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Auckland food banks are struggling to meet demand as more middle income earners look for alternative ways to feed their families.
Soaring food prices in the past year have seen more employed people turning to food banks and trying to grow their own fruit and vegetables.
The Salvation
Army, which operates 10 food banks serving around 4000 families in Auckland and Northland, reported a 20 per cent increase in demand in the past five months.
Spokesman Gerry Walker said most of that increase was first-time users of food banks who fell into the lower-to-middle income bracket.
"We are seeing more working families using our services, not just for food, but for budgeting advice as well. But the issue is not one of budgeting, it is that these people lack the money to cover the basic cost of living."
Mr Walker said donations of fresh meat and vegetables had all but dried up and it was now rare for them to be included in food parcels.
"If we had more resources we could give out more-balanced parcels."
Delphina Soti of St Vincent de Paul, which distributes food packages via several church groups across Auckland, said more employed people were using the service.
"These people are working but they're not making ends meet. It's been a struggle since mid-July. We've had people coming in from all over the place."
If the price of food continued to increase at its current rate, the food banks would struggle to survive.
"We're not in a crisis yet, but the figures haven't changed for a while. At some point, they're going to have to revamp this thing, because we're not sure how long we will be able to sustain this."
Ms Soti said some people using the food banks were spending most of their income on housing costs, such as rent, which involved sacrificing their food budget.
She expected demand to intensify as Christmas draws nearer. "Around the end of November is when people start to get really stressed. Wewill probably see more people inthis Christmas than ever before."
Meanwhile, Auckland nurseries are also experiencing extra attention as more people try their hand at growing their own fruit and vegetables.
Palmers garden centre in Pakuranga has had a "massive increase" in the sale of fruit and vegetable seedlings since the onset of spring, according to employee Heather Hayden.
"You can tell they're all first-time gardeners. I think they're all getting into it because of the high cost of everything."
She said tomatoes and lettuce were the most popular vegetables, followed by anything that could be used in a summer salad.
