacon if you were lucky.
Kathleen Stock is absolutely right, there’s a supreme irony about the Jack Monroe middle class fan club. I’m not denigrating Monroe herself, good for her if she’s managed to make a living out of her necessity, that’s admirable, but her recipes don’t appeal to me. When I need to be thrifty I’ll stick with my great grandmothers, and dhal with rice.
You remind me of my childhood. My mother would make a soup of bacon bones, yellow split peas and vegetables. I remember her flirting with the butcher for bones with a bit of meat on. There wasn’t much meat on them even then. Well, my mother was only an average looking girl making the best of what she had. (God bless her!)
I re-invented a luxury version using a knuckle. Sometimes I roast the knuckle, eat the crackling and some of the pork as one meal and chuck the rest in the slow cooker with the peas etc. When it goes cold you have pease pudding.
Both versions sound delicious, I do like a bit of crackling.
Very humorous and sweet about your mum, beautiful.
Luxury. Every morning at 11 at night us clambered out of wor sleeping outdoor toilets, thanking us lord for the crust of faecal matter which had insulated us agin the chill coming off t’t frozen steppes o’t Cotswold Mountains. Then after wolfing doon wor breakfast of rusty nails and septic puss, wor dad would lovingly torture us until it were time for’t day’s schooling in’t salt mines. After being thoroughly starved, disembowelled, and electrocuted by’t gangmaster, we’d crawl home overt broken glass on wor bare knees, where wor dad would lovingly break all us femurs wi’t sledge’ammer afore sendin’ us tae bed in wor sleeping outdoor toilets wi’ nowt to chew on for us supper but us own severed genitals. And we were ‘appy.
Both versions sound delicious, I do like a bit of crackling.
Very humorous and sweet about your mum, beautiful.
Luxury. Every morning at 11 at night us clambered out of wor sleeping outdoor toilets, thanking us lord for the crust of faecal matter which had insulated us agin the chill coming off t’t frozen steppes o’t Cotswold Mountains. Then after wolfing doon wor breakfast of rusty nails and septic puss, wor dad would lovingly torture us until it were time for’t day’s schooling in’t salt mines. After being thoroughly starved, disembowelled, and electrocuted by’t gangmaster, we’d crawl home overt broken glass on wor bare knees, where wor dad would lovingly break all us femurs wi’t sledge’ammer afore sendin’ us tae bed in wor sleeping outdoor toilets wi’ nowt to chew on for us supper but us own severed genitals. And we were ‘appy.
You remind me of my childhood. My mother would make a soup of bacon bones, yellow split peas and vegetables. I remember her flirting with the butcher for bones with a bit of meat on. There wasn’t much meat on them even then. Well, my mother was only an average looking girl making the best of what she had. (God bless her!)
I re-invented a luxury version using a knuckle. Sometimes I roast the knuckle, eat the crackling and some of the pork as one meal and chuck the rest in the slow cooker with the peas etc. When it goes cold you have pease pudding.
Personally my thrift heroines are my English ancestors, agricultural worker’s wives as described in Lark Rise to Candleford, Reuben’s Corner and other first hand accounts. Toast with dripping or lard for children’s breakfasts, bread, cheese and an onion for a working man’s lunch, while the woman would treat herself to a fresh fried herring in the middle of the day if she got the chance.
Going back further to the medieval period there was pottage, a kind of stew cum porridge of grains, vegetables, peas and beans, a bit of bacon if you were lucky.
Kathleen Stock is absolutely right, there’s a supreme irony about the Jack Monroe middle class fan club. I’m not denigrating Monroe herself, good for her if she’s managed to make a living out of her necessity, that’s admirable, but her recipes don’t appeal to me. When I need to be thrifty I’ll stick with my great grandmothers, and dhal with rice.
The fragrant Nigella stands for the class of Monroe fans. They’re the one’s buying the books I suppose. Electric car in the drive, solar panels on the roof, bookshelves rammed with novels by authors with name’s you can’t pronounce and Jack Monroe poverty porn. Thug Kitchen will be in there somewhere.
Ok Kathleen, I enjoyed that. Could you turn your laser beam on the Walrus Strawbridge & hyper-real Angel next please?
. . and going shopping in a black cab!
Sorry, what’s that about Nigella? I can happily watch her seductive murmurings, finger licking, ample bosom and glossy black tresses without caring at all what she is actually talking about.
. . and going shopping in a black cab!
Sorry, what’s that about Nigella? I can happily watch her seductive murmurings, finger licking, ample bosom and glossy black tresses without caring at all what she is actually talking about.
The fragrant Nigella stands for the class of Monroe fans. They’re the one’s buying the books I suppose. Electric car in the drive, solar panels on the roof, bookshelves rammed with novels by authors with name’s you can’t pronounce and Jack Monroe poverty porn. Thug Kitchen will be in there somewhere.
Ok Kathleen, I enjoyed that. Could you turn your laser beam on the Walrus Strawbridge & hyper-real Angel next please?
How to save money on the housekeeping? Well, not covering yourself in tattoos would probably be a good start. They don’t come cheap.
Another nifty wheeze would probably be avoiding becoming pregnant by an unspecified male, then excluding him and any financial contribution he might make on grounds of incoherent feminist ideology.
As to egg rings, Macdonalds use them .. when you are in the business of standardised mass production things like that are useful.
No, leave her to the Guardian where she belongs.
