MORE than 250,000 meals were donated to Welsh families in six months by a supermarket.

Lidl GB donated 273,760 meals to Welsh families in need between April and September this year. The figures were released after Trussell Trust released research showing that around 753,000 people across the nation experienced food insecurity in the 12-months up to mid-2022.

Lidl works with local charities to pass on surplus food and ‘good to give’ customer donations in partnership with giving platform Neighbourly.

Over the last six months the supermarket’s store teams have been working closely with local community groups to increase the amount of food given to those who have been hit hardest by the cost-of-living crisis, making the process of local charity donation a part of training for store colleagues and ramping up frozen food donations.

Since 2017, the chain has donated more than 26 million meals across the UK and as a result of their changes, expects to donate an extra 1,000 tonnes of food annually across the UK – the equivalent of 2.4million more meals.

Mark Newbold, senior CSR manager at Lidl GB, said: “Our stores are part of local communities they serve, so it’s incredibly important to us that we do our bit to help those facing food insecurity – both by making donations directly and by encouraging our shoppers to donate where they can.”

The good to give campaign aims to increase the nutritional variety of food parcels given to those in need. Lidl shoppers can spot signage near products most needed by charities, which they can drop off at donation points past the checkouts.