Picture courtesy of NCH/Pete Sheppard

They also find it hard to give their children healthy food on a budget, according to the Going Hungry report.

Research carried out by the Food Commission for children's charity NCH found parents' and youngsters' diets are nutritionally poor.

Some parents are so desperate for money to feed their children they have considered turning to crime.

Going Hungry, which is published on Friday, shows 46% of parents on low household incomes have gone short of food in the last year to feed someone else in their family.

In the survey of 55 families, the average amount spent on food per person was �16.07 a week, but one in five parents said they simply did not have enough money for food.

Of those families on income support (32), five said they had been so desperate for money they had considered doing something illegal.

I don't eat veg usually; the last time I had them was at Christmas Sarah, low-income parent Food shopping 'a juggling act'

The report - a snapshot of low-income families across the UK - reveals that lack of money sometimes makes it impossible for parents to feed their children healthily.

More than 28% of children and 25% of parents said they never ate green vegetables or salad.

More than 90% of children ate crisps regularly and 43% ate them most days, while 79% of parents regularly ate crisps regularly and 27% ate them most days.

The report's launch comes just days before the end of a government consultation on diet, which NCH says, pays far too little attention to the impact of poverty on children's diets.

Marketing tactics

Three in five of the sample group was on income support and two in five were employed, but on a low income.

Sarah, a mother of two, from the north-east, said: "I don't have breakfast or lunch.

"I usually have about six or more coffees a day with two teaspoons of sugar.

For the poorest families things are getting worse, with the cost of healthier foods rising faster than inflation, while junk food remains cheap and widely available Tim Lobstein, director, Food Commission

"I don't eat veg usually; the last time I had them was at Christmas.

"I can't remember when I last had fruit - I don't really eat it."

Findings show it costs about 15% more to eat healthily compared to eating unhealthily.

Over the last 15 years the average cost of a healthy shopping basket has increased by half - compared to only a 33% increase for an unhealthy basket.

The survey found that low-income families are more likely to spend scarce resources on food they know their children will eat, regardless of whether it is healthy, and which will not leave them hungry at the end of a meal.

Their choices were compounded by the marketing of less healthy foods and the linking of such products with celebrities and cartoon characters to increase their appeal.

Local high prices

Report author and Food Commission director Tim Lobstein said: "For the poorest families things are getting worse, with the cost of healthier foods rising faster than inflation, while junk food remains cheap and widely available.

"Children growing up now are suffering the consequences of decades of government neglect.

"Inaction is no longer an option -- it is time for coherent anti-poverty strategies to improve the health of those most at risk."

In rural areas, the cost of going to a supermarket is almost preclusive, forcing parents to shop locally, where there is less choice and products are often more expensive.

Fruit is a luxury for low income families

Caroline Abrahams, NCH's Director of Public Policy, said: "The government must make healthy food affordable to low-income families, otherwise, drives to end child poverty and improve the nation's health are set to fail."

Responding to the the report, the government said it takes children's nutrition seriously and has adopted policies to ensure that children from low income families have the opportunity to make healthier choices in the food that they eat.

A Department of Health (DoH) spokesman said: "This includes the Local Five A Day pilot initiatives which have been found to increase access and availability of fruit and vegetables within disadvantaged communities.

"In January, John Reid announced �77m of DoH funding over the next two years so that the National School Fruit Scheme can be offered to all schools with children aged four to six by the end of 2004.

"Results from the pilot schemes have shown that over a quarter of children and their families ate more fruit at home after their school joined the scheme."

The government's consultation - Choosing Health - concludes at the end of June.

The responses to the consultation will contribute to a government White Paper on public health to be published in the autumn.