Caring Tesco customers donate by the trolley load in Wolverhampton

The donations were part of the Tesco Food Collection and will be used to help charities feed people during the winter months.

As part of a twice-yearly collection, Tesco stores across the UK ask customers to donate long-life food to support FareShare and the Trussell Trust.

Simone Connolly, director at FareShare Midlands, said shoppers’ donations would make a huge difference to the frontline charities they supplied.

"The Food Collection is so important to FareShare because donations of long-life items means we are able to compliment the fresh food that we receive year round from Tesco with staples like rice, tinned vegetables and tea and coffee,” she said.

“Thank you to every single Tesco customer that donated to the food collection this year, your generous donations will help us to continue supporting local charities and community groups that are helping to feed people in need this winter.

Stores across the UK reported that customers had given the highest volume of food donations to support local charities since the start of the pandemic, providing 1.57m meals during the campaign, with shoppers in Wolverhampton donating 1,019 meals.

The donations will help foodbanks in the Trussell Trust’s network provide emergency parcels and help FareShare supply thousands of frontline charities.

Tesco has also topped up all customer donations with a 20 per cent cash donation to the two charities, to support them in their work feeding people in communities across the UK.

Claire de Silva, head of community at Tesco said: “At this time more than ever, we are hugely grateful for the support of all our customers in Wolverhampton who have donated in store for making this the biggest collection of long-life food in our stores since the start of the pandemic.

"We know this will make a really significant difference to local people this winter.”