Exactly as planned: As inflation crisis sees milk prices soar 34%, eggs 15% and cheese 18%, British mother, 43, tells how she was hospitalised with MALNUTRITION after eating one meal a day so her children don’t starve

A single mother last night told how she has been hospitalised with malnutrition twice after eating just one meal a day to ensure she could still afford to feed her two children.

Kelly Thomson, 43, has just £40-a-week to feed her family and said inflation means she fears this winter will leave her needing to resort to begging.

Although Ms Thomson’s universal credit covers her £1,300 monthly rent and a few other costs, she says she has just £160 a month left for all other bills.

The mother-of-two, from Slough, Berkshire, said rising food prices have made it near impossible for her to feed herself as well as her own children.

It comes as new Office for National Statistics data released today revealed that the UK inflation rate is the highest it’s been since 1982, at 10.1 per cent.

Ms Thomson has lost two stone in weight because she only eats once a day, and was forced to take her daughter’s birthday gift to Cash Converters to get money for food.

Twice she has ended up in hospital suffering with malnutrition, she said — even needing blood transfusions to replenish her depleted iron levels because she cannot afford fresh food.