When Shopping Becomes A Survival Skill

A weekly shop for less than a tenner sounds like a bargain, but the real story is what happens around the bags. We’re joined by Trina, who lives locally and volunteers every Friday at The Bread and Butter Thing. She shares how she first heard about the mobile food club after separating from her partner, and why packing bags with the team has become a highlight of her week, not just a “good deed”. We talk about dignity and belonging, including Trina’s moving memories of bringing her mum, who had dementia and used a wheelchair, to the hub. Being welcomed, included and truly seen turns a practical affordable food scheme into something deeper: a community that shows up, week after week. Along the way, we explore how surplus food diverted from landfill can ease food insecurity without the stigma people often attach to support. Then we get practical about the cost of living crisis: savvy cooking, freezing and batch prep, whoopsies and yellow sticker shopping, and the mental load of making a tight budget work. We also zoom out to youth opportunity, work experience, apprenticeships and simple first steps that can help young people build skills and purpose. If you care about community support, food waste, affordable groceries, and what it really takes to get by right now, you’ll find plenty to take from this one. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave us a review so more people can find the podcast.