Parents ‘eating cold meals’ to save on UK energy costs
Parents facing soaring energy bills are cutting back on how much food they buy and eating cold meals to save on power as the cost of living crisis bites, a UK study has found.
A quarter of parents with at least one child under 18 have reduced the quantity of food they buy to ensure they can afford other household essentials including gas and electricity bills, which are due to rise from Saturday.
A YouGov poll commissioned by the National Energy Action and Food Foundation charities showed 28% of parents have also reduced the quality of food they were buying.
The survey of 4,280 adults found that more than one in 10 parents had eaten cold meals, or ones that did not require cooking, to save money on energy.
Household energy costs are to rise again from 1 October as soaring wholesale gas prices feed through into consumer bills.
Despite Liz Truss’s policy to freeze a typical household energy bill at £2,500 – which could cost the government more than £100bn to fund – many households will still struggle to afford the new tariffs as they are nearly double the £1,271 average bill a year ago.
This increase is equivalent to almost a third of the amount a very low-income household with two adults and two children spends on food over the course of a year.
The rise in costs meant the number of UK households in fuel poverty would have increased from 4.5m last October to 6.7m now, National Energy Action said.
Its study found 67% of parents were worried that increasing energy prices would mean they had less money to buy food. More than half were concerned about prospects for this winter and the impact on their family’s health.
Adam Scorer, the chief executive at National Energy Action, said: “People have had to choose between heating and
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