“It is no longer a choice of heating or eating for some. They simply have no heat and their cupboards are bare.” – Maria Jones, Barnardo’s Cymru.

Over one in five Welsh parents (22 per cent) say they have to buy unhealthy food for their children every week because they cannot afford healthier options, according to a survey published on March 12, 2025 by Barnardo’s. 41 per cent had to shop for cheaper, unhealthy options at least once a month.

The survey reported that 72 per cent were worried about what they were feeding them, and 18 per cent said they believed their children’s diet had worsened during that time because of the cost of living.

The results have been released at a time when the charity’s workers in Wales are visiting some homes where there is no food to be seen, and some mothers are going without food so they can feed their children. The average height of five-year-olds in the UK is now in decline and Victorian diseases related to poor nutrition, like rickets, are returning.

Maria Jones, a children’s services manager with Barnardo’s Cymru, said: “Families… need to shop as cheaply as possible, regardless of how healthy or not those items are. Too many children are now just living on chips, it’s a huge problem.”

The charity has given out thousands of pounds worth of food vouchers in recent months, aware that families dependent on food banks may not have access to fresh food.

Barnardo’s has also published a report Nourishing the Future, drawing on insight from children, young people, parents and Barnardo’s practitioners, and experts in child health and nutrition. They told the charity that children, young people and their parents want to eat healthier diets but are struggling to do so. Healthy food is out of reach or out of budget for many families and young people in the UK, particularly those living in poverty and/or on Universal Credit.

Barnardo’s says it’s even harder for families living in temporary accommodation, as they may be living in a single hotel room with no cooking facilities and can be dependent on takeaways for months.

Things don’t always get better when they finally find somewhere to rent. Maria said: “They have a roof over their heads but very little else. They move into a bare space without beds, a cooker, fridge, they don’t even have cutlery and crockery. We often have to step in and provide them with the basics like blow up beds while they wait for emergency grants to come through.”

Parents who don’t have easy access to low-cost supermarkets can find themselves having to pay higher corner shop prices.

Recommendations from the report to the governments in each UK nation include measures to increase the value of healthy shopping vouchers given to families with young children living on the lowest budgets, strengthening the rules on the quality of meals that schools can provide and using the proceeds of any future taxes on sugar or salt to reduce food insecurity.