‘Our food bills are off the scale’: how high costs affect people in England with special dietary needs

For many with food allergies or health conditions such as coeliac disease, avoiding ingredients their bodies cannot tolerate is increasingly unaffordable. Photograph: EnVogue_Photo/Alamy

Morgan would love to buy lactose-free milk and cheese, but simply can’t afford it. The 28-year-old from Southampton has IBS, lactose intolerance and gastroparesis, a disorder affecting the stomach’s nerves and muscles, and so tries to follow a specialist low-fibre, low-fat, largely dairy-free diet.

But the soaring cost of lactose-free products and a food budget of just £40-£50 a week means they often have to do without. “I just can’t justify the cost of them for the symptom reduction that I get,” Morgan says. “There are other foods that cause much bigger problems that I have to prioritise.”