Funnily enough, she’s back in the Guardian again today, at no little length. (Nothing to do with having a new book out, I’m sure.) While all the old identity badges have been polished up and are being sported proudly on her lapel, she relies heavily this time around on two particularly dark ones – alcoholism, and another that I will not name here, because I am loathe to be even slightly sarcastic about such a troubling subject. Nevertheless, one can’t help wondering: is there a solitary cultural phenomenon, subculture, lifestyle choice, diet, diagnosis or disadvantage that our Jack HASN’T identified into at one time or another during her short but eventful career?
One has to Keep Up.
One has to Keep Up.
A drink problem is an expensive hobby as well. Perhaps her habit runs to vintage champagne and Grand Cru claret which would explain why she can’t make ends meet on her Grauniad income.
Funnily enough, she’s back in the Guardian again today, at no little length. (Nothing to do with having a new book out, I’m sure.) While all the old identity badges have been polished up and are being sported proudly on her lapel, she relies heavily this time around on two particularly dark ones – alcoholism, and another that I will not name here, because I am loathe to be even slightly sarcastic about such a troubling subject. Nevertheless, one can’t help wondering: is there a solitary cultural phenomenon, subculture, lifestyle choice, diet, diagnosis or disadvantage that our Jack HASN’T identified into at one time or another during her short but eventful career?
A drink problem is an expensive hobby as well. Perhaps her habit runs to vintage champagne and Grand Cru claret which would explain why she can’t make ends meet on her Grauniad income.
How to save money on the housekeeping? Well, not covering yourself in tattoos would probably be a good start. They don’t come cheap.
Another nifty wheeze would probably be avoiding becoming pregnant by an unspecified male, then excluding him and any financial contribution he might make on grounds of incoherent feminist ideology.
As to egg rings, Macdonalds use them .. when you are in the business of standardised mass production things like that are useful.
No, leave her to the Guardian where she belongs.
Kathleen Stock always writes so well and amusingly I really wish I had decided to take a degree at Sussex University in philosophy when she was teaching there. I feel sure she would have managed to make Kant, Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein unfailingly amusing – but perhaps I have an outdated idea as to what philosophy is when taught in Sussex currently.
“I feel sure she would have managed to make Kant, Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein unfailingly amusing”
No she wouldn’t!
Come on, Schopenhauer’s a laugh a minute.
Okay! You’re a weird girl – but my kind of girl.
His ‘Platonic Republic’ is brilliant.
He .would also make a great commentator on UnHerd!
Okay! You’re a weird girl – but my kind of girl.
His ‘Platonic Republic’ is brilliant.
He .would also make a great commentator on UnHerd!
Come on, Schopenhauer’s a laugh a minute.
“I feel sure she would have managed to make Kant, Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein unfailingly amusing”
No she wouldn’t!
Kathleen Stock always writes so well and amusingly I really wish I had decided to take a degree at Sussex University in philosophy when she was teaching there. I feel sure she would have managed to make Kant, Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein unfailingly amusing – but perhaps I have an outdated idea as to what philosophy is when taught in Sussex currently.
This kind of thing makes me wonder if 1 April has arrived early. Until I read it I had no idea there was such a thing as an egg ring, manufactured or home-made, and why anyone should want one I can’t imagine. What utter, ludicrous nonsense!
This kind of thing makes me wonder if 1 April has arrived early. Until I read it I had no idea there was such a thing as an egg ring, manufactured or home-made, and why anyone should want one I can’t imagine. What utter, ludicrous nonsense!
If I said what I really thought about Jack Monroe she’d sue me for every penny I’ve got. She is highly litigious not so poverty stricken as to not hire a libel lawyer. She take fir every penny I’d have then I’d have to buy her books to find out how to survive on nowt ironically
If I said what I really thought about Jack Monroe she’d sue me for every penny I’ve got. She is highly litigious not so poverty stricken as to not hire a libel lawyer. She take fir every penny I’d have then I’d have to buy her books to find out how to survive on nowt ironically
A few decades ago husband and wife had the skills to bottle fruit, vegetables and meat, grow fruit and vegetables, bake pies and cakes, buy cloth and make clothes, curtains and re upholster furniture, repair wooden furniture, buy cheap cuts of meat and them last- Lancashire Hotpot for example, keep fit and wear woollen underclothes, etc
Look at what families had to do from the 1930s to early 1960s to stretch their income: it was make do and mend.
A few decades ago husband and wife had the skills to bottle fruit, vegetables and meat, grow fruit and vegetables, bake pies and cakes, buy cloth and make clothes, curtains and re upholster furniture, repair wooden furniture, buy cheap cuts of meat and them last- Lancashire Hotpot for example, keep fit and wear woollen underclothes, etc
Look at what families had to do from the 1930s to early 1960s to stretch their income: it was make do and mend.
This daffy bint isn’t poor and never has been. She’s from a comfortable background and is just pretending to slum it like Marie Antoinette. Her remoaner leftard, trans-twaddling views are those of all wealthy virtue-signalling Guardianistas.
It was noticeable than when Tory Brexiteer and white, straight man Lee Anderson gave some helpful suggestions and took practical actions to teach foodbank-users to cook, he was villified, in contrast to the undeserved veneration “Jack” Monroe gets from her brain-dead, remoaner leftard admirers.
Whatever’s all this got to do with brexit? I personally think brexit is the stupidest thing this country has done but that doesn’t stop me agreeing with most of your other points – or does it!? Just shows how we think in term of these ridiculous stereotypes. Can’t we actually assess opinions one at a time?
No, because all of these noxious behaviors emerge from the same gas-producing leftist progressivism that has been steadily undermining the West for some decades now; they’re all stems from the same poison root. Brexit was an attempt to cut Britain off from the source of that root, but has so far been effectively nullified by remainers who will use any dodge to avoid being severed from their philosophical allies on the continent.
