A Northumberland foodbank boss warned families are going days without food in a stark response to a Tory councillor who said people aren't "starving in the streets".
Linda Fugill, operations manager at Wansbeck Valley Food Bank, said people turning to their service for support have often not eaten for days and have empty cupboards.
It comes after Northumberland county councillor Jeff Watson came under fire after claiming he doesn't see "people dying on the streets".
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The Conservative, who represents Amble West with Warkworth, caused outrage when he told a reporter it was hard to believe parents were skipping meals in order to feed their children.
Linda said: "I don't think it was very appropriate. People are really struggling.
"We get some referral clients who say they haven't eaten for three days or they don't have food in their cupboards. We see that quite often."
Linda helped set up the food bank 10 years ago and said it is the busiest it has ever been.
She added: "We are getting much busier and are picking up a lot of new clients, people who have never used food banks before.
"There are a lot of people coming who are still working, who just don't have enough to manage.
"We are picking up a few homeless people who we provide with tents and sleeping bags."
As energy prices continue to rise, along with food and petrol, Linda said they were seeing people searching for ways to save cash.
"We have a lot of people asking for what we call a no cooking food parcel as they are worried about their electric bill," she said. "I think there will be a bigger increase as time goes on."
In the last 12 months the food bank, which is based in Morpeth, has handed out 110,000 meals to struggling families.
It has now launched its annual reverse advent calendar that asks people to collect a different item every day in November before delivering it to the food bank.
Linda said the event has been successful in the past though they have seen a drop in donations in recent months.
She added: "We do a collection at Asda and people come up to us and say they can't give us four or five things like they used to but can give one or two."
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