Sorry, but Lady Jenkin said that one of the reasons the poor are going hungry is that they can't

cook and instead spend their money on crappy, overpriced, processed food and ready meals.

Cue outrage.

But...ermmm...she's absolutely, 100% spot on, isn't she?

She's also on the committee that refused the new catering arrangements for the lords as it endangered their 260,000 champagne budget.

There are constant functions taking place in the House of Lords to encourage and support UK business and industry - I've been to several and so, I imagine, have you. Of course they need a f**king Champagne budget. Let's not be so childish.

cheaply these firms can prepare food at hideously low prices and with the minimum effort required.
On the odd occasion that I can't be arsed to cook and have nipped out for a microwave dinner, I've often thought how much it would cost to buy the raw components and do it myself.
On cost alone, it's a total no brainer :shrug:

And I'd probably also suggest that "the poor" are also going hungry as they're having benefits removed by JC staff, who are incidentally on bonuses to do so, wrongly in some cases.

The fact remains it's a monumentally silly and electorally unhelpful thing to say which only goes to reinforce the pretty valid impression people already have that the tories are happier seeing people starve than compromise on the quality of their sparkling grape beverages.

ingredients - mechanically-recovered meat, skin, fat, connective tissue etc - and using cheap additives (sugar, salt, flavour enhancers, thickening agents, rusk) to bulk the thing out and make it taste acceptable. In terms of health and nutrition, they're appalling value.

A simple inability to do so or unable to cope with the costs of running certain utilities?

Any person can cook to a degree.

Take a look at these.. 89p for a variety of prepared meals ?

http://groceries.iceland.co.uk/frozen-meals-for-one

There's more issues here than just knowing how to cook.

the point about the poor not knowing how to cook.

I'd imagine that went down about as well as the porridge.

Very little of that is stew. It's mostly cheap carbohydrate.