Joan Harris lives alone in Islington, north London. Her main inc is the state pension of £75.50 a week, of which she spe around £25 each week on food. Three or four days a week, Joan h lunch at the Peel centre, a local day centre close to her home. There, at a cost of £2, she can sit down with friends and have a hot three-co meal. "I do cook proper meals at home," she says, "but you often find that, once you have been here, you don't need to cook a me in the evening."
Like the other ladies at the club, she is proud that their mothers tau them to cook properly when they were young - "real food, we never bought anything in pac. Our mothers taught us, but just the girls. Our brothers never cooked at all."
A typical day would begin with a bo of Weetabix with milk, toast with margarine and jam and a cup of tea. Lunch at the club might be sausages and ch with peas, followed by fruit crumble. In the evening, as often as not, it is just a cup of tea and a sandwich.
Joan shops once a week at Sainsbury's, and much of her food is the supermarket's own br label. On Friday, she goes to the fish shop and on she has Sunday din at her son's, so she doesn't have to cook much at home.
She admits to a sweet tooth with chocolate be a particular favourite.