The manager of a West Belfast foodbank has said rising food prices are forcing him "to start thinking outside the box" about how his volunteers can continue to support hundreds of families.
Community SDLP representative Paul Doherty was speaking after the head of one of Northern Ireland's biggest supermarkets issued a warning to customers over the continuing rise of food prices - saying the worst is still to come.
Tesco chairman John Allan said food prices rose just 1% last quarter, but are likely to be rising by 5% by the spring.
The rises will come at the same time as a hike in National Insurance, energy and water bills and mortgages and as inflation makes everything we buy more expensive.
Mr Allan said the supermarket chain brings down prices where it can telling the BBC: “In some ways the worst is still to come - because although food price in Tesco last quarter was only 1%, we are impacted by rising energy prices.
“Our suppliers are impacted by rising energy prices. The likelihood is that inflation figure will rise. We’re doing all we can to offset it.
“I predicted last autumn that food prices by the spring might be rising at about 5%. I sincerely believe it’s not going to be any more than that, it might even be slightly less.
“But that’s the sort of number we’re talking about. Of course, 5% - if you’re spending, as some of the least-well-off families are spending, 15% of household income - is significant.
“It troubles us and I’m sure troubles many people that people may have to struggle to choose between heating their homes and feeding their families. That’s clearly not a situation any of us should tolerate.”
Mr Doherty founded Foodstock in Andersonstown in 2019 and says many people are continuing to struggle with the ongoing hike in both food and energy costs.
Since January 1 alone, Foodstock has provided over 350 'Keep Warm' packs to elderly and vulnerable residents, emergency fuel support to many homes thanks to donations and fundraising while over 2,000 food parcels have allowed individuals and families to divert their costs to further heat their home.
Mr Doherty told Belfast Live : "For us, we're noticing that the amount and type of food donations is on the decrease. While foodbanks would have always had a great response in terms of donations in the past, in general all people are really struggling at the minute due to the price increases.
"For example, I spoke to one man the other day who hasn't heated his home since last October - that's how bad things have got.
"After looking at figures from last year, we're certainly doing more than double the number of food donations this year and that in itself highlights just how severe things are in terms of people who are really struggling.
"We're having to fundraise to go out and buy food to keep going while local shops are also supporting us in that fundraising to help us get by.
"We have been forced to start thinking outside the box about how we can get food into the foodbank and looking at diverting any good and in date fresh food our way to help support 400 families in West Belfast.
"We've gone from operating one day a week to seven days and that's how severe the problem is at the minute.
"So for us the rising costs is making the work of the foodbank much more difficult. We can't just rely on people's donations since everyone is struggling with the cost of living and price hikes when it comes food and heating their homes."
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