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
From Nursing Degree To Fostering And Food Support
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Three jobs alongside a full-time nursing degree sounds intense enough, but Michaela’s life keeps stacking up: a menagerie of pets, a move to a new area, and now becoming newly approved foster carers with their first placement. We talk about what it really takes to keep going when you’re doing the “right” things, yet the money still doesn’t work and you find yourself living week to week.
Michaela opens up about student finance only stretching so far, why she turned to delivery driving in the gig economy, and what it feels like to carry the weight of maxed-out credit cards and overdrafts just to get through training. We also dig into the nursing job landscape and the hidden costs of working, from travel to uniforms to the way life has to bend around work, not the other way round.
Then we shift to something hopeful: how The Bread and Butter Thing turns surplus food from supermarkets, farms, and factories into affordable food parcels that can genuinely cut a weekly shop in half. For Michaela, it’s not only about value for money, it’s about community: unloading the van, sharing a brew, making friends, and finding a place in local life that even leads to joining the parish council.
Welcome And What We Do
SPEAKER_02Hello and welcome back to A Slice of Bread and Butter, the podcast from the Bread and Butter Thing with me, Vic and Mark.
SPEAKER_00We run mobile food clubs that take surface food from supermarkets, farms and factories and get straight into communities where families are working hard to make ends meet.
SPEAKER_02But bread and butter has never just been about the bags, it's about the people. It's about neighbours having an atta, volunteers mucking in, families trying something new for tea and communities looking out for each other.
SPEAKER_00Exactly, and that's what keeps us at it. Bags full of good food, a brew and attack, and people looking out for each other. Nothing fancy, just the stuff that really matters.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and today we are talking to Michaela.
SPEAKER_00With blue. With blue.
Nursing, Fostering, And Finding Time
SPEAKER_01And then more recently, um in the past sort of month or so, we've just been approved foster carers and accepted our first foster placement. So things stepped up a level from the level of crazy that it was before to to now.
SPEAKER_00Wow, so nursing degree, fostering, and a ton of animals. How do you find time? For everything for you.
SPEAKER_01Well everyone says everyone gets the same 24 hours in a day. And I'm a firm believer of you make the most of it and you fit it in, and if it's something that you want to do, you'll make time for it. Okay. Sometimes that's easier said than done, absolutely. But I think it's important to remember who you are and do the things that you like to do as well, as long alongside all the other commitments that you have to do. So like when I was in the n when I was doing my nursing degree, I had to go to placements, I had to go to lectures, I had you know that was a full-time degree. But I also had to make time for myself around that and do things f for me in in order to pour from a from a full
Cost Of Living And Gig Work
SPEAKER_01cup.
SPEAKER_00How do the finances work when it's like that? Because you you know, they're not gonna pay you while you're studying to be a nurse.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well the finances just don't work. I mean, I was lucky enough to be eligible for student loan. Um I'm lucky enough to have a husband who works full-time, but due to the cost of living situation, we were going and doing shopping week in, week out, and we're living week to week, we can't get to paid weekly and we're living week to week, and it was it was difficult. Um student loans only go so far. Um and that's when we were sort of looking at ways to make the money that we did have go further. Like I say, I worked three jobs throughout the entire degree. I could maybe pick up a night shift in the hospital as a healthcare assistant. Okay. And then I did jobs like Chinese delivery driver on the weekends, like when I could, like I'd be a Chinese delivery driver for the for the local um training takeaway, and then I started doing Uber Eats delivery driving as well.
SPEAKER_00Do they pay? You know, the gig economy and all the rest of it.
SPEAKER_01I think it's if you p uh it it's difficult to say because I I am in sort of like forums and stuff for other Uber Each drivers, and what I could go out and make from sort of Thinford, which is like five minutes from here in two hours. Drivers at other parts of the country where it's too many drivers. There's too many drivers and not enough orders, mostly in like cities and busy areas, like they aren't making as much, so it's it's difficult for me to sort of see.
SPEAKER_00So you're almost like the only Uber Eats driver in town, sort of thing, so you're getting all the orders.
SPEAKER_01But I was having a great time, yeah. Like obviously it's little villages, and I know the little villages, some people like to stick to sort of Durham City Centre and that kind of thing, but obviously because I knew the villagers I knew where I was going and and I loved it. I loved the unseriousness of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I get it.
SPEAKER_01Like I say, I was picking up night shifts as a healthcare assistant, but then all of my time was so my days off were in hospital, sort of like, right, this is all very serious and all very intense.
Qualifying, Job Hunting, And Timing
SPEAKER_00So you've qualified now? Qualified. You got a job yet?
