This week we met Christos. He was collecting Rose Vouchers for his family in Southwark, with his baby fast asleep in a carrier on his chest. Christos talked about the rising cost of fruit and veg, the way that companies market convenience foods, and what needs to change for everyone to be able to buy and eat healthy food.

What does healthy eating mean to you?

Healthy eating means fruits, vegetables, a lot of fibre, and non-processed foods, fresh food if possible, nothing with preservatives and things like this.

What can make it harder to buy and eat healthy food?

Usually, prices make it harder. Fresh food and vegetables are usually much more expensive in the supermarket than prepared meals or ready meals. So it makes things more challenging. You look at your options and, usually, with the same amount of money, you can get a lot of processed food but much less fresh fruit and vegetables.

Part of it is the cost. The other part is how much time you have, because if you get everything fresh, obviously, you have to make the recipe and do the cooking yourself. That’s what a lot of ready-made food is targeting, helping you on one hand, but on the other hand, it’s not fresh. So it’s always a balance.

How do Rose Vouchers make a difference?

We take the baby, go for a walk, go through East Street Market, and collect some fresh fruit and vegetables. A lot of the time, we’re surprised because the same things in the supermarket would have been three, four, or five times more expensive. So it does make a difference.

Had you been to East Street Market before?

We’d been a few times before, but now we’ve become regulars after the Rose Vouchers. In the past, you would pick fruits and vegetables based on your spending and what you planned to do for the week, but now we know we’re going to go to East Street Market, so there’s going to be a lot of choice. You end up taking a lot more fruit and vegetables than you would have before, so you swap things around. Usually, we try to get whatever is in season. We look at courgettes and things like that that we can add to recipes, along with whatever fresh fruit is available.

What could be done to make it easier for everyone to buy and eat healthy food?

I think it’s a general issue in society. A lot of the advice and promotion you get is around quick, fast food to help you, but that’s not necessarily the healthy option. Usually, what’s cheapest for manufacturers and companies is cheaper for them to make, but then you lose a lot of the ingredients and nutrients in the process.

In terms of policies and other things, I would say the government and the council could promote more healthy eating in schools and other places where, from a young age, you’re introduced to healthier choices rather than deep-fried food, snacks, or ready meals. They should promote healthier eating more generally because if you start from a young age and you’re given healthy options, you’re more likely to stick with that as you grow up.

It’s a long-term plan. You cannot change things within a day.