Butter Vouchers

Cherry Blossom · 20-12-2020 11:04pm #1

So in the 90’s for a summer in between two third level courses I signed on. After my parents income was means tested I got twenty something punts a week from social welfare. Thank dog for the butter vouchers though. A few pence off a tub of butter once a month or so. What was the point of them though? Why was butter so important to everyone’s diet that the government gave special money off vouchers for this product to the unemployed? Why not bread vouchers for example? When and why did these vouchers start and why did they stop? It seemed totally random to me as a young adult at the time. I was expected to live off 20 odd quid a week but at least I had plenty of butter.

Leg End Reject · 20-12-2020 11:06pm

The smart people got their 10 box of cigarettes on the cheap with them.

Cherry Blossom · 20-12-2020 11:08pm

My local shop wouldn’t accept them for smokes but would let you use them for other groceries.

20-12-2020 11:09pm

Leg End Reject wrote: »

The smart people got their 10 box of cigarettes on the cheap with them.

We used to swap butter vouchers for fags. Mad stuff. Thanks for invoking the memory !

Leg End Reject · 20-12-2020 11:09pm

Cherry Blossom wrote: »

My local shop wouldn’t accept them for smokes but would let you use them for other groceries.

You were unlucky!

dxhound2005 · 20-12-2020 11:11pm

I see somebody on eBay is asking for €800 for a book of "rare butter vouchers".

Cherry Blossom · 20-12-2020 11:12pm

Leg End Reject wrote: »

You were unlucky!

Na, I sold them to my mam for face value.

Leg End Reject · 20-12-2020 11:12pm

Wasn't there a cheese mountain at some stage too?

Bass Reeves · 20-12-2020 11:12pm

Leg End Reject wrote: »

You were unlucky!

Or unlucky if he still smokes

buried · 20-12-2020 11:13pm

Better Butter than Gun vouchers

Leg End Reject · 20-12-2020 11:13pm

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Or unlucky if he still smokes

There's always one!

dxhound2005 · 20-12-2020 11:14pm

They should have given out some extra education vouchers.

Leg End Reject · 20-12-2020 11:15pm

dxhound2005 wrote: »

They should have given out some extra education vouchers.

Not to worry, you can always return to education.

Dunfyy · 20-12-2020 11:18pm

I swapped mine for beer

Leg End Reject · 20-12-2020 11:19pm

Dunfyy wrote: »

I swapped mine for beer

We've got a professional here, the rest of us just got cheap fags!

buried · 20-12-2020 11:21pm

Do not underestimate the power of butter. You could buy the most meanest ingredients for food for the week. Add 25g of butter to each meal and the whole thing becomes a feast the fatty Louis XIX wouldn't even be ale to handle.

Leg End Reject · 20-12-2020 11:25pm

Isn't it mad when you think about it though? At the time, I literally imagined a huge storage facility with a mountain of butter.

Did EU quotas solve this, or did we buy our way out of it with reduced fags, booze and groceries?

Answers on a postcard please to PO Box ...

Cherry Blossom · 20-12-2020 11:32pm

I’m not sure the butter vouchers were given out because of the butter mountain. Maybe it was because butter was considered one of the more expensive products at the time and it was an extra help to buy something you may otherwise have not been able to afford. At least that was the theory that you would actually spend it on butter.

Rrrrrr2 · 20-12-2020 11:38pm

There was a butter mountain from over production in the EU in the 80s/early 90s- to help reduce it they had that scheme of vouchers for the needy.
I remember my granny using them in that era- must have came with the pension!

smellyoldboot · 20-12-2020 11:42pm

We had a return of sorts in the 00s when the government decided to give out industrial sized lumps of cheese to the masses. Just as well we're for the most part lactose tolerant as a people.

smellyoldboot · 20-12-2020 11:44pm

Also reminds me of my all time favourite "Hardy Bucks" line: "Face on ya like an oul butter voucher"

Leg End Reject · 20-12-2020 11:46pm

smellyoldboot wrote: »

We had a return of sorts in the 00s when the government decided to give out industrial sized lumps of cheese to the masses. Just as well we're for the most part lactose tolerant as a people.