No, because all of these noxious behaviors emerge from the same gas-producing leftist progressivism that has been steadily undermining the West for some decades now; they’re all stems from the same poison root. Brexit was an attempt to cut Britain off from the source of that root, but has so far been effectively nullified by remainers who will use any dodge to avoid being severed from their philosophical allies on the continent.
Whatever’s all this got to do with brexit? I personally think brexit is the stupidest thing this country has done but that doesn’t stop me agreeing with most of your other points – or does it!? Just shows how we think in term of these ridiculous stereotypes. Can’t we actually assess opinions one at a time?
This daffy bint isn’t poor and never has been. She’s from a comfortable background and is just pretending to slum it like Marie Antoinette. Her remoaner leftard, trans-twaddling views are those of all wealthy virtue-signalling Guardianistas.
It was noticeable than when Tory Brexiteer and white, straight man Lee Anderson gave some helpful suggestions and took practical actions to teach foodbank-users to cook, he was villified, in contrast to the undeserved veneration “Jack” Monroe gets from her brain-dead, remoaner leftard admirers.
Frugality was once the value that produced middle class status.
Frugality was once the value that produced middle class status.
She seems relaxed about the tumble drier being used to produce firelighters. I suppose this is what you get when someone has a publisher breathing down her neck for the next instalment. For my tuppence worth, when hosting a dinner party repurpose old candles and save the £1.50 for four you get at B&M. You can also use the dishwasher to heat up the consommé bowls beautifully.
She seems relaxed about the tumble drier being used to produce firelighters. I suppose this is what you get when someone has a publisher breathing down her neck for the next instalment. For my tuppence worth, when hosting a dinner party repurpose old candles and save the £1.50 for four you get at B&M. You can also use the dishwasher to heat up the consommé bowls beautifully.
A gentle piece. I know many who are very angry at Jack monros pompous patronising condescending posturing. Why can’t the poor be more like the rich? as George Bernard shaw nearly said
A gentle piece. I know many who are very angry at Jack monros pompous patronising condescending posturing. Why can’t the poor be more like the rich? as George Bernard shaw nearly said
Is it allowed to use ‘she’ or ‘mum’ when discussing Jack Monroe if she’s defining herself ąs non-binary nowadays? Asking for a friend in the police
Is it allowed to use ‘she’ or ‘mum’ when discussing Jack Monroe if she’s defining herself ąs non-binary nowadays? Asking for a friend in the police
My favourite Monroe moment has to be her confected fury when a Tory MP used her work to show that you can eat well on a budget. “Sure, making this point may be the basis of my entire career, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be pointlessly angry if someone else says the same. After all, it’s what Twitter expects.”
This is the difficulty and I’ve experienced it in my life. If you let THEM know you’re doing fine THEY will decide that you’re getting too much money and reduce it because as JRM said,there are lots of food banks so you don’t need money to buy food. So it’s stupid to betray the real poor people by publishing books giving the secrets away. And it’s not the poor people who will be buying those books is it. By the way my above words apply both to benefits and low waged work. But also if you live on little money and that could be for (daft) religious reasons you can get jealousy from your equally impoverished neighbours because you are living a very pleasant actually middle class lifestyle while they are not. The irony being that you know from that time when you helped them out that their income is a bit higher than yours but they choose to invest it in alcohol and substances. It’s like Kenneth Clarke said that time,”the poor have very good accountants”. And no,I don’t vote Tory I have never voted Tory,but he said truth.
This is the difficulty and I’ve experienced it in my life. If you let THEM know you’re doing fine THEY will decide that you’re getting too much money and reduce it because as JRM said,there are lots of food banks so you don’t need money to buy food. So it’s stupid to betray the real poor people by publishing books giving the secrets away. And it’s not the poor people who will be buying those books is it. By the way my above words apply both to benefits and low waged work. But also if you live on little money and that could be for (daft) religious reasons you can get jealousy from your equally impoverished neighbours because you are living a very pleasant actually middle class lifestyle while they are not. The irony being that you know from that time when you helped them out that their income is a bit higher than yours but they choose to invest it in alcohol and substances. It’s like Kenneth Clarke said that time,”the poor have very good accountants”. And no,I don’t vote Tory I have never voted Tory,but he said truth.
My favourite Monroe moment has to be her confected fury when a Tory MP used her work to show that you can eat well on a budget. “Sure, making this point may be the basis of my entire career, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be pointlessly angry if someone else says the same. After all, it’s what Twitter expects.”
Of course that cool half a million that she won in a libel case against Katie Hopkins should go some way to alleviating her poverty!@
Wikipedia says court awarded £24,000 damages plus costs.
Hokey cokes I stand corrected!! Wikipedia is font of all knowledgeable never inaccurate!!
Are we to understand that the source or your ‘cool half a million’ is more trustworthy than Wikipedia?
Are we to understand that the source or your ‘cool half a million’ is more trustworthy than Wikipedia?
Stop spoiling the vibe with your darn facts.
That’s still a lot of spaghetti hoops, especially if you shop at Aldi.
Hokey cokes I stand corrected!! Wikipedia is font of all knowledgeable never inaccurate!!
Stop spoiling the vibe with your darn facts.
That’s still a lot of spaghetti hoops, especially if you shop at Aldi.
Wikipedia says court awarded £24,000 damages plus costs.
Of course that cool half a million that she won in a libel case against Katie Hopkins should go some way to alleviating her poverty!@
Let them eat perfectly circular eggs!
Let them eat perfectly circular eggs!
