Fuel costs leave Beeston food bank users 'unable to cook'

The trustee of a food bank says people are requesting meals that do not need cooking or refrigerating because they cannot afford the electricity.

Ellie Winfield is part of Broxtowe Community Projects in Beeston, Nottinghamshire.

She said with energy costs set to rise sharply, she was worried more people would find themselves in the same boat.

Her comments come after the boss of supermarket Iceland said some people could not afford to boil vegetables.

Ms Winfield said: "We have had people in the past year, even before the energy price rise, requesting parcels that need minimal cooking or no cooking at all."

She said these were usually people with pre-paid meters that had run out of credit and had no money to top it up with.

"We have to be careful about providing a balanced diet whilst also giving people food they can afford to cook and heat and store," she said.

Ms Winfield said the problem was only affecting a minority of users at the moment but she was expecting this to change as energy costs continue to increase.

"I'm really concerned that more people are going to be pulled into that occasional situation and those that are already in that situation might experience it more often," she said.

"We've got people that come to our food bank that you might not necessarily expect would come to a food bank - people in work that are just on low pay that can't make ends meet.

"The 54% rise in energy prices and all the other things like fuel costs, it's just too much for those on the lowest pay to bear.

Ms Winfield has predicted more people would be registering to use the food bank in the coming months but worries donations may fall at the same time as regular supporters find themselves stretched.

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