A Tory MP says the UK will only have a full economic crisis when Wetherspoons pubs are empty - and questioned whether food poverty exists.
In a blistering tirade to young Tories, Lee Anderson also set his sights on "do gooders" who run food banks and lashed out at parents whose kids go hungry.
The former Labour councillor criticised the UK's "generous" benefits system and doubled down on his claim that people to could cook meals from scratch for just 30p a day.
He also called on supporters to not pay their TV licence fees, and said those who want to buy a home should knuckle down and work seven days a week.
Mr Anderson - who famously boycotted England's Euro 2020 team after players took the knee before games - claimed that packed football stadiums and queues in pubs show that things aren't as bad as experts say.
The 55-year-old told the party conference in Birmingham: ""Go in any Wetherspoons, that's the barometer of how this country is doing, when Wetherspoons is empty we've got a big problem."
He then accused the media of fearmongering, telling the audience: "Whenever we put the TV on people are telling us how poor we are."
Last week JD Wetherspoon put 32 of its pubs up for sale, after previously warning that it could face loses of £30 million due to rising staff wages and repairs.
Mr Anderson defended controversial remarks he made in the House of Commons about food banks in May - when he claimed people could "cook meals from scratch" for "30p a day" instead.
He said: "I've got a big bee in my bonnet about food poverty. I'm a big believer that we do need food banks, but not to the degree we've got them.
"Every do gooder is starting these little projects to make themselves feel good."
He told the gathering he had worked with a local chef in his Ashfield constituency to make 172 meals after spending £50 in a supermarket.
"'30p Lee' they named me," he said. "That stuck but in a good sort of way, it got people talking about food poverty."
He claimed that young people are missing out on basic budgeting, telling the crowd: "If I got home economics bought back I'd be a very happy man."
Mr Anderson claimed that children go hungry due to the failings of their parents, telling young Conservatives: "I'll take no lectures from the left. How can we have food poverty when we've got an obesity crisis?"
The MP said: "We're in a world where the only input they have is having the children, as soon as they're born they're someone else's responsibility...
"Unfortunately we've got some parents who just don't look after their children, I'm not ashamed to say that."
He recounted stealing eggs from birds nests as a child, and recounted seeing one friend blowing the yolk out to eat it.
"When people bang on about kids being hungry, I've seen that poverty, I grew up around that poverty," Mr Anderson said.
"I saw my mum and dad struggle on a Sunday night, they'd put their money on the table, then they'd be skint for the week. That's real poverty."
He said that at the time he bought his first home in 1990 people would work 12 hour days, seven days a week and take on second jobs in order to get on the housing ladder.
"I'm sorry, but you can't have everything," the Tory MP said. "If you want that property there are certain sacrifices you have to make to get it."
In a wide-ranging speech, he also rallied against the BBC, telling his audience: "I don't watch the BBC, I've ripped my license up."
Urging others to do the same, he said: "When they come knocking on your door, send them off."
