A desperate single mum has told of her struggles to feed her family as the cost of living crisis deepens across the UK.
Mum of two Kelly Thompson says she has shedded two-stone as she survives on just one meal a day.
In a heartbreaking last resort to put dinner on the table, she was even forced to take her 11-year-old daughter's birthday present to Cash Converters to get money for food.
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Kelly, 43, admits to not “knowing what to do anymore” as shock figures show inflation has soared to a 30-year-high of seven per cent - leaving families struggling to make ends meet.
Signed off from her job as a cleaner, Kelly has been trying to get by on £40 since getting long Covid in December 2020.
Universal Credit covers her £1,300 monthly rental and other costs leaving her with a paltry £160-a-month to live on.
Kelly used to spend £12 a week on electricity, reports Wales Online but after recent energy cost rises, she uses that much in four days. She can't bear to look at her gas metre and dreads the bill coming in because she won't be able to pay it.
This comes as the official inflation rate reached seven per cent last month amid a record increase in the cost of living.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the latest rise in the consumer prices index was the fastest in three decades.
Kelly, from Slough, Berkshire, who also has a 14-year-old son said: "The cost of living is crazy now and I don't know what I'm going to do. We have nothing. I honestly feel I'm going to have to resort to begging.
"We're hungry all the time and my clothes are falling off me. I can't afford to buy any more. We can't afford a social life or even to put music on or watch TV, and our mental health is really suffering. We just go for walks and play board games."
Kelly said she and her children endured four-day stretches without power last winter - before the price rise. She used candles and they all cuddled up in bed together at night to keep warm - with the family relying on neighbours to heat up food.
"I was wearing a vest, long-sleeve top, a hoodie and dressing gown, with tights and leggings under my jeans", Kelly said. "We had tights under our pyjamas."
In desperation Kelly said she took the family TV and her daughter's smart TV she was given for her birthday to Cash Converters to buy some food. The mum is used to living on a budget, and tops up from the food bank but says she now can't afford to feed the family.
Kelly said they haven't had any new clothes since January 2021, Alfie's school trousers are very short, and their shirts are old and stained. She also stated she's lost two stone since January 2021, and her size 12 clothes look three sizes too big for her.
Kelly, who said she’s lucky to get a meal a day, gives the kids breakfast, and they get lunch in school, but she says sharing an evening meal with them is the only time she can feed herself each day.
The thrifty mum also makes her own cleaning products from household items such as vinegar, lemon juice and bicarbonate of soda to keep costs down.
"I'm lucky if I get a meal a day," says Kelly. "I just get up each morning and get on with it because I have to, I do it for my kids.
"I'm so worried and I cry every day. I'm so frightened I'm going to lose my mind, and I used to be such a happy person. I'm worried for my health, I'm faint with hunger all the time. I've fought and fought and I just don't know what to do any more.
"I'm not asking for luxury, just to be able to pay the bills and eat. I worked for 25 years paying National Insurance, and my parents paid all their lives. I just don't know what's happening in England any more.
"Boris and the government need to step in and help us - they hand out billions to others and we're starving, we're only just surviving now."
Distressed Kelly explained her £1,271 rent for her three-bed house takes her allowances over £2,000 so money is taken off her because of the benefit cap. Kelly also receives £325 standard allowance, and £520 child support, but after her rent is paid Kelly said she has £600 deducted because she claims child benefit of £35 a week, then £80 a month for two loans she took to buy a bed when they moved, and council tax she couldn't pay.
After all the deductions Kelly is left with £161 a month for utility bills, council tax, food and clothes, she said
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