A Slice of Bread and Butter
The voice of The Bread and Butter Thing - with stories from the frontline of the cost of living crisis from one of the UK's leading food charities.
A Slice of Bread and Butter
Tori Shows How Bread And Butter Builds Confidence Through Volunteering
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A cheap weekly shop can stretch your budget, but it can also change your life. We sit down with Tori, a member and volunteer at the Bread and Butter Thing hub in the North East, to talk about what it really looks like when surplus food reaches families who are stretched to the limit, and what happens when a warm welcome turns into belonging.
Tori shares the pressure of raising a disabled daughter while waiting for Universal Credit and Disability Living Allowance, and why the hardest part is often the “life admin”: complicated questions, gathering evidence, long waits, and the constant fear of getting one detail wrong. We also dig into the wider picture, from EHCP challenges to the lack of reliable, local wraparound support that helps people access the benefits and services they’re entitled to. If you’ve searched for affordable food schemes, UK food poverty support, or help with benefits forms, her story brings those keywords to life in a very real way.
We also talk about place and people: council housing, coastal communities near Hartlepool, neighbours who look out for each other, and the aftershocks of Covid and bereavement. Tori describes moving from anxiety and keeping herself to herself to volunteering at the hub, carrying bags to cars, helping on the van, and even calling bingo at the community café. It’s a reminder that surplus food redistribution is important, but community is what helps people rebuild confidence.
If you enjoy the conversation, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave us a review so more people can find the podcast. What part of Tori’s journey do you relate to most?
Hello and welcome back to a slice of bread and butter with me, Mark, and Vic, where from the Bread and Butter Thing.
SPEAKER_02We run a network of mobile food clubs that take surplus food from supermarkets, farms and factories. We take it straight into communities where families are struggling to get by.
SPEAKER_01And for less than a tenner, our members get bags packed with fruit, veg, fridge food and cupboard staples. It's a weekly shop that helps stretch the budget and take some of the pressure off.
SPEAKER_02Our members are at the heart of everything we do. They turn food into friendship and neighbours into community. And that's what makes us tick.
Meeting Tori At The Hub
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what she said. And today it's Tori.
SPEAKER_00My name's Tori. I'm from the north east of England. I am 39 years old and I have been going to bread and butter. I want to say about three years now. I do volunteering over at the bread and butter thing as well. I pack the bags and distribute them and carry them to people's cars.
SPEAKER_01Which one do you go to?
SPEAKER_00Pete Lee Eden Hill.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I enjoy us.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you look over the rugby pitch and you can see the coast, can't you?
SPEAKER_00Ah yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, nice. Yeah. I've been going for about three years. Um I have a disabled daughter as well, so I didn't have the benefits then. I'd just started on my UC, so I was waiting for DLA and everything to come through. So I was very tight on my money. And even the the lady said to us, she said, Have you not heard of the bread and butter thing? And I was like, No, I haven't. And she says, Oh well, if you go here and you you you sign up, you get a text, get the text, go over and you can get bags. Well, this was how long ago was you got your first ones free and then you paid$7.50 for your other ones.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I went over and the lasses over there already, oh they're they're lovely, they're absolutely lovely. And I was sat in the car one day waiting to pick bags up because I I don't really want to come back over home to go back over again.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I just waited in the car and she said it was oh come on, get yourself in, you can come and help house. And I was like, Oh, I don't know, I don't know, full of anxiety and things was no, I love us. I've made friends with people over there now, so uh they call me the strong one because I'm the one that carries all the heavy bags into people's cars.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say, because everybody's got a role, right? Everybody finds their space in bread and butter. So so so you're the heavy lifter, right?
SPEAKER_00I'm the heavy lifter, yeah. I'm the heavy lifter. I'm I'm the one that uh is on the van as well because of the a lot of them don't like the the motion of the of being on the van or anything. But it it doesn't bother me.
