'I can't afford to turn the oven on': 7.4m households struggling to buy essentials
Elaine Yates, 77, says money worries mean she "can't remember" the last time she used her oven to cook a hot meal. "I don't look
Elaine Yates, 77, says money worries mean she "can't remember" the last time she used her oven to cook a hot meal. "I don't look after myself. I can't remember the last time I put the oven on. I have got an air fryer that I probably used about three weeks ago. "I had two slices of toast yesterday and two Weetabix and fruit is all I've had to eat today." The pensioner lives by herself in rural Northamptonshire after being widowed five years ago.
Following 20 years as a full-time carer for her husband, her finances are "extremely tight", so she has felt particularly vulnerable to price rises since he passed away. "It's really hard times, not just for me, but for thousands of others. My car costs me an arm and a leg. The fuel prices are rocketing up again, and I live in a village, so I need a car because I've got arthritis and I can't walk very far.
I spend about £50 a week on petrol, which is more than my food bill." Elaine often gives lifts to others in her village who don't have transport, only to find herself unable to shop alongside them. "I've got one friend who buys clothes
and I sit outside the shop because I can't afford to go in," she says. "I can't remember the last time I treated myself." In the winter, Elaine rarely turns the heating on, and when she does she keeps the thermostat at a low 13C.
The BriefWire