YouGov conducted an online survey which revealed that as many as one in seven adults live in homes where people have skipped meals, reduced meal sizes or gone hungry.
According to The BBC: Food has become more expensive as producers push their rising energy costs on to consumers. Prices are rising by 7% a year in the UK – the highest rate for 30 years. The Bank of England has warned inflation might reach 10% within months, as the rising prices of fuel and food put pressure on household budgets.
The Food Foundation also said that people had increasingly opted to take more cold food from food banks because of fears that cooking items would increase their energy costs.
The research by YouGov saw 10,674 adults surveyed online between April 22 and 29. It found the number of people struggling to buy food has risen by 57% in three months. Nearly 14% of survey respondents said they or someone in their household had eaten smaller meals or skipped meals because they were not able to afford it during the past month. This was up from 8.8% of the survey respondents in January. Anna Taylor, executive director of the Food Foundation said the situation is “rapidly turning from an economic crisis to a health crisis” which food banks should not “possibly be expected to solve”.
“The government needs to realise the boat is sinking for many families and it needs to be fixed. Bailing out with emergency food parcels is not going to work,” she added.
A government spokesman said: “We recognise the pressures on the cost of living and we are doing what we can to help, including spending £22bn across the next financial year to support people with energy bills and cut fuel duty.
I’ve noticed that my local supermarkets are not as busy at weekends. On Saturday, I asked the manager of one of the UK’s biggest chains if I was imagining it or if it really was a lot less busy than normal.
He said footfall was way down although he couldn’t put an exact number on it. He told me that it’s undoubtedly down to rising prices.
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