I put £10 in my car to get to work and it was still flashing empty. Maybe I’ll ask Elon Musk for a loan. Ten grand is like 20p to him
• This article is part of a new series, the heat or eat diaries: dispatches from the frontline of Britain’s cost of living emergency
I first used a food bank 10 years ago, when my son’s father took my last £20 and spent it on drugs. I went by myself because he was ashamed to be seen there. I wasn’t – I’ve always helped other people when I’ve had a few quid. I’ll shout from the rooftops that I use food banks because there’s a stigma attached to them and there shouldn’t be. If it wasn’t for their rice and eggs and tins of beans, we wouldn’t have got to eat sometimes.
I’ve worked pretty much all of my life and can’t stand people who are happy to sit on their arse and just pick up benefits. I’ve done so many things, but mainly worked in the hospitality industry running bars or doing hotel management. I even trained dolphins for a while, but that’s a long story best left for another day.
As told to Simon Hattenstone. Liz is in her 40s and lives in the south-west of England. Names have been changed
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