The UK's biggest food bank network launched an emergency appeal, warning it faces its most difficult winter ever as more people risk going hungry in a worsening cost-of-living crunch.

The Trussell Trust, which supports a network of 1,300 food bank centers across the country, said it had experienced a dramatic increase in levels of need.

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It handed out 46 percent more food parcels in August and September than it did in the same months of 2021 and forecast it would distribute 1.3 million in the next six months, including half a million for children.

But the Trust warned demand was outstripping donations for the first time, meaning the food banks were having to purchase more food themselves. It said this was not sustainable.

"Faced with the perfect storm of rising energy prices, inflation and a potential recession that is pushing people deeper into poverty, the soaring cost of living is driving a tsunami of need to food banks," said Trussell Trust CEO Emma Revie.

"We never wanted to run an appeal like this, we would rather there was no need for food banks at all. But right now they are on the frontline of this cost-of-living emergency, we have no other option," she said.

Revie called on the government to provide a package of support directly targeted at people on the lowest incomes.

However, on Monday, the UK's finance minister Jeremy Hunt reined in a vast energy support scheme for households and reversed planned tax cuts. The government plans to outline its new plans on October 31, with Hunt warning the country faces some "eye-watering decisions." 

And on Wednesday, households grappling with accelerating living costs were dealt another blow when official data showed the biggest jump in food prices since 1980 that pushed inflation back into double digits last month, matching a 40-year high hit in July.