People in Southend are being forced to pick between "heating or eating"
It comes as inflation rises to its highest in 30 years
Southend Food Bank is the latest to express concern at the sharp increase in the cost of living as inflation rose to 5.4% in December, thanks to soaring food costs and the energy bill crisis.
Cass Francis, the Media and Campaigns Coordinator for Southend Food Bank predicts they'll see more and more people at food banks as a result: "The impact will be as it has been through 2021, meaning we'll have an increase in the amount of people coming to the food bank.
"We've been open eight years now and every year it gets worse. Last year was a dramatic increase in the amount of people coming to see us, especially towards the end of the year, with a 30% increase in the amount of people that came through our doors."
The Bank of England expects inflation to rise further, reaching 6% in April when the energy cap is raised.
She says this is worrying: "Inflation's going up and we've got the massive hike in energy bills, right at the coldest part of the year. Everybody's finding it harder, there's no light at the end of the tunnel for people at the moment.
"The choice of heating or eating is always something the foodbank has seen. Proud people will pay their bills and then not want to come to us because they're embarrassed and they've always got by and... then suddenly they don't have any money for food.
"You also get people who are the other way, who end up in debt because they've been feeding themselves and not paying their bills... There is no happy ending at the moment for people - it really is looking very very bleak."
She also expressed concerns over the price of food, which saw a year-on-year increase in prices at 4.2% - a rate that hasn't been higher since September 2013.
"Things that people buy for the food bank, your basics, like pasta and rice - there was a 5% increase in inflation but when you look at prices, they've gone up a lot, sometimes a 100% increase. Something that was 28p last year is £1.40 this year. These aren't little changes and they're affecting people who are already below the bread line. "