SPEAKER_01Some of the other places, geographically, uh they they talk about the van and they say we don't want to get it on the van because it's too cold. But it's not like that around, are you?
SPEAKER_00No We're used to the cold. It's been raining since 2025, hasn't it? We've been having that joke this morning. I've been volunteering now for about 18 months, I think. Packing the bags. Yeah, I I I do all of it. I do, it's it gets you out.
SPEAKER_01You didn't used to have universal credit and disability living in the landscape.
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So what w what did you do before that?
SPEAKER_00Struggle.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00I struggled, yeah. I struggled. Was it because you weren't eligible or something or no, because yeah, yeah, because um she's nine now, so she was she was diagnosed when she was six. It's quite a long process. The the forms take a long time to go in.
SPEAKER_01There's two things that we see as common threads. The the dog's lying behind me now telling me and sniffing my ear. Which is fine. Um we get two two things that are are wrong. Um the form itself, the questions are really complicated. And then the second one is digital, if people have got actually the digital skills to be able to actually fill in the form online as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Was it one of them, both of them, something else?
SPEAKER_00I've got quite good digital skills. I I grew up with computers and I grew up with the internet. Great. And my mum used to be an author, so I mean I I grew up, she was Did she? Oh yeah, she used to be an uh eBay trader and everything as well. Wow. Yeah. I've done a few digital courses with the Durham council over at the people centre where I am. So Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So you're digitally savvy then?
SPEAKER_00Uh I would like to say I was, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00The form I filled in, it was the paper copy. It was merely getting all uh the evidence together, and then I think I think it's a it's a 20 it was a 24-week wait for a new claim for DLA, so you had to wait a long time. You had to wait a long time. I d I did get it, and it was the I was anybody explain why it's 24 weeks? I think it's because the amount of people that's applying or I I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I'm sure there are more people claiming universal credit than DLA.
SPEAKER_00Ah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's not 24 weeks for un universal credit, is it?
SPEAKER_00No, no, no, no. Um They ask you for appointments. The school's very good with us. And they were the ones that actually noticed that there was 'cause me my daughter's got autisms. Um so it's been passing information on and then they'll probably ask the school for their input, doctors, paediatricians. I think that might be why it takes so long, but I'm not sure. I have had a renewal since then. Took about two weeks, something like that. So I I think it's a look of the draw, really. If whenever your phone lands on the desk for them to check it, I think. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So we're just outside I'd say just outside Hartley Pool.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh on the coast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01How would you describe this area?
SPEAKER_00This estate don't really get a lot of trouble. Further along where you have the collery, it's old miners houses, pit houses, and there's not there's not really much employment for people there. That's uh so it's it can be the further up you go, the worse it gets. So you've got Black Hall Collery, Hordon, Easenton.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And is this rented?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's rented, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Social rented, private rented council. Council. Not not a um housing association, council.
SPEAKER_00Am I with housing association? Okay, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01No, no, I was gonna say because that that that's a rarity as well, isn't it? Nowadays. Council. Okay, do you know your neighbours?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I love the neighbours, yeah. We all we all go along, we look after each other and yeah.
Grief After Covid And Finding Confidence
SPEAKER_01Nice. Tell me about what what's happened over the last, shall we say, five years since COVID. What's it been like for you guys?
SPEAKER_00I lost my mum in Corus and I lost my dad last year, and I think it's the whole Yeah, because I'm I'm at home a lot more. So I mean like I'm obviously eating a lot more at home, my energy, uh like electricity gas. I see a financial struggle on that one. Yeah, she's terrible, isn't she? And I used to be a real recluse. I didn't really want to go out anywhere or do anything, or but with the bread and butter things, it was merely well, I used to go over and then I didn't want to look at anyone, I didn't want to speak to anyone, I just wanted to get in and get out, and that was merely me that was me losing my mum first. Yeah. So it was it was tragic. I'm on the uh the spectrum as well. I find it very hard to maintain contact uh eye contact. Yeah, it's it's the eye contact.
