Aldi has donated thousands of free breakfasts to food banks and schools across the country

What can businesses do in the cost-of-living crisis? If you’re a supermarket chain like Aldi, donating 5,000 gallons of milk and 10 tonnes of cereal to food banks and schools is a start. 

The discount supermarket chain is calling the scheme Adult’s Breakfast Club, launched to help tackle hunger in the cost of living crisis. It covers hundreds of thousands of breakfasts for people struggling to afford food across the country.

Almost half (44 per cent) of parents from lower-income families are skipping meals to ensure their children have enough food to eat, with breakfast being the most common one to miss, according to new research from Aldi. 

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“We believe having access to healthy food should be a right, not a privilege,” Liz  Fox, corporate responsibility director at Aldi UK, said. “The thought that parents are having to skip meals to ensure their children can eat is terrible.”

The supermarket has partnered with charity Neighbourly, a platform that helps businesses make a positive impact in their communities, to distribute the food to those in need. 

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“Our partnership with Neighbourly to donate surplus food from our stores helps to support the communities where we operate, but we want to be able to help parents too,” Fox added. “We hope the Adult Breakfast Club will help provide everyday breakfast essentials to parents who otherwise would be going without.”

Almost two in three parents admit they are likely to go hungry so their children have a meal. This has led to a third of parents buying less food now than they were six months ago, with some of the biggest cutbacks including key breakfast items such as butter, milk and cereal. 

Aldi has donated over 30 million meals to good causes since 2019, and it has promised to “double down” on its existing donations to local schools during term time. Almost a third (31 per cent) of parents surveyed said that they rely on their children being provided breakfast by their school. 

Steve Butterworth, the chief executive of Neighbourly, said: “We are now seeing the real-world effects of the cost of living crisis, and this is what it looks like. Parents sitting with empty, or half-empty, plates at mealtimes to ensure their children have enough food.”

Charities have seen demand for food more than double (an increase of around 159 per cent) in the last year, according to research from Neighbourly and Aldi. Almost all (96 per cent) expect this to increase further in the next year.

And breakfast is often forgotten – around 58 per cent of charity professionals agree there is a lack of breakfast food items being provided to charities and food banks. 

“Creating a dedicated Breakfast Club to ensure these parents are getting the nutrients they need and deserve is a brilliant initiative and one we hope will make a tangible difference in our community,” Butterworth added. 

Customers are encouraged to add to the existing donation and give to the Adult’s Breakfast Club. Just £5 will provide 30 breakfast meals. 

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