Allergic to the Cost of Living Crisis?

The 'cost of living crisis' is caused by escalating food prices, as well as the rocketing charges for energy. An increasing number of folk have food allergies, necessitating the purchase of 'free from' (e.g. lactates, gluten) products. Lucy Pasha-Robinson has described how the current extra pressures of having children with food allergies in the UK, exacerbates the 'cost of living crisis' (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/15/child-specialist-food-afford-free-from-allergies). The main problem appears to be that 'free from' foods have shown much bigger price increases (sometimes more than 30%) than 'traditional' foods. 'Free from' foods often require the addition of costly extra vitamins, calcium etc, to provide appropriate nutriant levels. This inevitably means that not all 'free from' foods are equal. Purchasers often have to 'operate in the dark', as it can take up to 2 years, to get specialist allergy advice on which products to buy. There is also no recognition of the extra costs incurred by families, with an allergic child(ren). This leads to some parents starving themselves to buy their children essential 'free from' foods.