Cost of Living: One in four working London parents struggle to feed family

The Felix Project said a quarter of people skipped meals or didn't buy food so their children could eat

One in four working parents in London are struggling to feed their families, according to a food charity.

The Felix Project surveyed more than 2,000 working parents in the capital, with a quarter saying they skipped meals or didn't buy food for themselves so their children could eat.

Its research also suggests 11% of London's working families have less than £3 a day to spend on food.

It comes amid high inflation rates and an increased cost of living.

The Felix Project said as a result, 14% of respondents have turned to a food support service like a foodbank for the first time in the last year.

One of those struggling is Wendy Lam-Vechi, who BBC London spoke to last month.

She said she'd started collecting food past its best-before date when the family's mortgage and living costs increased.

Ms Lam-Vechi, from Greenwich in south-east London, is now using a food-sharing app in order to feed her family, and walks one or two hours across the city to collect leftover food.

Wendy Lam-Vechi says she uses a food-sharing app to get food throughout the week

Ms Lam-Vechi said sharing food is not something she ever imagined doing, as her husband's job in IT used to support the whole family.

"We never used to spend that much, milk used to be a pound and now it's gone up... so we started cutting back on luxuries like cheese, yoghurt, and no more crisps," she said.

The mum of two, who is not working to save on childcare costs, said the family went into an overdraft and her husband started skipping breakfast and lunch, filling up on biscuits instead.

"It got to the point where I said, 'this isn't right, we shouldn't be struggling so much just feeding our family'," she said.

After doing research online Ms Lam-Vechi said she came across food-sharing app Olio.

She found someone giving away three large loaves of bread and thought "wow, I can actually make something - I made bread and butter pudding, I ended up making sandwiches for lunch".

Shane Dorsett, director of operations at the Felix Project, says many people would be "very surprised" at the kinds of people struggling.

Shane Dorsett said many working people are now turning to food service organisations to feed their families

"People who have never used food service organisations before are these days showing up.

"People who go to work every day, sometimes they have more than one job, are now using food banks," he said.

This is something that "really shocked" Ms Lam-Vechi too, who said: "I always thought to be in this current situation I would have to be homeless or both of us not working, but my husband is actually earning an average salary."

'You don't have to struggle'

The Felix Project's CEO, Charlotte Hill OBE, said there is "a huge demand for food support services", which emphasises "the dire need among working families".

"Every single one of the charities we support wants more food and there are over 650 new organisations on our waiting list that we cannot help."

Ms Lam-Vechi said she is trying to spread the word about food-sharing apps, but feels "quite sad there's not enough help out there".

"There are food banks, but in order to get one you have to apply and there's not an easy way of getting it," she explained, adding it took a long time for her to find a solution.

"It's helped me so much. I can't express how I can look at our bank account and actually have money at the end of the month," she added.

"I want people to know you don't have to go through this struggle of feeding your family when there are other means of doing it."

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