ABSTRACT
Food and nutrition are key determinants of health and well-being for lone-parent families, but rising prices and social policy austerity measures since 2010 have led to growing “food poverty”, with inadequate charitable response. The structural problematics of diminishing household budgets, inadequate school food and neighbourhood shops, and powerful promotion of unhealthy food are largely ignored by central government. Instead, responsibility is located in individuals’ competencies (in budgeting and cooking), despite powerful evidence from Dowler and Calvert’s earlier research with lone parents that having sufficient money is key. The chapter summarises that and more recent data to explore the realities for lone parents and their children in trying to eat well and healthily in the UK, given current economic and social circumstances.