SPEAKER_01Haven't got into a job. Um the intensity of the course made us feel like I needed to take a little break. For three years working three jobs and doing a full-time degree was a lot. So I knew that when I qualified in January I was going to take a little hiatus um before I went into a job just to find the right one for me. As that happened, the fostering assessment has sort of gone through and finished off as well, so I said, Okay, well I can take the break, and then by the time I take a little break, I'll probably be we'll probably be looking at getting a placement. I don't think it's a wise decision to have a brand new job and try and settle in a placement of children at the same time. I don't know how that would go. Hopefully, in the not so distant future, the nursing role that's right for me and right for the family will will come up. But again, there's a bit of an issue around the nursing jobs at the moment. I know a lot of people that I've qualified with have struggled to to get a job.
SPEAKER_00What do your finances look like now then? So are they uh are they better? Because I know they pay you for foster care as well, don't they? Yeah. So is it enough to get you by?
SPEAKER_01It's definitely much better. Our financial plight now, um, in the past month than it has been for the past three years. I left a full-time job to pursue that. Um what were you doing? I was a nurse and assistant in dementia care home. Love working in dementia care. Um I like spending time with people who need it most. I think I find it's easier to spend time with people with dementia. My grandma has dementia, so I've got a sort of on a personal level I I can relate to when dealing with families because obviously a lot of it is looking after the the the the the resident or the individual, but a lot of it is working with families as well. I I really enjoyed that role. I kind of thought, well, why where do
Debt, Renting, And Future Plans
SPEAKER_01I go from here? It I think COVID made everybody made a lot of people rethink how quickly things can change. Yeah. Um so finances have been tricky for those three years, and yeah, but I've maxed out credit cards, maxed out overdraft, and maxed out pretty much every possible credit stream type thing just to get it through that. Now, obviously, in the past month we've we've had our first placement and that has eased off the pressure a lot, but we still have debts to pay. We I still have a lot of money to pay back to you know, credit cards and overdrafts and stuff like that. And it eventually we want to buy a house because we're private rent. So in order to do that, we're still looking at living within women's and hopefully saving a little
Discovering Affordable Food Parcels
SPEAKER_01bit as we go.
SPEAKER_00So, how do you find bread and butter?
SPEAKER_01Completely by fluke. Yeah. Just I was just scrolling Facebook, I was sat outside the Chinese that delivered for waiting for orders. Um I came across a post that contained a poster. And get Gary downstairs as well, everyone. Sorry, I've got to do it. They never normally bought like this, which is why they normally find out.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say, he Blue's got privileges, right? So you've kicked you've kicked your dogs out so that my dog can come back.
SPEAKER_01And they normally sit in the garden really happily, just enjoying the sunshines, but because he's in here they're like absolutely not. Um so sorry, it was comes by fluke. Um I thought that sounds that sounds good. I used other apps like Olio and um Too Good to Go quite frequently anyway. I thought that sounds good, so I um I signed up for it, and then every Monday it's on at the community centre, started heading down there, and just the amount, really, like the amount of food that was in the bags. If I had to go shopping after receiving what we received from the bread and butter, the bill was at least halved. There was somebody would look at what we got in the bread and butter and think, we don't even need to go shopping this week, this is fantastic. And to do all that on £8.50 is you couldn't buy half the things that you receive in those parcels for £8.50. So obviously the the the value for money is just second to none.
SPEAKER_00We often talk about how people meet the community, meet each other, find friends, etc.
SPEAKER_01We'd only recently moved here at the time. Um so it was me last year at uni, I was sort of there when I could be, but the guy would be there um and he'd get chatting to people, and there was a couple people I would talk to. But then I said, When I qualify, are you ever looking for volunteers? Because when I qualify, I'll be free on a Monday and I'd love to come down and help.
Volunteering And Building Community
SPEAKER_01That's when I really got into community and and making friends with people and and acquaintances and stuff. Because obviously you go down, you unload the van and you you you're packing it all up, and um I'm I can I do the the fridge side of things with um with one of the guys, Nick, who who sort of runs it.
SPEAKER_00I kind of knew you would somehow because you're the busy type and it's always the busy types on the van because it's the hardest bit.
SPEAKER_01Nick literally, like the first week I was there, he was like, fancy the van, and he must have sort of just eyeballed us and thought, yeah, we're getting there at the van. So I've been on the van since week one. Um I've never missed a week. I absolutely love it. I love the community, it's been really, really nice. We've got we've got friends in the village now, um, we've got people that I speak to daily. Other groups have sort of come from that as well, so I'm now part of like a litter-picking group for the village.
