Caitriona Redmond: Families face a choice between food and fuel. I know what it's like

'As I write, I can feel the anxiety rising in my chest like bile. Feeding my family; making sure they are warm and having a roof over our heads is sacrosanct.'

Cooking from scratch is better for your diet but not for your energy bills in these straitened times says food writer Caitriona Redmond.

When you’re on a tight budget you juggle your money from one crisis to the next. You allocate set amounts for rent or mortgage, energy, household bills, and then food. These are fixed amounts and rarely deviate from week to week. 

The grocery budget is far more flexible and when you have more money you eat well and buy more treats and when you have less, well it’s obvious what happens. This is universal to everyone, no matter what their income.