Sharp increases in energy, petrol and food costs are likely to make all of us think more carefully about our spending, but for some people, these rises mean having to choose between paying bills or eating.
The number of people facing food insecurity grew by 20.5% in the six months since July last year, according to research carried out by The Food Foundation. This essentially means that 4.7m adults weren’t able to feed themselves properly at some point over a month, with a further 1m going a whole day without food because they couldn’t afford it or couldn’t get access to it.
As always, when prices go up, it’s often the people who are struggling most who feel the biggest impact and although we are all feeling the squeeze, for those of us lucky enough to be able to make ends meet, there may be things we can do to help those in dire straits.
Support your local food bank
There are over 2,000 food banks across the UK, which last year handed out more than 2.5m food parcels and provided services to people in need of their help.
Supporting your local food bank doesn’t have to mean just popping a tin of beans in a collection point at the supermarket, there are lots of other ways that you can help out, if you’re able to. For example, you could volunteer your time, donate money, sign petitions, email your local Member of Parliament or fundraise for them.
If you want to donate food and toiletries, think carefully about less obvious items people might need. Food banks will often have a surplus of certain goods, such as baked beans, and a lack of other items, such as cooking oils, stock, or long-life fruit juice. It’s good to check with your food bank to check what they need or some food banks post their list of required items on Give Food so have a look before you head out to the shops. Most food banks will only accept long life items. The Trussell Trust suggests donating:
- Tinned foods – Including tinned fruit, vegetables, lentils, pulses, beans, tinned tomatoes, soup, fish, and meat. If possible, try to get tinned foods with ring pull openings as not everyone receiving an emergency parcel will have access to a tin opener
- Cereals – Anything from oats to muesli
- Long life carbohydrates – Pasta, rice and grains
- Jars – Including jam, marmalade, peanut butter, marmite, chocolate spread, pasta sauces, pesto and curry sauces
- Drinks – Tea bags, instant coffee, UHT milk or longlife milk alternatives such as soy, oat or almond milk, fruit juice and squash
- Dried goods – Sugar, salt, pepper, stock cubes, herbs and spices.
If you can afford to buy any ‘free from’ products (gluten free, dairy free, sugar free) it can be incredibly useful for people with intolerances, allergies or health conditions. Check with your local food bank if this is something they need.
Don’t forget that non-food items such as toiletries and household cleaning products are also in high demand. Popular items include:
- Toiletries – This could be anything you can think of including deodorant, toilet paper, shower gel, shaving gel, hand wash, shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothbrushes, tooth paste, mouth wash, tooth floss and hand wipes
- Household items – Anything you use in your own home is likely to be useful including laundry liquid detergent, laundry powder, washing up liquid, cleaning spray, antibacterial wipes and kitchen roll
- Feminine products – These can be incredibly important and useful items, including sanitary towels, liners and tampons
- Baby supplies – Nappies of all sizes, baby wipes and baby food
- Face masks and hand sanitiser.
Share your spare food
In the UK we throw away over 9m tonnes of food a year, with an estimated 70% of this coming from household waste, according to the charity, Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
If you have anything that you aren’t going to use and is likely to go off soon, it might be worth looking into apps like Olio which help you to share your spare food with people in your local area. Whether it’s a few potatoes that you know you aren’t going to use or a half-used bag of dried lentils, someone in your area is bound to need it.
You could also consider becoming a ‘food waste hero’ for Olio. This involves spending two or three hours a week picking up unsold or surplus food from local supermarkets or food businesses and redistributing it on Olio. Alternatively, you could volunteer as a ‘squad starter’ which will typically take up between two and five hours of your time each week and involves signing up local food businesses to Olio.
If sharing food in your area isn’t possible, then you might want to try looking at reducing your food waste and then putting any money you save towards buying items for food banks or making a donation. There are lots of apps out there that can help you cut back on food waste, including Kitche, NoWaste and nosh.
Support charities fighting hunger
There are a huge number of charities and worthy causes that you can donate your time, money, or money to that help feed people but also advocate and campaign for bigger changes to help combat food insecurity and poverty in the UK.
If you want to support one or more of these charities, they include:
If you need help
If you have found yourself cutting out meals or not eating to make ends meet, please don’t suffer in silence. There is often support available if you know where to look, and you might be able to get help from your local food bank. Some food banks also provide fuel tokens which you can use to heat or power your home.
You may also be eligible for certain benefits too, if you’re not already claiming them. This article highlights organisations which can help you work out any potential entitlement and submit a claim Five free sources of help if you’re making a benefits claim.
If you think you need to use a food bank you will need to either visit your local Citizens Advice or call them on 0808 2082138 for free who will be able to talk to you about your situation and if you are eligible will issue you with food bank vouchers so you can get an emergency food parcel. You can find where your local food bank is on the Trussell Trust website.
There are some food banks who don’t require food bank vouchers to receive a food parcel. Some work by appointment only while others allow you to just turn up. A quick internet search can help you find your nearest one.