Approximately 10 million people in the UK do not have enough food to feed their household. The coronavirus pandemic has increased the number of food-insecure people due to work crisis and self-isolation. Moreover, foodbanks and community aid food programmes (e.g. food pantries, community fridges, cooking clubs) have been struggling to respond to the increased demand of food. The reason for this is that these programmes largely rely on surplus food from supermarkets – which has decreased due to panic buying. However, during the past few weeks, many initiatives have been promoted to help the increased number of people in need of food.

Supporting foodbanks is very important to ensure that vulnerable people can access foods that are easy to cook and store, such as tinned food and pasta. The Trussell Trust supports a nationwide network of foodbanks, and together they provide emergency food to support people locked in poverty, and campaign for change to end the need for foodbanks in the UK. In addition, some community charities use food donations from the public and supermarkets food surplus to prepare meals for people who are in self-isolation and vulnerable people who may not have the cooking knowledge and/or equipment to cook. Fare Share supports these charities by taking surplus food from supermarkets and distributing it to them. They have been increasing their service to ensure food can reach nearly 2,000 towns and cities in the UK.

The public has shown a great interest in helping vulnerable people and people in self- isolation, so many initiatives have been promoted to help foodbanks and other charity initiatives to increase their positive impact on people. Here there are 6 practical examples of ways you can help your community.