Pay As You Feel Cafe

[uncle mick]

Situated in Chapel Lane Armley, a good concept in my opinion. A 5 minute video herehttp://tinyurl.com/npk7utm

[Leodian]

It's an interesting thing and well done to him for doing it. I wonder though if it could lead to people becoming too reliant on the cheap food. I can also see problems if there is a food poisoning event that was confirmed to be related. I wonder what local food shops may think, as knowing there is cheap food may make people stop buying at those shops. The comment about the man who claimed to have fed his kids only on bread for 10 days did seem suspicious a claim, as if true there must surely be help available to make sure his kids do get regularly fed. The scheme does though highlight the sheer amount of food that is wasted.

[jonleeds]

Its a very complex issue, you see stuff on TV where these people who are on benefits or low incomes are relying on food banks yet they have 42" plasma screen TV's and the latest Iphones etc. However its not as simple as that, when you dig below the surface you discover the large TV / phone are bought from somewhere like Bright House for 10x their actual retail value and this cost is being deducted fortnightly from the persons benefits leaving them with little left to buy owt else. You keep hearing stuff about how the recession is over and the country / economy is recovering but it doesnt seem to be permeating down to the poorest people. I think many people are trapped in a vicious poverty cycle. A few years ago I used to run a woman who lived in my flats up to the Marks and Spencers food supermarket at Guiseley around midnight and she would get fantastic amounts of food that was disposed of by the store. There would be everything from fresh meat / fish, bread, fruit and veg, ready meals and frozen stuff - most of it still chilled or frozen plus fresh flowers, sweets, tinned goods etc. All of it was still plenty in date plus it was all bagged according to the section it came from so it wasnt mixed in with actual rubbish. This lady was dining on luxury foods for years and the few bits I had for running her up there were all fine. My cats certainly didnt turn their noses up at the wild salmon..! But given this was just one store and the amount of waste it generated when you multiply that up nationwide and consider all the other supermarkets it becomes a fantastic amount. Thats why a lot of these food banks exist because the supermarkets see them as an alternative to sending the items to landfill which ultimately costs them a lot of money. A friend of mine worked at the Fareshare food bank in Holbeck for a while and some of the stuff that came through the place beggared belief. Sometimes they would get vast quantities of toiletries that was declared as fit for landfill as the labels had been mis-printed..?