My heart goes out to middle class incompetents.
Buy a copy of Cooking for Victory by Marguerite Patten.
Ask old people – Ask me!
Visit “Down the Lane” website.
“They pickle, salt, ferment, and store up for winter;”
Utterly straightforward.
During war brides tried to obtain parachutes to make their wedding dress. In the 1940s, most girls by the age of 14 years of age could make their dresses.
My favourite ‘cookery books’ are books by Elisabeth Luard about her times and travels with Nicholas Luard. Entertainment gold. There is a recipe every now and then.
During war brides tried to obtain parachutes to make their wedding dress. In the 1940s, most girls by the age of 14 years of age could make their dresses.
My favourite ‘cookery books’ are books by Elisabeth Luard about her times and travels with Nicholas Luard. Entertainment gold. There is a recipe every now and then.
My heart goes out to middle class incompetents.
Buy a copy of Cooking for Victory by Marguerite Patten.
Ask old people – Ask me!
Visit “Down the Lane” website.
“They pickle, salt, ferment, and store up for winter;”
Utterly straightforward.
No sign of the cost of living crisis in the coffee shops of my, somewhat down at heel, local town.
Or the nail bars!
Yes,packed here too,and everywhere I go, Bath,Glastonbury,Taunton.
Is it oop north. Only when I visited Rotherham last summer to see my friend was same there.
Or the nail bars!
Yes,packed here too,and everywhere I go, Bath,Glastonbury,Taunton.
Is it oop north. Only when I visited Rotherham last summer to see my friend was same there.
No sign of the cost of living crisis in the coffee shops of my, somewhat down at heel, local town.
Going to JD Wetherspoon and getting a pint of fine ale for £2.89 is God’s way of getting through dry January at an affordable price. I’m giving this advice at no charge. You’re welcome, Jack!
Surely Ruddles is still 99p there?
Except for viewers in Scotland, as the saying goes.
Visit to the Midlands last year revealed a very reasonable £1.49 for a pint of Ruddles in a ‘Spoon.
Except for viewers in Scotland, as the saying goes.
Visit to the Midlands last year revealed a very reasonable £1.49 for a pint of Ruddles in a ‘Spoon.
Surely Ruddles is still 99p there?
Going to JD Wetherspoon and getting a pint of fine ale for £2.89 is God’s way of getting through dry January at an affordable price. I’m giving this advice at no charge. You’re welcome, Jack!
This is seemingly a recent rehash of that timeless popular recipe, the deserving/undeserving poor – served up with briot to an adoring readership. Bon appetite!
It’s much more fun to be undeserving
It’s much more fun to be undeserving
This is seemingly a recent rehash of that timeless popular recipe, the deserving/undeserving poor – served up with briot to an adoring readership. Bon appetite!
One of my favorite British sitcoms was The Good Life about a middle-class couple who decide to turn their suburban home into a working farm to the horror of their next-door neighbors. I see another classic sitcom idea in Ms. Monroe’s story or at least a great Monty Python sketch. Alas, we have forgotten how to laugh and now take these inanities seriously.
That being said I think I will try that tuna can thing. I love perfectly round eggs.
The unstated joke in TGL was the trivial amount which their “smallholding” would actually have produced… the quite wonderful Penelope Keith at her peak, the gorgeous Felicity Kendall and their respective husband both absolutely “on point” made that series.
The unstated joke in TGL was the trivial amount which their “smallholding” would actually have produced… the quite wonderful Penelope Keith at her peak, the gorgeous Felicity Kendall and their respective husband both absolutely “on point” made that series.
One of my favorite British sitcoms was The Good Life about a middle-class couple who decide to turn their suburban home into a working farm to the horror of their next-door neighbors. I see another classic sitcom idea in Ms. Monroe’s story or at least a great Monty Python sketch. Alas, we have forgotten how to laugh and now take these inanities seriously.
That being said I think I will try that tuna can thing. I love perfectly round eggs.
Never have I once in my entire life considered I need to have circular fried eggs. Having read this article it seems ridiculous and superfluous.
Go to Macdonalds. They use them, so the eggs fit the buns.
Go to Macdonalds. They use them, so the eggs fit the buns.
Never have I once in my entire life considered I need to have circular fried eggs. Having read this article it seems ridiculous and superfluous.
Pick up as many egg rings as you like for nearly nothing in any charity shop. She’s found her niche and she’s no longer an impoverished single mum.
Pick up as many egg rings as you like for nearly nothing in any charity shop. She’s found her niche and she’s no longer an impoverished single mum.
Brilliant funny article.
Brilliant funny article.
I’m only vaguely aware of this character, but found some hilarious stuff about her on Twitter. This fake review made me laugh: https://twitter.com/stueymaco/status/1610959987378982914
I’m only vaguely aware of this character, but found some hilarious stuff about her on Twitter. This fake review made me laugh: https://twitter.com/stueymaco/status/1610959987378982914
What a ridiculous woman.
Her followers in the Guardian are even more ridiculous.
What a ridiculous woman.
Her followers in the Guardian are even more ridiculous.
It would be refreshing to find a column which didn’t bandy about the term ‘middle class’ in some vaguely pejorative fashion. but FWIW frugality has always been a ‘middle class’ virtue; where I grew up in the Midlands, areas of private housing were referred to as ‘bread and lard islands’, where upwardly mobile families supposedly lived on bread and lard so that they could buy their own properties.
Good for them.
Good for them.
