What was yours....?
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40 posts
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- Earthmaiden
- Posts: 5297
- Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:58 am
- Location: Wiltshire
Re: What was yours....?
I have had one in relatively recent years. The pastry was exactly as remembered with the layers and as nice to eat. What tiny bit of meat there was wasn't great. I didn't feel compelled to buy another.
- herbidacious
- Posts: 4598
- Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:02 pm
Re: What was yours....?
I've never had one! There weren't many vegetarian ready made things around back in the mid '80s which is probably partly why I became interested in cooking. That and thrift and suddenly having a massively expanded horizon of food to explore after nearly two decades of meat and two veg!
- Stokey Sue
- Posts: 8629
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
- Location: Stoke Newington, London
Re: What was yours....?
I always hated Fray Bentos pies, yuck, I didn't mind the "stewed steak" which could be jazzed up
Our local food bank has asked people to stop donating them, as the local Morrison's often has them on offer, so they get quite a lot, but clients don't like them as they take so much cooking in a proper oven, which isn't always possible for food bank users -who may not even have an oven, and won't be able to afford to heat it just for a pie
Our local food bank has asked people to stop donating them, as the local Morrison's often has them on offer, so they get quite a lot, but clients don't like them as they take so much cooking in a proper oven, which isn't always possible for food bank users -who may not even have an oven, and won't be able to afford to heat it just for a pie
Re: What was yours....?
Yes, Sue, I read that that was a criticism of the government food boxes they were delivering during the first lockdown. They so often contained a pie like that, which would obviously then require the oven - not necessarily very helpful for some households.
Re: What was yours....?
Did I ever post a pic of my weekly foodbox? Gratefully received before they sorted out supermarket slots for vulnerable people but it didn't half contain some rubbish.
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- herbidacious
- Posts: 4598
- Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:02 pm
Re: What was yours....?
My mother was never offered one in the end. But wouldn't have been any use ot her anyway. (Unless she got tinned fruit too.) That's quite a lot of food.
- karadekoolaid
- Posts: 2581
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:40 pm
Re: What was yours....?
Fray Bentos pies?
Nah - but Marks & Sparks minced meat pies, yes. THEY were very good.
Nah - but Marks & Sparks minced meat pies, yes. THEY were very good.
- Badger's Mate
- Posts: 1489
- Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:07 pm
Re: What was yours....?
Mrs B is still waiting for her foodbox.
- Pepper Pig
- Posts: 4920
- Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:52 pm
- Location: North West London
Re: What was yours....?
Binky wrote:Did I ever post a pic of my weekly foodbox? Gratefully received before they sorted out supermarket slots for vulnerable people but it didn't half contain some rubbish.
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I’d jettison the Dolmio and the mushy peas because OH doesn’t like them but the rest is acceptable IMHO.
- Earthmaiden
- Posts: 5297
- Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:58 am
- Location: Wiltshire
Re: What was yours....?
I'm assuming that the goods were donated by kind individuals. It must be hard to make up anything like a balanced food parcel if you haven't got a very balanced assortment of donated goods in the first place. They've clearly tried hard and you could make meals from the contents even if not particularly nice ones. I always donate tinned meat (stewing steak etc) when I donate a few items to food banks. It would make a nice addition to that box (assuming the recipient wasn't vegetarian).
Re: What was yours....?
Earthmaiden, this wasn't a charitable donation from strangers, it was the Government national initiative to provide a weekly delivery of food, tea/coffee and toiletries to the extremely vulnerable. This was at a time when people were stripping supermarket shelves bare. So even if I could go out there wouldn't be much choice.
In our area the food partner was Brakes Brothers (the ones who supply pubs and hotels) and they were paid £25 per box. It was supposed to be nutritionally balanced and also offer variety. I'm not complaining, but it was tomato soup every week and the awful Ready Brek.
What happened eventually was that GP surgeries (or someone in the NHS) provided a list of names to all supermarkets. If you were on the list, you could get a delivery slot when others couldn't.
In our area the food partner was Brakes Brothers (the ones who supply pubs and hotels) and they were paid £25 per box. It was supposed to be nutritionally balanced and also offer variety. I'm not complaining, but it was tomato soup every week and the awful Ready Brek.
What happened eventually was that GP surgeries (or someone in the NHS) provided a list of names to all supermarkets. If you were on the list, you could get a delivery slot when others couldn't.
- herbidacious
- Posts: 4598
- Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:02 pm
Re: What was yours....?
It took quite a while for those delivery slots to come through. I had a very anxious 2 months trying to buy food for my mother from 200 mile away. Of course her carers and neighbours helped out in the end.
- Earthmaiden
- Posts: 5297
- Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:58 am
- Location: Wiltshire
Re: What was yours....?
Binky wrote:Earthmaiden, this wasn't a charitable donation from strangers, it was the Government national initiative .....
Yes, I remember now . I think that both tomato soup and Ready Brek are acceptable but to eke out a tin of hot dog sausages and a tin of baked beans as your protein source for an unknown period while isn't ideal. Thank goodness things changed.
Re: What was yours....?
I didn't get mine in the end either although I did get one from a local mosque. It must be very difficult to decide what to include but every one that I've seen seems to rely heavily on tomato based items which wouldn't be of any use to me as I loathe them in any shape or form! Plus, there doesn't seem to have been any consideration given as to whether or not the recipient follows any particular diet, either through choice, religion or medical need. In Binky's photo, there's very little that I'd eat (I don't eat red meat or pork as well as the dreaded tomatoes and as for the Ready Brek... ). It was a very well-intentioned initiative but very hard to administer well, I think.
- WWordsworth
- Posts: 2211
- Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 3:26 pm
- Location: North West Leicestershire
Re: What was yours....?
Looks like you've been contemplating this for some time Wordsworth
Blame it on lockdown!
- Badger's Mate
- Posts: 1489
- Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:07 pm
Re: What was yours....?
It took quite a while for those delivery slots to come through.
Indeed, I think people classified as Clinically Extremely Vulnerable were supposed to have been notified by the end of March. A significant number must have been missed off the original list, people who clearly (according to the Govt's criteria) should have been on it, such as (in Mrs B's case) some transplant recipients. A mate of mine undergoing chemo also missed out but through another person living in the same village with the same problem, found a dedicated helpline that Tesco ran for just this eventuality. We got on their list some time in April and we started to see priority slots. Eventually the NHS letter & text arrived in May, after which slots became available with other supermarkets. Presumably the local volunteer groups were working to the original list. We were fortunate in that we had some items in the house in any case, but a number of friends and neighbours ran errands for us in the first few weeks.
Re: What was yours....?
I don't think that the local volunteer groups would have been provided with lists of vulnerable people - data protection and all that. If they had, I'd be very annoyed to think that my health status had been shared without my permission.
- Badger's Mate
- Posts: 1489
- Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:07 pm
Re: What was yours....?
Whoever was delivering the food parcels must have had a list of people to deliver to.
- Pepper Pig
- Posts: 4920
- Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:52 pm
- Location: North West London
Re: What was yours....?
*whispers*. Ready Brek is my guilty secret.
- PatsyMFagan
- Posts: 2152
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Re: What was yours....?
Pepper Pig wrote:*whispers*. Ready Brek is my guilty secret.
When my Dad was still working, his breakfast every morning was made in a pint jug of a very milky Ready-Brek mix... When my daughter ever stayed there as a toddler, she had Ready-Brek too. She then said that MY porridge was too lumpy and not as nice as Nanny made .. it took us all some time before we realised that while mine was the real thing, the breakfast at Nanny's came out of a packet ..
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