I know there was a cheese mountain!

Isn't it just as well we have a mild climate? All that rancid butter and cheese would put you off your cheap fags and booze.

Mmmmm, fags and booze.

Stovepipe · 21-12-2020 12:29am

You also got EU beef on the dole, along with the butter vouchers. I recall my then girlfriend showing me a pile of several kgs of beef given to her Mam and there was a frantic search for recipes on how to make different dishes out of it. Some of it was in very large pieces and had to be roasted for ages.

simongurnick · 21-12-2020 12:31am

A little shop in Galway used to take them as part payment for bottles of buckfast

Cherry Blossom · 21-12-2020 12:32am

I never got beef or cheese, just the butter vouchers.

Atlantic Dawn · 21-12-2020 2:53am

There was beef vouchers too that gave you beef in a can, looking back now it was like something that belonged in Russia or a Third World Country, did all EU countries get them for their poor or only the basket case countries at the time?

Surreptitious · 21-12-2020 2:56am

I can't remember any of this. I must have been one of the sad cnuts who had a job.

wexandproud · 21-12-2020 6:55am

Stovepipe wrote: »

You also got EU beef on the dole, along with the butter vouchers. I recall my then girlfriend showing me a pile of several kgs of beef given to her Mam and there was a frantic search for recipes on how to make different dishes out of it. Some of it was in very large pieces and had to be roasted for ages.

I worked in a factory that used to distribute the beef . The reason it took so long to roast was because it was meant for stewing . Used to come to us frozen and we'd cut it up using a band saw . The amount that was returned to us was unbelievable , too lean , too fat , to hard to cook , could you not dice it up for me , today doesn't suit i'd prefer to have it some other day. While some people were glad of it the amount of it wasted was criminal . Although the people in the factory didn't qualify for it , because there was so much being returned and wasted we all ended up with freezer's full of it .
Before that in the early 80's i worked in a wholesaler and publicans redeemed the vast majority of butter vouchers . Eventually the manager had to enforce the proper policy that they could only be redeemed against butter so the publicans had to start to buy butter and arrange with a shop to take it off them . This was a time when most pubs were not serving food and even if they were the vouchers were not accepted against ''catering'' packed butter .

Pawwed Rig · 21-12-2020 7:01am

Surreptitious wrote: »

I can't remember any of this. I must have been one of the sad cnuts who had a job.

My Dad was working too but I remember people arriving at the door handing out free butter from the EEC.

Aglomerado · 21-12-2020 8:50am

I was on the dole for a few months in 1998 and I used to get them. Never bought fags or drink with them though! (Damn!)

McGinniesta · 21-12-2020 10:21am

Leg End Reject wrote: »

The smart people got their 10 box of cigarettes on the cheap with them.

The really smart people didn't smoke and spent it on cans and pringles instead.

Stovepipe · 21-12-2020 12:39pm

wexandproud wrote: »

I worked in a factory that used to distribute the beef . The reason it took so long to roast was because it was meant for stewing . Used to come to us frozen and we'd cut it up using a band saw . The amount that was returned to us was unbelievable , too lean , too fat , to hard to cook , could you not dice it up for me , today doesn't suit i'd prefer to have it some other day. While some people were glad of it the amount of it wasted was criminal . Although the people in the factory didn't qualify for it , because there was so much being returned and wasted we all ended up with freezer's full of it .
Before that in the early 80's i worked in a wholesaler and publicans redeemed the vast majority of butter vouchers . Eventually the manager had to enforce the proper policy that they could only be redeemed against butter so the publicans had to start to buy butter and arrange with a shop to take it off them . This was a time when most pubs were not serving food and even if they were the vouchers were not accepted against ''catering'' packed butter .

