Why should we donate to the food banks?

I find it really sad that we live in an age, that makes the Jetson's (remember them?) almost seem a reality. With hi-tech gadgets coming out of our ears and the ability to produce enough food to feed a galaxy, yet we have millions of people starving. I'm not even talking about the poor Ethiopian's, who with all the millions of pounds of aid that have been raised over the years, really should be sorted now don't you think? Is there just me finds that odd, since I was at school, in fact for as long as I can remember, we have been fund-raising to help 'feed the world', yet all that seems to have happened is more people are going hungry?

Talking of school, remember the Harvest festivals? The morning your mum would be frantically searching through the fridge, for any vegetables you hadn't used, that didn't resemble an old shoe. Pulling the emergency rations tins for the zombie apocalypse out of the back of the cupboard.

You would get to school and the hall would have magically transformed into some kind of Willy Wonka land-if Willy Wonka did vegetables. There was always a fancy bread loaf, that looked like someone had sculpted it into wheat. Amazing colours everywhere, fresh fruit and vegetables harvested from the land and not tipped out of a tin. I digress, it makes me sad to hear, that instead of us helping the dear elderly folk that live local to us, with all this fresh fruit and veg, we are now being asked to take tinned and dried goods for the food banks. We are now helping people just like us. Not elderly people that could use a boost, but people like you and me with families. How is this happening? How are people not affording to feed their families, when I have just done a weekly shop for £39 for 6 of us?

Are people really that skint? Are they uneducated in how to budget or cook? I really would love to know the answer and I am going to make it my mission to find out. By the way our first tea time recipe was good old bangers and mash. Easy, cheap and filling. 

Peel and chop potatoes into equal sized chunks boil for 20-25 minutes until soft

While they are boiling grill your sausages until they are cooked-I like mine overdone

With some scissors snip the outer leaves of a savoy cabbage very finely and the same with 4 spring onions

5 minutes before the potatoes are ready place peas in a steamer basket above the potatoes to save electric

In a frying pan with a generous nob of butter or oil and lots of pepper fry the cabbage and spring onion

Drain the potatoes when soft and add a splash of milk and  nob of butter to the pan and mash

Stir in the cabbage and spring onion mix and serve topped with sausages, gravy and peas.

Tea so easy the kids made it

I have to start by admitting this doesn't look the most appetising dish granted. But it's so tasty and you can run wild with this one using up whatever vegetables you have left and turning them into a tasty  treat that the kids can get involved in making. Letting the little ones help is the best thing you can do for them after all its one of the biggest skills they will need in life. So these tasty vegetable fritters are pretty much open to being played with as you see fit try adding spices or herbs anything you like.

Med. Potato grated
Onion sliced
Carrot cubed
Red pepper cubed
Spring onion sliced
2 med tomatoes skinned, deseeded and sliced
2 tbsp sweet corn
2 tbsp frozen peas
100g flour
2 eggs
Salt and pepper
Oil for frying

Put all the vegetables in a bowl
Add the eggs and flour and mix well and season
Heat a frying pan with some oil on a medium heat and preheat oven to 180
Fry a tablespoon of the mix for two mins each side until golden and finish off in the oven for 10 mins.