A desperate dad says he sometimes goes three or four days without a meal so his young daughter doesn't go hungry.
David Lynch says he will always put the teenager first as the cost of living crisis deepens across Britain.
The 45-year-old, from Coventry, west Midlands, has spoken after it was revealed the debt level in the city has now tripled.
He talked to the BBC in an attempt to highlight the issue and says he can go days at a time without eating properly, CoventryLive reports.
Mr Lynch has been unemployed since being laid-off as a warehouse packer. He said his daughter, who stays with him on alternate weekends, is “the centre of his world”.
But the 45-year-old single dad, who has been forced to go to a food bank, said he struggled to afford the bills at his rented flat in the city.
He said: “I have gone three or four days without food.
“She thinks I am a hero because I try and make what I have got special.
"Sometimes I wonder whether to put electric on or gas on or do I pay for food?”
He called on government ministers to try living with people like him, working out how to pay bills “rather than just sit there in a suit and tie and pretend they know what it is like to live off benefits”.
The report also spoke to the boss of Coventry Citizens Advice, who painted an alarming picture of debt levels and the number of people struggling in the city.
Chief executive Kate Algate said the charity was supporting hundreds of families in the city and had seen an increase in demand for its help.
She added that given its finite resources, Citizens Advice could only see about a quarter of those seeking advice.
She said: “What we have seen in the last 12 months is that the amount of debt people have come to us with has tripled over [the period]."
A government spokesman told the BBC its £21 billion support package for energy costs included a £150 council tax rebate in April for most households and a £200 energy bill discount in October - which would have to be repaid over five years.