It would be refreshing to find a column which didn’t bandy about the term ‘middle class’ in some vaguely pejorative fashion. but FWIW frugality has always been a ‘middle class’ virtue; where I grew up in the Midlands, areas of private housing were referred to as ‘bread and lard islands’, where upwardly mobile families supposedly lived on bread and lard so that they could buy their own properties.
Great analysis.
I’d think in the UK she might conjure up memories of the WW2 Wife on the Homefront, and their frugality really was impressive. I’m in the US and no one here dealt with any more poverty than the norm (which is terrible, of course): the loss, beyond that of losing your loved ones in battle, was in using ration books, a hardship more for the middle and upper class who couldn’t access robust black market networks.
The 21st feminist (or Mormon?) or otherwise off-grid homesteader is impressive, if for nothing else that a family on the frontier tends to teach their children some skills beyond fixating on a 2 x 6 inch screen, and a sense of wonderment and humility by requiring them to wait upon nature’s time, beauty, and cruelty, rather than digital time and virtual worlds.
But poverty? How insulting.
We’re still astonished here at the hate directed toward the very authentic Hillbilly Elegy, particularly by reporters and reviewers who thought it inconceivable that a Yale law student wouldn’t know the differences between types of white wine. That in itself says everything, about the class of reviewers. Many people coming out of long-term poverty have no idea about “reductions”–and if you’re from a non-urban small town in the US, at least until 1990 you wouldn’t have had a bagel or hummus or avocados. The upper middle southern gentry from which I came weren’t familiar with any of these chef-like foods, though they had to do a lot or work (or their servants did) to obtain items that easily come in cans now (try making creamed corn, for example…45 minutes vs 1 min from a can).
Sorry you’re getting grief about this article, but it comes with the territory–the closer you get to an unspoken truth, esp if you publish under your own name and face–the more you’ll get attacked. Thanks for your courage.
Great analysis.
I’d think in the UK she might conjure up memories of the WW2 Wife on the Homefront, and their frugality really was impressive. I’m in the US and no one here dealt with any more poverty than the norm (which is terrible, of course): the loss, beyond that of losing your loved ones in battle, was in using ration books, a hardship more for the middle and upper class who couldn’t access robust black market networks.
The 21st feminist (or Mormon?) or otherwise off-grid homesteader is impressive, if for nothing else that a family on the frontier tends to teach their children some skills beyond fixating on a 2 x 6 inch screen, and a sense of wonderment and humility by requiring them to wait upon nature’s time, beauty, and cruelty, rather than digital time and virtual worlds.
But poverty? How insulting.
We’re still astonished here at the hate directed toward the very authentic Hillbilly Elegy, particularly by reporters and reviewers who thought it inconceivable that a Yale law student wouldn’t know the differences between types of white wine. That in itself says everything, about the class of reviewers. Many people coming out of long-term poverty have no idea about “reductions”–and if you’re from a non-urban small town in the US, at least until 1990 you wouldn’t have had a bagel or hummus or avocados. The upper middle southern gentry from which I came weren’t familiar with any of these chef-like foods, though they had to do a lot or work (or their servants did) to obtain items that easily come in cans now (try making creamed corn, for example…45 minutes vs 1 min from a can).
Sorry you’re getting grief about this article, but it comes with the territory–the closer you get to an unspoken truth, esp if you publish under your own name and face–the more you’ll get attacked. Thanks for your courage.
Just how are these poor souls supposed to be able to afford to buy this life saving manual? The article appears to pay far too much attention to what my grandmother would have simply described as nonsense.
Just how are these poor souls supposed to be able to afford to buy this life saving manual? The article appears to pay far too much attention to what my grandmother would have simply described as nonsense.
I think this is somewhat nastily judgemental. I don’t care about Ms Monroe’s personal battles, although I am very impressed how she dragged herself up from difficult circumstances. But I think that our society is greatly enriched by her being there and thinking about such things, even if much of her output can easily be derided. Her campaign last year pointing out that inflation on basic foodstuffs was way, way higher than the RPI was so very important. I’m not a fan but I’m glad that she is here!
She has dragged herself up from her affluent middle-class upbringing and private education by lying to dimwitted Guardian readers.
Think she went to a grammar school.
Correct; where she achieved a grade D in GCSE home economics.
I expect she had a similar mindset to the young woman talking to her friend at the table next to me at an Uber cool cafe in my locality,it’s getting gentrified,them there Londoners is moving in,cool young creatives,probably all got you tube channels. They all give me dirty looks when I sit among them but then I an usually in my gardening gear with a bag of spades etc. But this young woman was telling her friend she was going to buy a van to live in,not get a job,and NEVER pay back her university loan. I could actually get her point of view not so dissimilar to mine but I thought it was very cheeky of her.
Correct; where she achieved a grade D in GCSE home economics.
I expect she had a similar mindset to the young woman talking to her friend at the table next to me at an Uber cool cafe in my locality,it’s getting gentrified,them there Londoners is moving in,cool young creatives,probably all got you tube channels. They all give me dirty looks when I sit among them but then I an usually in my gardening gear with a bag of spades etc. But this young woman was telling her friend she was going to buy a van to live in,not get a job,and NEVER pay back her university loan. I could actually get her point of view not so dissimilar to mine but I thought it was very cheeky of her.
Think she went to a grammar school.
I agree that this is judgemental, and absolutely agree that at times Munroe hits the nail on the head. However, at other times the hammer is clearly misdirected, so it doesn’t seem unreasonable to draw attention to this, and Stock is absolutely bang on about the ridiculousness of middle class misery porn aficionados for whom Munroe is clearly a centre fold.
