Gap-filling exercise: cost of living

Close to a third of single parents have resorted to skipping meals to make ends meet because of rising food costs, according to research revealing the household types worst hit by the cost of living crisis.

Three in 10 single parent households surveyed said they had missed meals as a consequence of runaway food prices. That compared with one in seven parents in couples and an overall figure of 14% in the poll by the consumer group Which?

“Our research has found that families across the UK are struggling with the rising cost of living, with single parents most likely to be skipping meals or turning to food banks to make ends meet,” said Rocio Concha, its director of policy and advocacy.

Which? wants supermarkets to ensure prices are easy to compare and that budget food ranges are widely available.

The most recent official data showed food price inflation hit 16.4% in October – its highest level since 1977 – because of big increases in the cost of staples such as milk, butter, cheese, pasta and eggs.

Which? said households experienced different rates of inflation, with single parents and pensioners badly hit because they spend a greater proportion – 30% – of their budget on food, energy and fuel. For couples with children this drops to about a quarter. However, all households are spending significantly more of their income on essentials than they did a year ago.

In another worrying sign, almost a fifth of single parent households and one in seven couples with children said they had missed a vital bill payment, such as their mortgage or rent, in September and October. On average, the missed payment rate was 8%.

• resorted to: you could also say ‘have started skipping meals’, or ‘have had to skip meals’, ‘have been forced to skip meals’
• skipping meals: you could also say ‘missing’
• to make ends meet: something else that would fit here is ‘to save money’ or ‘to make savings’
• rising food prices: there are lots of options for this: skyrocketing, spiralling, ever-increasing, escalating, soaring or just ‘high’. And of course, you can use ‘runaway’ food costs, which comes up a few lines down, or ‘out of control’.
• worst hit: could also be ‘worst affected’
• struggling: the preposition ‘with’ doesn’t leave you many options. You could try ‘grappling with’ or ‘having problems with’.
• turning to: you could use ‘resorting to’ or ‘using’, ‘making use of’, or ‘relying on’.
• widely available: there aren’t many adverbs that collocate well with ‘available’. The best options are ‘readily’ or ‘easily’ (according to the dictionary, but I’m not keen on ‘easily available’).
• hit 16.4%: you could also say ‘reached’
• staples: also ‘basics’, ‘essentials’, or just ‘foods’
• badly hit: this is a bit like ‘widely available’. There aren’t many options, other than ‘hard hit’ and variants thereof, e.g. ‘particularly hard hit’
• proportion: also ‘percentage’ or ‘share’
• worrying sign: ‘bad’, ‘disturbing’, ‘ominous’. Nowadays people also use ‘concerning’. 
• missed: ‘skipped’, ‘failed to make’

• spiralling costs
• soaring fuel prices
• rising fuel prices
• fuel poverty
• to go without
• heat or eat
• to be sparing, frugal, thrifty
• to watch your spending
• to keep an eye on outgoings
• to make ends meet
• to tighten your belt
• to cut back on
• to cut down on
• spending on luxuries
• shopping habits
• wasteful
• to cope with
• to put food on the table
• to make savings
• non-essential spending
• discretionary spending
• necessities
• money-saving tips