Debt-busting tips have been provided by a researcher, who looked into how best to shop for food in the recession.
Britain's poorest people can avoid falling into debt by slashing their food costs - and getting their five a day at the same time.
This is the main assertion of a new study by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF). Researcher Nathalie Winn, the report's author, said that families on the breadline could swap fresh fruit and vegetables for their tinned and frozen equivalents, thereby saving money in the recession.
A cost of just 80p per day for the five portions of fruit and vegetables recommended by nutritionists was seen as viable in the report.
Elsewhere in the WCRF study, the greater likelihood of families who are struggling financially to eat a less healthy diet was shown. This is because fresh fruit and vegetables can seem more expensive than pre-packaged fast food such as ready meals.
The report comes at a time in which household budgets are feeling a lot of pressure from the credit crunch, which has led to the withdrawal of cheaper high street loans, mortgages and credit cards and has swelled unemployment numbers to over seven percent of the workforce.
Ms Winn said: "The secret is not to restrict yourself to the fresh fruit section of the supermarket because frozen vegetables and canned fruit also count towards your five portions a day and they often cost much less."
Charity Credit Action revealed recently that total personal debts in the UK stand at almost £1.5 trillion - a debt mountain that has increased significantly over the last year.