SPEAKER_00I've just joined the parish council off the back of the bread and butter as well, because I'm gonna say something really, really, really prejudiced about that now, and say you look too young to be a parish councillor.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, I am the youngest one, I'll be honest. Um, but that was based on conversations that were having and so obviously you you load all the bags and you get all the work done. And if it's time for a tea and a piece of cake before everybody starts coming in to get the parcels, then we'll sit down and we'll chat. And they were saying how they were looking for new people, and I said, You don't want to be on the parish council, um, I'll be a nightmare. Like, and then we're like, No, we're do. When from you know, being this new person that moved here, didn't know anyone, didn't know anything. I can't walk down the street onto the high street without seeing somebody I know, predominantly from the bread and butter thing, either a volunteer or somebody that uses the service.
Blue The Dog Steals The Scene
SPEAKER_02So Blue managed to kick out her dogs. Is this how did this work?
SPEAKER_00So Michaela is clearly, you could hear it from her caring profession and nursing profession, becoming a parish councillor and everything that she does. She's just one of those people that cares for everybody and everything. And the menagerie that she had, uh it was a relatively
Why Michaela’s Story Hits Hard
SPEAKER_00sunny day. It wasn't a dangerous sunny day, and I was leaving Blue in the car with the windows open. No, bring him in. And I you haven't seen him, you've not seen the site because she because she's got like a little dogs.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00And Blue's massive in comparison. Yeah, her three dogs probably made up his back leg in weight, sort of thing.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00So um we brought Blue in and then it took us half an hour to get everybody familiarised with each other. Uh and then uh Michaela took it upon herself to put her dogs in the back garden. Okay. They were miffed. He definitely got guest privileges. Yeah. And they were not happy about it.
SPEAKER_02But Blue was.
SPEAKER_00Oh, Blue is thrilled, yes. Great.
SPEAKER_02So Michaela, what a lady. Like she's got it all going on.
SPEAKER_00I don't know how or when she sleeps. I genuinely don't, you know, the fact that she'd done three years of education to become a nurse, and then she's fostering it at the same time, and then while she's studying, she'd be in a bloody Uber driver, it did make me giggle that that she was like the only driver in the area and she was making a a nice living out of it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I was listening to Michaela and I loved it because we say all the time our members are amazing people, and they're doing everything that life could want them to do, that every that society would expect, and still they're struggling to make ends meet. And it's like you just listen to Michaela and you just think, Oh my god, nobody could ask anyone to be doing more than her ever.
SPEAKER_00For me, in sports terms, she's like an Olympian marathon runner, right? Yeah, she's a gold medalist.
SPEAKER_02Just phenomenal.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And like, you know, they always say ask a busy person, don't they? But like, wow.
SPEAKER_00And there was a beautiful neon in her lounge window that just said, Welcome to the madhouse.
SPEAKER_02Love it. Love it. Yeah, we could do with one of those for bread and butter, really, couldn't we?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, true. But she went through debt and she was maxing out credit cards, etc., and she was recognising how lucky she was that her other half, Gary, worked if it wasn't for the two of them putting the wages together because they got the first income from the first fostering that it it had already made a difference to them. You could feel that they were coming through the end of a really tough time, but oh my god, they've worked for it.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. None of our members get anything easy, do they? No. Everybody's working hard for stuff. Michaela said quite a few times, like, I want to live within my means, looking at how much everything is and not overspending.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, she's clearly recognised that she's had to go into debt to get this education and the qualification and all the rest of it. What was interesting about it as well is how uh she had friends in the area that were struggling to get placements as nurses for wider conversations that she was having. It's like the next step for her potentially is travel to get a job as a nurse. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Working costs money, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like I don't think, you know, it always seems to get lost, those travel expenses and uniform and childcare around it and so.
SPEAKER_00And and as much as it has for decades been that you've got to bend around work to make work, it never just fits into your life, right? But it just feels that those asks of uh working now around a busy person's life just get more and more difficult, and you really gotta bend.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but you know, fair play to Michaela because uh she's doing it with bells on, right?
SPEAKER_00Two force.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, did she say she got a tortoise?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm guessing it was in the back with the dogs, but there was a fish tank in the room as well, which I'm not good with fish tanks, it sets the bladder off.
SPEAKER_02Really? Yeah, wow. Did not think we'd go there.
How To Find Us And Get Involved
SPEAKER_02So 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 Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, or online at breadandbutterthing.org.
SPEAKER_00And if you have any feedback or thoughts on the podcast or you want to come and have an atta, just drop us an email at podcast at breadandbutthing.org.
SPEAKER_02And we're 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 page of the website.
SPEAKER_00And please do all those things that podcasts ask you to do. Like us, subscribe to us, leave us a review, and share us with your friends or chat about us on the social.
SPEAKER_02See you next time.
SPEAKER_00See you next time.
