I'm already down to one bag per month and I expect prices to keep on rising. Cheese, butter and potatoes are all off my list now and I stopped buying washing powder about 2 years ago thanks to a handy gadget from Lakeland which has saved me a lot of money.
More than 13 million people live in poverty in the UK, suffering
food shortages on a scale not seen since wartime rationing
We are all feeling the pinch. Even the most basic things are starting to become luxuries and I'm thinking that I can't be the only one streamlining my shopping basket to such lengths. I am however now beginning to worry how the restricted diets many of us are being forced into are going to affect our health in years to come. Scrimping on fresh fruit, vegetables and a balanced diet is surely going to have long term effects?
Over the last few years my diet has become incredibly restricted. Most of the veg I consume has to be grown in the garden which means that for a large part of the year I don't have much variety. Supermarket prices are now too prohibitive as the price of peas demonstrates. I now have an intake of just five vegetables.
(source) |
Over the last few weeks I've noticed I am going to bed hungry more often and I skip at least a few meals a week. The food I am eating at home is becoming routine and uninteresting which often means I just can't be bothered with it. And I'm not the only one. This is becoming a regular pattern across the country for people in all wage brackets, in all classes.
A recent report by Save the Children
looked at 5,000 families with incomes
of up to £30,000 a year....to ensure their children get enough food to eat,
nearly two-thirds
of parents skip meals, go into debt, avoid paying
bills, and put off
replacing worn-out clothing
And there's more to come. As harvests fail due to the weather and we rely more and more on imported food (about 40%), it is estimated that the cost of the weekly shop will continue to rise
by about 4% a year until 2022.
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