It was called Intervention Beef, as it was bought from the farmers and stored in vast freezing centres (chilling plants) and the EU had millions of tons of it, due to over production. That also applied to wine, cheeses and olive oil as there were grants available to increase production and Europe soon had vast stocks of those products. Huge amounts of the stuff were dumped, as they couldnt all be stored or shipped out. There was a huge amount of scamming going on,with the Mafia profitting hugely with olive oil and wine production in Italy. The stuff was being given away to Eastern European countries for free and one of the scandals that emerged was that beef was given to the Russian Army and found to be rotten, as it had been improperly stored and had gone off,but someone had made a profit from it. Now,the average Russian conscript took a lot of abuse but this tipped the scales, so to speak and caused outrage in Russia and even made the news in the West,as the beef was found to be clearly marked with EU stamps.

endacl · 21-12-2020 12:41pm

dxhound2005 wrote: »

I see somebody on eBay is asking for €800 for a book of "rare butter vouchers".

Using the ‘pack of fags’ financial trading standard, that sounds about right these days.

theguzman · 21-12-2020 12:57pm

I'm not old enough to remember the Butter Vouchers but I remember my father getting a huge slab of intervention Cheese given to him by a friend working in a health care facility who got more that they could use. It was maybe 2-3kgs of pure Orange processed ****e with a single big EU sticker on it. It is one of my earliest EU memories and I remember thinking there was starving people who needed this, many years later on Brexit would I smile as the 4th Reich got a bloody nose.

endacl · 21-12-2020 1:49pm

:rolleyes:

Gregor Samsa · 21-12-2020 3:21pm

The Butter Vouchers were just to get rid of the Butter Mountain (the large oversupply of butter that existed because of EEC/EU Common Agricultural Policy at the time). It wasn't a case that anyone thought that people on low income particularly needed butter, it was more that there was a vast amount of it sitting in expensive storage that no-one had any use for, so they may as well give it away. There was a wine lake, cheese mountain and a milk lake too. Probably a chocolate forest.

Aglomerado · 21-12-2020 3:24pm

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

The Butter Vouchers were just to get rid of the Butter Mountain (the large oversupply of butter that existed because of EEC/EU Common Agricultural Policy at the time). It wasn't a case that anyone thought that people on low income particularly needed butter, it was more that there was a vast amount of it sitting in expensive storage that no-one had any use for, so they may as well give it away. There was a wine lake, cheese mountain and a milk lake too. Probably a chocolate forest.

Billy Connolly: "I think it's a f**king disgrace. They have a butter mountain and they won't let people slide down it."

:D

Surreptitious · 21-12-2020 3:28pm

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

My Dad was working too but I remember people arriving at the door handing out free butter from the EEC.

Now that I think of it, I think my Mam had them in the house even though same as you, my Dad was working. Long time ago though so memory is hazy.

Stovepipe · 21-12-2020 4:19pm

I recall seeing a large box of butter at a neighbour's house and it was literally a couple of cubic feet of butter. They had cut bits of and put it in the fridge and the small freezer section was crammed with it and they were giving butter away to any visitor.

dxhound2005 · 21-12-2020 4:52pm

Stovepipe wrote: »

I recall seeing a large box of butter at a neighbour's house and it was literally a couple of cubic feet of butter. They had cut bits of and put it in the fridge and the small freezer section was crammed with it and they were giving butter away to any visitor.

Did they get that in a shop?

Gregor Samsa · 21-12-2020 4:57pm

Stovepipe wrote: »

I recall seeing a large box of butter at a neighbour's house and it was literally a couple of cubic feet of butter. They had cut bits of and put it in the fridge and the small freezer section was crammed with it and they were giving butter away to any visitor.

Dairy pushers. Common in rural Ireland in the 80s. Start you off on butter, but the aim was to get you hooked on cream. Then everyone ended up on the synthetic margarine junk.

Stovepipe · 21-12-2020 5:22pm

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Did they get that in a shop?

