Shoppers at a single store chain with branches across Norfolk have donated almost 250,000 meals.

Tesco customers donated more than 2.4m meals during the Tesco Food Collection at the beginning of December, with 48,530 of them given at Norfolk stores.

The total amount of food donated by Tesco shoppers to the Trussell Trust and FareShare during 2022 equates to 12.5m meals, 227,148 of which came from Norfolk.

Donations to the Trussell Trust help food banks to provide emergency food parcels to people in crisis, while donations to FareShare support thousands of frontline local charities in communities across the country.

Tesco has also topped up all customer donations during the collection by 20pc in cash, to support the two charities with their operating costs.

Tesco UK and Northern Ireland CEO Jason Tarry said: “We know that household budgets are very stretched, but our customers have been incredible.

"We had people donating whole trollies of food at our recent Tesco Food Collection, and it is genuinely heart-warming to see so much kindness."

In addition to the donations of food, the pre-Christmas Tesco Food Collection saw customers donate more than £382,000 to the charities by rounding up their bills at the till, donate £133,000 through a link from Tesco’s online groceries website and give more than £19,000 of Tesco Clubcard vouchers, which Tesco has matched. 

Mike Barrett, regional manager at FareShare East Anglia, said: “We want to say an enormous thank you to Tesco, and every single person that volunteered and donated across the year and at the Winter Food Collection- we had more than 2,000 amazing volunteers join us in stores this year.

“Our charities have told us how difficult things have become as a result of the cost of living crisis, with many expecting to see a huge increase in need as the weather gets even colder."

Emma Revie, chief executive at the Trussell Trust, said: “Food banks across the UK are facing their hardest winter yet as they struggle to cope with a tsunami of need caused by the cost-of- living emergency.

"Each and every donation made in Norfolk stores will enable local foodbanks to provide immediate help to people in the local community, while the Trussell Trust works in the long term to build a future without the need for food banks."