A single mum has told Belfast Live she struggles to put nutritious food on the table for her young child as costs continue to rise.
Full-time student Lori Armstrong said the challenge to balancing buying an affordable food basket with other rising household expenses on limited financial resources is a struggle.
The Dromara woman, 20, told Belfast Live while she tries to provide her two-year-old with nutritious meals, her strict budget means she often relies on frozen convenience foods.
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"Trying to keep up with the cost of electric and oil on top or public transport makes it extremely difficult to provide a nutritious meal for your child," she said.
"With costs going through the roof, it is hard seeing other parents providing healthy meals for their kids and it makes you feel down because you are not always going to be able to give that to your child.
"As prices have gone up, I have been relying more on frozen food and I am having to budget by writing everything down, planning my meals and resorting to social media to find cost saving tips."
Lori said she finds it is a constant trade-off between providing her daughter with a healthy diet and prioritising other household essentials such as heating and electricity.
"Sometimes, I would sacrifice our comfort by limiting heating our home to make sure she has everything she needs to thrive," she added.
This comes as a new report found that low income families in Northern Ireland are spending 45 per cent of their take-home salary on food.
The report which was commissioned by Safefood has revealed some families spend up to £169, almost half (45%) of their take-home income, on food, with families with teenage children paying an extra £40 per week on food than those with younger children.
Inflation, soaring energy costs and the increased price of food over the past few years have been attributed to the pressure placed on low-income households and subsequently a more pronounced nutritional inequality among the Northern Ireland population with grocery price inflation standing at 15 per cent, up from 13.8 per cent in January.
The What is the cost of a healthy food basket in Northern Ireland? report found that a two-parent household, who rely on benefits, with two children in primary and secondary school, their weekly food shop is £169 or 45 per cent of their income.
This represents an increase of 4.3 per cent in their total food basket costs since the research was last conducted in 2020.
A food basket for a single pensioner living on their own has increased by 4.9% in the same period and costs them £64 per week, which is 29% of their income.
FSA Director for Northern Ireland, Andy Cole said: “Tight budgets make it more difficult for households on a low income to eat well, potentially leading to health inequalities.
"The 2022 Food Basket research adds to an evidence base aiming to shape Northern Ireland’s policies to address food need amongst the most vulnerable in our society.”
Dr Aileen McGloin, Director of Nutrition with Safefood added: “Average food prices are now at their highest since we started this series of research in 2014.
"We’re seeing a consistent pattern of households trying to balance buying an affordable food basket with other rising household expenses.
“With food shopping being the only flexible household spending, many families are being forced to choose cheaper and often nutritionally poor food items to keep food spending within their means and this is a really worrying trend.
“For all families with children, food is the largest household cost, and this has only been exacerbated by the rises we have seen in inflation in the past 12 months. Foods like meat, fruit, vegetables, dairy, bread, and cereals make up two-thirds of food costs for families and these foods have increased in price between 3 per cent and 7 per cent in the last two years.”
The contents of the food baskets in the Safefood survey were based on menus put together by the households themselves.
People selected an acceptable food basket in terms of taste and menu choices, while also meeting the social needs of a household, for example hosting visitors or special occasions like birthdays.
The food baskets were reviewed by nutritionists to ensure they met the nutritional guidelines and then price-checked accordingly.
How are you coping? Are you facing the choice of eat or heat? Let us know in the comments below
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