They had gone to the shop with a handful of vouchers and were given a box instead of normal butter. It held about half it's capacity in butter when I saw it.

wexandproud · 21-12-2020 5:53pm

Stovepipe wrote: »

It was called Intervention Beef, as it was bought from the farmers and stored in vast freezing centres (chilling plants) and the EU had millions of tons of it, due to over production. That also applied to wine, cheeses and olive oil as there were grants available to increase production and Europe soon had vast stocks of those products. Huge amounts of the stuff were dumped, as they couldnt all be stored or shipped out. There was a huge amount of scamming going on,with the Mafia profitting hugely with olive oil and wine production in Italy. The stuff was being given away to Eastern European countries for free and one of the scandals that emerged was that beef was given to the Russian Army and found to be rotten, as it had been improperly stored and had gone off,but someone had made a profit from it. Now,the average Russian conscript took a lot of abuse but this tipped the scales, so to speak and caused outrage in Russia and even made the news in the West,as the beef was found to be clearly marked with EU stamps.

jaysus thats right had forgotten about the stuff to Russia . The beef here , although it was the cheaper cuts , there was nothing wrong with it and it kept many a family going in tougher times

bonzodog2 · 21-12-2020 7:30pm

I used to get the butter vouchers, we called them baccy vouchers due to the helpful fella in one of the local shops. There was a rumour in our village that the local priest, not liked by most, was in charge of the cheese and beef, and gave it away to the owner of of local B&B and deer farm. Maybe I've said too much? F*ck you anyway "Shameless O'D". We didn't see any of it.

L1011 · 21-12-2020 7:34pm

In late 2010 in to 2011 there was cheese, pasta and butter given out - there's occasional CAP induced surpluses and that's one major way to bring it down.

Vita nova · 21-12-2020 8:19pm

It would have been nice to get wine vouchers, I would have gladly played my part in reducing the wine lake.

Cherry Blossom · 21-12-2020 8:26pm

Vita nova wrote: »

It would have been nice to get wine vouchers, I would have gladly played my part in reducing the wine lake.

It would have been seen as socially irresponsible of the government to give out wine voucher though 😂

Gregor Samsa · 21-12-2020 9:07pm

Cherry Blossom wrote: »

It would have been seen as socially irresponsible of the government to give out wine voucher though ðŸ˜‚

During WWII, Russia gave troops 100ml of vodka a day as part of their rations. 22 hours after Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945, Russia ran out of vodka due to the celebrations. Talk about a national hangover.

The EU was not so flaithulach. The wine was converted into industrial alcohol, until vineyards were eventually paid to reduce the number of vines.

Neames · 21-12-2020 9:15pm

I signed on for 3 weeks in my life. It was the 90s.

Like the OP I got just over 20 quid. First week I signed on, picked up my money...and was asked did I not want the butter vouchers. No thanks you're grand.

Arrived home. Says the mother where's the butter vouchers. Says I didn't bother with them. Says she...tis the only thing you're handing up in this house. Back on the bike for a 3 mile cycle to the dole office to ask for the butter vouchers. Humiliation.

roy rodgers · 21-12-2020 9:19pm

Leg End Reject wrote: »

Wasn't there a cheese mountain at some stage too?

Your right. The e.c back in the day created a surplus of dairy on the European Market and rather give it to the starving children of Africa at the time they pushed us to use more amd now we have a obesity problem in the country ðŸ€£ðŸ€£

Stovepipe · 21-12-2020 9:34pm

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

During WWII, Russia gave troops 100ml of vodka a day as part of their rations. 22 hours after Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945, Russia ran out of vodka due to the celebrations. Talk about a national hangover.

The EU was not so flaithulach. The wine was converted into industrial alcohol, until vineyards were eventually paid to reduce the number of vines.

The vodka was vital to the Russian troops, at times even more so than bread or bullets.....didnt the industrial alcohol end up in the Perrier water?

Butter Vouchers

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