Councillors have been told the average Perth and Kinross household will see its annual budget stretched by around £3000 just for essentials.
A senior Perth and Kinross Council officer this week told a PKC committee many struggling families faced "an impossible hill to climb".
Free school meal applications have tripled and - "most worrying of all" - there has been a 262 per cent increase in the utilities debt caseload for Citizens Advice.