Food bank users plead for meals that don't need to be cooked due to soaring energy costs

Food bank users are now asking for "non-cook food" because they are struggling to afford their soaring energy bills, with some families choosing cereal as an evening meal because it doesn't need heating up.

The cost of living crisis has seen a rise in food bank users as shop prices rose by a record 5.1 per cent last month, according to the latest report by the British Retail Consortium.

This, coupled with a stark surge in energy bills, has led to an “unsustainable situation”, Ian Oulton, a trustee of West Cheshire Foodbank, said.