SPEAKER_01Well you're doing brilliantly because you I because I didn't notice that at all.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. It is confidence as well, though. I mean, I do I do bingle calling, all eyes are on me. Wow, I do that now.
SPEAKER_01So it's not somebody that doesn't like being looked at.
SPEAKER_00I know, yeah. No, this this past year I I I just I feel like now it's just live your life. You you you don't know what's round the corner, you don't know what's round the corner.
SPEAKER_01So do you do you think your daughter getting diagnosed triggered something?
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh, yeah. She did struggle with her peers, she struggled being in the classroom, she struggles with certain subjects.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00She's in the classroom the full time. I mean, she's got her one-to-one support and everything. She's been in the same school the whole time, yeah. That's it. Brilliant, yeah.
SPEAKER_01How did the bingo calling come about? Again, somebody that doesn't like going out, that feels weird.
SPEAKER_00What happened? Well, because the the the bread and butter's on a Tuesday, and I would go over and say I would go over on a Tuesday and help out and come home. And then they do a community cafe on a Wednesday. One of the lasses was really, really busy one day, and though they were all wanting to play the bingo say. And I thought, oh, I'll I'll call it if you want to, and they were like, Are you sure? I was like, Yeah, yeah, of course. So I did. I do feel like I'll just get in the zone. I've I've got one of my friends stood next to us, but I I could I couldn't I couldn't do it by myself.
SPEAKER_01What kind of machine have you got? Is it is it a digital machine or is it still the old balls or?
SPEAKER_00You you you press it and it'll bring the number up for you.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00So then I'll shout the number, find it on my board, and then yeah.
SPEAKER_01And uh have you got all the lingo or no? They actually like No Legs 11, no two ducks and all the rest of it.
SPEAKER_00No, they like the wind I do because I just get um of us and I don't think they're just more interested in the pride if you just click on. I think that's what it is, Jan.
SPEAKER_01Okay, Vic, once again, difficulties getting benefits.
SPEAKER_02So hard, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Just so hard trying to get your EHCP and all the rest of it.
SPEAKER_02An EHCP, Mark, is a education, health, and care plan.
SPEAKER_01It's that thing again, Vic, of not going upstream.
SPEAKER_02You're right, and the government's also changing how they're gonna work, and that's come under a lot of uh challenge because the cynics, who may be right, feel that this would mean that less people are able to get an EHCP. Because there's a lot of funding attached to pupils that have one that they'd get an uplift from the government. It feels like there's some kind of economic juggling going on.
SPEAKER_01But I am not an expert in this area, so no, I I felt Tories pain with it because we we've been down this, and as you can imagine, it it does take it's a skill, right? Like it's back to what we used to call life admin because they are so difficult and so detailed and very, very long. And to get anywhere with this stuff, it's hard. We've had a few people on the pod talking about helping people fill out those forms or sense checking and all the rest of it. That is absolutely necessary. Healthy store vouchers, for example, Vic. Whenever I fill out a new passport form, I always go to the post office counter and and for a tenor you can get the check and send so that the administrator on the other side will will check all the details of it and approve it. Whereas Healthy Store, you get one chance, you fill it in yourself on your own, and if you didn't and if you get it wrong, you're screwed.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's very um one-sided, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, where where is that support and wraparound for people that need it to help get the benefits that they're entitled to?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think officially it's at Job Centre Plus.
SPEAKER_01I think I rolled my eyes last time you said that as well.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you did. There isn't an answer, is there? I mean, it's down to amazing people in the community and amazing services that we try and align with our hubs to bring those people together to kind of help people get that support, but it's not a universal offer, it's not the way of going about it. So you've got to be in the right place at the right time to find someone that can help you, know that you need the help. There's too many elements to that that cannot align. And then you just sat at home with your head in your hands at the kitchen table, going bloody hell. It's the 20th time I've filled out this 20-page form because I keep on making a mistake on page 13. Oh, and now I realize that I should have been doing it in black ink and I've not got a black pen, I've done it in blue. You know, it's that kind of stuff, and at that point you just think, sod it, can't be bothered going in the bin.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and yet Tori never did. And yeah, another two out of four was positive energy.
