Hiya,
So today I thought I would share my thoughts and personal experience/opinion on the current situation regarding free school meals. As someone who has been on free school meals previously and benefited greatly from the scheme, I understand the help it brings to families on tight incomes. However as an Economics student, I can appreciate the limited funds the government currently has.
I first started free school meals when I joined secondary school, and benefited from a reduced cost bus pass and had £2.00 given by the government each day to spend on a school meal which was enough to buy a main meal such as a curry or roast dinner. This scheme really helped my family and I as without this scheme we would have struggled for us all to have eaten a hot meal each day. I had to stop eating free school meals at the beginning of year 11 when I realised my severe intolerance to gluten. At my school there was no gluten free alternatives so I would usually have leftover dinner from the previous night (such as soup in a flask with rice cakes - as a cheaper alternative to gluten free bread).
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| Macaroni Cheese - A meal idea for bulk buying and batch cooking |
Now, I don't like talking about stereotypes but I am aware some will say that we wouldn't need free school meals if we bought food smarter or didn't spend money on luxuries and alcohol.
Well.... I can only speak from my families position but my mum is a single parent and rarely drinks. Also we are very careful with spending money and we buy foods such as potatoes, rice and pasta which by bulk buying, batch cooking and freezing portions for another day is very important to keep food costs low.
As a family we rarely spend on takeaways or 'high end food'. If we did have a takeaway it would be from my work (the local Chinese takeaway) where I was allowed 2 free dishes a night on top of my wage.
I think it is important to appreciate how although money can be very tight there are ways to be cost effective but this is by no means defending the voting decision! I can understand the importance of free school meals and as someone who is in a better position compared to some, I believe free school meals should be available to those that need it.
However I get how as a country we have very limited funds but maybe the £522 million spent so far on the 'eat out to help out scheme' should have been used to help feed the poorest in society. As an economist, through further reading, most of the government money borrowed is from the Bank Of England which means the government has not had to borrow from the private sector or abroad so 'we aren't really running out of cash'!
I have linked below some interesting articles if you want to do some further reading and if anyone has any questions feel free to message me on Instagram @the.glutenfreediet. I will be happy to help or be an ear to help you share your experiences, as I understand the stigma behind free school meals as beside my family you are the first to know about my financial situation.
Another personal experience of someone who relied on free school meals (Click here) - https://www.ft.com/content/128cd49d-caaf-4b8e-bba5-c62938a84b58
An economic view on free school meals (Click here) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54635804
Marcus Rashford's Involvement (Click here) - https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12117109/marcus-rashford-petition-to-expand-access-to-free-school-meals-during-school-holidays-passes-one-million-signatures
Much Love
x
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