To me, a major part of her problem is that she has never knowingly been able to leave a tickbox unchecked. Benefits claimant? Tick. Call centre worker? Tick. Cook? Tick. Author? Tick. Media personality? Tick. Media averse? Tick. Working class? Tick. Middle class? Tick. Labour? Tick. Green? Tick. Politically independent? Tick. Cisgender? Tick. Nonbinary? Tick. Genderqueer? Tick. Single mother? Tick. Arthritis? Tick. Alcoholic? Tick. Neurodiverse? Tick. ADHD? Tick. The list goes on …
Don’t get me wrong, I concede that at least some of these are valid, or at least have been at some point or other. But perhaps what she doesn’t realise is that with every new label she seizes upon, she dilutes what might once have made her refreshingly genuine until she is little more than a walking billboard for calculated reinvention. It smacks of desperation.
For me, the last straw was her claim that her newly-discovered autism was her ‘superpower’. As the parent of an autistic child for whom every day is a monstrous and usually overpowering struggle, I can’t begin to express how offensive I find this trite badge-wearing.
As a late diagnosed woman with Asperger’s syndrome and an adult son with it as well (he works with autistic children and young adults as a therapist) I am so tired of people claiming a crippling social disability as a “superpower “. What kind of superpower makes you the target of every bully in school, leaves you unable to figure out why almost everyone hates you, and makes it difficult to hold a job or make friends at any age? And this is high functioning autism with above average intellectual ability, which is not the norm, just the kind people like to affect as chic. Manipulating the public pretty much insures you’re not autistic and it is a direct insult to people dealing with the real thing. I completely agree with you.
I suppose it is possible Monroe might just be a vacillating, confused person caught up in the cra zy environment of Britain today and instinctively making the best of it. She is a single mother after all and has no one else to rely on except herself. I think I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and hope she’ll come through a wiser, steadier person as she matures.
That’s a thoughtful and generous reading. However, I think it’s worth pointing out that Monroe has been exercising her particular schtick in the public eye for almost as long as the Conservatives have been in power. I’d love to see a significant change in either, but I have long since run out of patience with both.
You might do some background reading and find out how she came to be a single mother…
That’s a thoughtful and generous reading. However, I think it’s worth pointing out that Monroe has been exercising her particular schtick in the public eye for almost as long as the Conservatives have been in power. I’d love to see a significant change in either, but I have long since run out of patience with both.
You might do some background reading and find out how she came to be a single mother…
I suppose it is possible Monroe might just be a vacillating, confused person caught up in the cra zy environment of Britain today and instinctively making the best of it. She is a single mother after all and has no one else to rely on except herself. I think I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and hope she’ll come through a wiser, steadier person as she matures.
So many checked points—- personality disordered. Author does a great job introducing humour. How else would we cope with bizarre times like this?
As a late diagnosed woman with Asperger’s syndrome and an adult son with it as well (he works with autistic children and young adults as a therapist) I am so tired of people claiming a crippling social disability as a “superpower “. What kind of superpower makes you the target of every bully in school, leaves you unable to figure out why almost everyone hates you, and makes it difficult to hold a job or make friends at any age? And this is high functioning autism with above average intellectual ability, which is not the norm, just the kind people like to affect as chic. Manipulating the public pretty much insures you’re not autistic and it is a direct insult to people dealing with the real thing. I completely agree with you.
So many checked points—- personality disordered. Author does a great job introducing humour. How else would we cope with bizarre times like this?
To me, a major part of her problem is that she has never knowingly been able to leave a tickbox unchecked. Benefits claimant? Tick. Call centre worker? Tick. Cook? Tick. Author? Tick. Media personality? Tick. Media averse? Tick. Working class? Tick. Middle class? Tick. Labour? Tick. Green? Tick. Politically independent? Tick. Cisgender? Tick. Nonbinary? Tick. Genderqueer? Tick. Single mother? Tick. Arthritis? Tick. Alcoholic? Tick. Neurodiverse? Tick. ADHD? Tick. The list goes on …
Don’t get me wrong, I concede that at least some of these are valid, or at least have been at some point or other. But perhaps what she doesn’t realise is that with every new label she seizes upon, she dilutes what might once have made her refreshingly genuine until she is little more than a walking billboard for calculated reinvention. It smacks of desperation.
For me, the last straw was her claim that her newly-discovered autism was her ‘superpower’. As the parent of an autistic child for whom every day is a monstrous and usually overpowering struggle, I can’t begin to express how offensive I find this trite badge-wearing.
I think it was excessively generous towards her. Have you read the AwfullyMolly stuff?
Maybe she should do a tour of America where the much vaunted cost effective,streamlined,efficient farming methods that British farmers were being urged to adopt since the end of WW2 don’t seem to be working any more. It’s almost as if the “free” market is actually under control but that couldn’t be. Basic foodstuffs in the USA cost at least two thirds more in US supermarkets than we pay in ours. From half a dozen eggs to a bag of flour,or of rice etc the cost in dollars does not equate to the cost in our money. It proves the bolshy French were right to keep hold of their inefficient family farms.
She has dragged herself up from her affluent middle-class upbringing and private education by lying to dimwitted Guardian readers.
I agree that this is judgemental, and absolutely agree that at times Munroe hits the nail on the head. However, at other times the hammer is clearly misdirected, so it doesn’t seem unreasonable to draw attention to this, and Stock is absolutely bang on about the ridiculousness of middle class misery porn aficionados for whom Munroe is clearly a centre fold.
I think it was excessively generous towards her. Have you read the AwfullyMolly stuff?