SPEAKER_02Amazing.
SPEAKER_01The the background noise, by the way, that you could hear that was like a banging was hitting the dog. Yeah.
Bingo Talk And The Hub Atmosphere
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I worked that out. What kind of dog though? This is the important bit.
SPEAKER_01It was either a lurcher or a greyhound. It was a skinny fast thing.
SPEAKER_02Great. I'm sure that the dog would love being described as that.
SPEAKER_01Although, you know, Blue travels everywhere with me. He he came up and Tori had to come out and say hello to him and take photos of him.
SPEAKER_02But the dogs didn't meet each other.
SPEAKER_01The dogs didn't meet each other, no, but Tori had to come out and have a a kiss and a cuddle with Blue, yeah.
SPEAKER_02That would be the next kind of podcast thing, wouldn't it? Where we introduce the pets as part of the bread and butter family.
SPEAKER_01Not for that.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'll leave it with you. There's your homework.
SPEAKER_01Going back to Tory again, though, look at that journey of somebody that went for the food and engaged at the hub, and the next thing you know, this anxious person that's struggling to get out of the house is calling bingo numbers.
SPEAKER_02Well, there's a bit in between which is get in out of the car and give us a hand because we need some help packing.
SPEAKER_01It's volunteer magic though.
SPEAKER_02And bingo well.
SPEAKER_01I take no credit for it, not neither the bingo nor getting her out of her shell. But Tori lent in because she clearly saw a bunch of community volunteers that were warm and welcoming and never looked back.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And it's nice for her to have something, you know, for her.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And that feels like that's her thing, which is lovely. So, um, how good are you at bingo then, Mark?
SPEAKER_01I'm rubbish at bingo. I'm impatient. So if they're not fast enough, the bingo caller, I'm one of those where it's just like, next, next. I I don't have the patience for it.
SPEAKER_02Sounds like Tori would be your ideal bingo caller. She's not bothered about the rhymes and stuff.
SPEAKER_01No, she didn't. One of the things that I I've come across recently that people have been trying to get me to, and I am so not going to is Disco Bingo.
SPEAKER_02I have to say, I've never played bingo ever. Although I was lucky, I don't know why I did it, but I looked on TripAdvisor for things to do on a rainy day near where I live, and it came up with two ridiculous things, and then the third one was go to the bingo. And I was like, wow, this is not saying good things about my hometown at all. But yeah, I've never been to the bingo ever.
SPEAKER_01Okay, well, I'm just gonna have to let the team know that you've never even heard of disco bingo and see if they can rub you in.
SPEAKER_02Well, I've heard of disco bingo because or there was a no, there's like a semi-rude bingo that some of the team went on years ago. I can't think what that's called.
SPEAKER_01Um I know what it's called, not for this podcast.
SPEAKER_02Well, second to karaoke, my idea of hell.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_02You love a karaoke.
How To Join And Stay Connected
SPEAKER_01I well, yeah, I do love a karaoke. I do, and we'll we'll just leave it at that. Okay. So if you'd like to know more about the bread and butter thing and what we get up to, you can find us at Team TBBT on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, on LinkedIn, or online at breadandbutterthing.org.
SPEAKER_02And if you've got any feedback or thoughts on the podcast, or you'd like to come and be our guest, drop us an email at podcast at breadandbutterthing.org.
SPEAKER_01And we are always open to new members at all of our hubs. If you or someone you know would benefit from our affordable food scheme, you can find your nearest hub on the Become a Member pages of the website.
SPEAKER_02And please do all those things that podcasts ask you to do. Like us, subscribe, leave us a review, share us with your friends, and chat about us on social.
SPEAKER_01And we'll see you next time.
SPEAKER_02See you next time.
