School meals: The mum trying to feed her children through half-term week

It's the start of half-term week, and Lucy is making pancakes for her two children for breakfast. But these are made with water, as she doesn't have any milk left. The eggs are from the chickens in her garden. And she is wondering what else she will feed her children until they go back to school.

Lucy Houghton, 36, usually relies on the free school meals her children are entitled to and had vouchers over summer to spend in a supermarket for their food. But now it's half-term, and MPs have voted against the vouchers being continued through the half-term and Christmas holidays.

"I know it's only a few pounds to some people - it's an expensive coffee and a muffin in London - but it can make the difference between my children eating or not," she says. "It's going to be tough this week."

She's speaking as Prime Minister Boris Johnson defends his refusal to extend free school meals for children in England over the half-term holiday, saying he was "very proud" of the government's support so far.

• Johnson refuses to move on school meal vouchers

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Lucy says it was "invaluable" to have vouchers over summer and simply be able to use them at a supermarket checkout, without anyone knowing about her situation.

Many restaurants and cafes across the UK have offered support to families who are eligible for free school meals, to help them over half-term.

But Lucy - who has sole parental responsibility for her two children - says: "It's all very well businesses offering free food, but I'm in a rural location and would need fuel to get there. And it's humiliating.

"I hate asking for help from anybody and I know I'm not alone in that."

Lucy uses eggs from their six chickens in pancakes - made with water if she has no milk. This hen, Fluffo Botto, also hatched two duck eggs so now has ducklings for company

She lives in Norfolk with her 11-year-old son, who is at private school on a bursary and currently on the second week of his half-term, and nine-year-old daughter.

Lucy is a university graduate and lived in a large house with three acres of land, before having to move hours away from her family and friends.

She is now on Universal Credit and - with it arriving at the start of the month, and half-term only coming at the end - she says: "October is a long month."

"What upsets me the most is the stereotyping of what it is to be a single mum nowadays and callous, derisory comments from people who supposedly represent society," she says. "If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.

"We don't have a TV. We have a second-hand sofa. I don't have my nails done, or anything like that," she says, adding that her children's school uniforms are second-hand. She makes clothes for them too, with one dress for her daughter made from a pillow case.

"My kids don't ask for anything, because they know they can't have it. Little people shouldn't have to live like that."

These foraged cherries were made into jam

Lucy says having a friendly gamekeeper nearby who gives them pigeons and rabbits he has shot to supplement their diet has been vital.

"I'm painfully aware that makes us lucky - there are other mummies who don't have that. Being in a rural area we have our apple tree as well," she says.

Lucy, a former research scientist who is hoping to find a teaching assistant job, says she has to count the cost of everything - even, in term times when she needs to drive the children to school, having to decide between putting petrol in the car or buying food.

This week, a typical meal will be the roast pigeon with foraged blackberries they had on Sunday night (she is aware, she adds, that "rural poor is different to urban poor" because of the foraging they can do), followed by apple and blackberry crumble. But there are times all they have is pasta.

"Pasta is very cheap, so I will buy a 4kg or 5kg bag and then it can be pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner," says Lucy.

"We have it with tuna and mayo and when that runs out, just with cheese. When there's no more cheese, it's plain pasta. This is our reality."

There are also times when she won't eat, so that her children have enough food.

'I don't sleep'

Lucy says she gets angry when she hears people discussing meal vouchers and saying that it's not their responsibility to help feed others' children.

"I never imagined I would be living in this situation," she says. "There must be thousands out there too who have lost their jobs in the pandemic and are now being penalised through no fault of their own."

Norfolk County Council said while there was support for families in need, there was no formal provision for those eligible for free school meals.

Norfolk County Council leader Andrew Proctor said: "Concerns have been raised locally and nationally about how we can support our residents and communities as the coronavirus pandemic continues.

"Throughout it all, Norfolk County Council has been providing targeted support for vulnerable people and families, either directly or with our partners.

"This was before we received the £1.015m allocated by the government as an emergency assistance grant for food and essential supplies.

"We have spent half of that and the rest is earmarked to provide support during Christmas and the remainder of this year.

"The money was never intended to be used for free school meals. The government provided separate funding for free school meal vouchers between March and mid-July. If the government reintroduced that scheme and provided sufficient funding, we would, of course, support its delivery."

And Lucy has her own firm views on the MPs who voted against the government paying to supply food vouchers more directly: "These people who took the vote have no idea what it's like to live with the constant worry.

"I don't sleep, because I am thinking about where the money is coming from.

"What I would give for them to swap with me for 24 hours and for them to see what our lives are like."