Maybe she should do a tour of America where the much vaunted cost effective,streamlined,efficient farming methods that British farmers were being urged to adopt since the end of WW2 don’t seem to be working any more. It’s almost as if the “free” market is actually under control but that couldn’t be. Basic foodstuffs in the USA cost at least two thirds more in US supermarkets than we pay in ours. From half a dozen eggs to a bag of flour,or of rice etc the cost in dollars does not equate to the cost in our money. It proves the bolshy French were right to keep hold of their inefficient family farms.
I think this is somewhat nastily judgemental. I don’t care about Ms Monroe’s personal battles, although I am very impressed how she dragged herself up from difficult circumstances. But I think that our society is greatly enriched by her being there and thinking about such things, even if much of her output can easily be derided. Her campaign last year pointing out that inflation on basic foodstuffs was way, way higher than the RPI was so very important. I’m not a fan but I’m glad that she is here!
Here’s another tip. Sell the energy-guzzling tumble-drier and cut out the open fire (carbon taxes are making coal unaffordable anyway). With the money saved, turn on the central heating and if needs be, put a few clothes over a radiator.
Do “poor” people HAVE tumble dryers. I’ve never had one. But I do go to Paris. Maybe if I stopped going to Paris I could have a tumble dryer.
Do “poor” people HAVE tumble dryers. I’ve never had one. But I do go to Paris. Maybe if I stopped going to Paris I could have a tumble dryer.
Here’s another tip. Sell the energy-guzzling tumble-drier and cut out the open fire (carbon taxes are making coal unaffordable anyway). With the money saved, turn on the central heating and if needs be, put a few clothes over a radiator.
Did she write the Viz helpful hints page?
Did she write the Viz helpful hints page?
I confess I had never heard of Jack Monroe. No big loss it would seem.
One question though, what does “lit” in “thrift lit” mean?
Literature.
Oh, I see. Thanks.
“Lit” is almost invariably dismissive
“Lit” is almost invariably dismissive
Oh, I see. Thanks.
Literature.
I confess I had never heard of Jack Monroe. No big loss it would seem.
One question though, what does “lit” in “thrift lit” mean?
I’ve heard of this Jack Munroe but never seen any of her online or published work as I don’t need to having been brought up with a make do and mend childhood and in adulthood never having embraced consumerism though I do buy things I need (if I can’t make them). I gather she makes sure to tick every fashionable box going. Did I hear on the radio that she has self -identified as trans or binary or non-binary or something,all these labels are meaningless anyway.
This is the new thing though and it annoys me. Attractive,successful, obviously intelligent and socially acceptable people claiming (not the subject here) to have (serious) mental health issues and now the smiley celebs are doing the “frugality” thing. Maybe the idea is I’m only so rich because I repurpose instead of discard,if you did too,you’d be rich like me. Of course being extremely attractive and even sexy but insisting you have,or have survived mental health issues makes your current success look even more fabulous,like millionaires who claim that being autistic and dyslexic was the key to their (thinking out of the box) success. It’s almost as bad as the attractive,personable guys on YouTube who do posts about “I’m so lonely,I’ve got no friends,the women in my life do a runner as soon as they realize I’m nutso,no on talks to me and my parents fucked up my psyche in childhood,you will sign up to my Patreon won’t you”.
I’ve heard of this Jack Munroe but never seen any of her online or published work as I don’t need to having been brought up with a make do and mend childhood and in adulthood never having embraced consumerism though I do buy things I need (if I can’t make them). I gather she makes sure to tick every fashionable box going. Did I hear on the radio that she has self -identified as trans or binary or non-binary or something,all these labels are meaningless anyway.
This is the new thing though and it annoys me. Attractive,successful, obviously intelligent and socially acceptable people claiming (not the subject here) to have (serious) mental health issues and now the smiley celebs are doing the “frugality” thing. Maybe the idea is I’m only so rich because I repurpose instead of discard,if you did too,you’d be rich like me. Of course being extremely attractive and even sexy but insisting you have,or have survived mental health issues makes your current success look even more fabulous,like millionaires who claim that being autistic and dyslexic was the key to their (thinking out of the box) success. It’s almost as bad as the attractive,personable guys on YouTube who do posts about “I’m so lonely,I’ve got no friends,the women in my life do a runner as soon as they realize I’m nutso,no on talks to me and my parents fucked up my psyche in childhood,you will sign up to my Patreon won’t you”.
Who would want a house in Southend? Heated or otherwise?… unless to burning down temperature!
Who would want a house in Southend? Heated or otherwise?… unless to burning down temperature!
Awfully Molly explains it well https://awfullymolly.com/2022/11/21/awfully-molly-am-i-the-troll/
Awfully Molly explains it well https://awfullymolly.com/2022/11/21/awfully-molly-am-i-the-troll/
Hopefully the metal dust will act as a buffer against anaemia.
Hopefully the metal dust will act as a buffer against anaemia.
I knew about JM when she first became well known and wrote about things she genuinely seemed to do because of poverty. If memory serves one account was making a soup out of stock cubes. I could see that because my mum brought up 6 of us on her own and sometimes food was a bit short and bread and jam figured prominently. But the spaghetti hoops ‘recipe’ is simply a farrago. For the same time and energy consumption you could make a fresh lentil and vegetable soup to serve four and it would cost about the same as 4 tins of hoops. I have never net a single human who throught perfectly circular eggs was the key to happiness and absolutley essential to a fulfilled life. I’ve met lots who would actually quite like an egg in the first place.
