Shopping at Australian food charities can be more expensive than supermarkets. What’s gone wrong?

The cost of living crisis in Australia has resulted in rising prices for Foodbank, as demand rises and donations fall. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Australia’s food charities are buckling under the cost-of-living crisis, forced to provide pantry staples for the same cost as, or more than, the major supermarkets.

Falling donations and unprecedented demand have pushed the cost of essential items distributed through Foodbank in New South Wales and Victoria so high that it can be cheaper to shop for generic supermarket brands.