I knew about JM when she first became well known and wrote about things she genuinely seemed to do because of poverty. If memory serves one account was making a soup out of stock cubes. I could see that because my mum brought up 6 of us on her own and sometimes food was a bit short and bread and jam figured prominently. But the spaghetti hoops ‘recipe’ is simply a farrago. For the same time and energy consumption you could make a fresh lentil and vegetable soup to serve four and it would cost about the same as 4 tins of hoops. I have never net a single human who throught perfectly circular eggs was the key to happiness and absolutley essential to a fulfilled life. I’ve met lots who would actually quite like an egg in the first place.
Hilarious article, thank you!
You have exactly nailed Jack Monroe’s faux working class poverty. Her output is an exemplar of ThriftLit for the woke.
Hilarious article, thank you!
You have exactly nailed Jack Monroe’s faux working class poverty. Her output is an exemplar of ThriftLit for the woke.
I’m not sure if you’re aware Kathleen, but Jack is a fraud who is taking money off of people under false pretenses in a kind of “poverty porn” that fleeces the kind hearted.
An indepth investigation of her false claims are detailed here:
https://awfullymolly.com/2022/11/04/jack-monroe/
I’m not sure if you’re aware Kathleen, but Jack is a fraud who is taking money off of people under false pretenses in a kind of “poverty porn” that fleeces the kind hearted.
An indepth investigation of her false claims are detailed here:
https://awfullymolly.com/2022/11/04/jack-monroe/
The knife as can opener is real – done it myself when hoboing & seen ppl in squats do it when the £1 for a can opener went into the drug fund together with all the other £s. The other hacks are nonsense though and like something out of a Southpark episode. In UK you can still feed 4 on fresh or frozen veg, pulses and breads for about £40 pw inc. spices/flavourings. Add £5 pw for gas on a 2 ring hob. BUT no tins, processed stuff, dairy or meat and you’ve got to like Indian food otherwise its pease pudding nearly every day. Sadly Monroe from what i have read tends to use the supermarket stuff which leads the needy towards not away from poor food. A couple of classics anecdotes on the theme: i gave an acquaintance – also a UK expat in Spain a lift to the food bank. He gets the Paro and a odd days labouring for cash. He got a bag full of tins of aspargus and alubias and whinged about the age, choice and quality of the gifts. He then bought 2 litres of Don Simon red wine and cheered up considerably. A week later in a local supermarket i met 4 Portuguese labourers come to work in the blanqueo greenhouses picking tomatos. They had to work 2 weeks inhand before first pay and slept in their car. 8kg frozen peas, 10 kg brown harina flour, chillis, salt and the cheapest 2L maize oil. Total about 20é they were confident they could get a week out of that, pea fritters for breakfast and dinner everyday. They were happy just to be working.
Don Simon? I recall that from less prosperous times. Don Corrosive as it was also known.
Don Simon? I recall that from less prosperous times. Don Corrosive as it was also known.
The knife as can opener is real – done it myself when hoboing & seen ppl in squats do it when the £1 for a can opener went into the drug fund together with all the other £s. The other hacks are nonsense though and like something out of a Southpark episode. In UK you can still feed 4 on fresh or frozen veg, pulses and breads for about £40 pw inc. spices/flavourings. Add £5 pw for gas on a 2 ring hob. BUT no tins, processed stuff, dairy or meat and you’ve got to like Indian food otherwise its pease pudding nearly every day. Sadly Monroe from what i have read tends to use the supermarket stuff which leads the needy towards not away from poor food. A couple of classics anecdotes on the theme: i gave an acquaintance – also a UK expat in Spain a lift to the food bank. He gets the Paro and a odd days labouring for cash. He got a bag full of tins of aspargus and alubias and whinged about the age, choice and quality of the gifts. He then bought 2 litres of Don Simon red wine and cheered up considerably. A week later in a local supermarket i met 4 Portuguese labourers come to work in the blanqueo greenhouses picking tomatos. They had to work 2 weeks inhand before first pay and slept in their car. 8kg frozen peas, 10 kg brown harina flour, chillis, salt and the cheapest 2L maize oil. Total about 20é they were confident they could get a week out of that, pea fritters for breakfast and dinner everyday. They were happy just to be working.
We should also include the energy cost of the servers and computers storing and up/downloading Ms Monroe’s advice and all the commentaries on it.
I rather doubt that anyone in the UK understands real poverty, frankly.
Thank you KS, for the laughs! Relatable on multiple levels.
As an erstwhile aspiring homemaker who quickly fell out of love with mommy blogs of all stripes, and the American myth of radical self reliance. And as an urban (non home schooling) mom of five, I have lost patience with my own ADHD delight in painfully, and messily (and even wastefully) repurposing what I have because I can’t be bothered to go to the store for the item I need and wait a day to accomplish the project I feel so suddenly inspired with. It’s not thrift. It’s just disorganization and sloth.
But I do still delight in being inventive, outside of the box, and resourceful. Apparently there’s a fine line between the two!
“Think Nigella-does-Asda. Descriptions of unctuous smatterings and glossy meldings are one thing when enthusing about béarnaise or Sachertorte, but they take on another register altogether when the subject matter is Sainsbury’s Baked Beans or Instant Mash.“
There are eight things referenced in this short excerpt and I don’t know what a single one of them is. If you’re going to criticize Jack for being out of touch maybe write in a way that regular people can understand.
“Think Nigella-does-Asda. Descriptions of unctuous smatterings and glossy meldings are one thing when enthusing about béarnaise or Sachertorte, but they take on another register altogether when the subject matter is Sainsbury’s Baked Beans or Instant Mash.“
There are eight things referenced in this short excerpt and I don’t know what a single one of them is. If you’re going to criticize Jack for being out of touch maybe write in a way that regular people can understand.