"We are extremely concerned about the impact rising food and petrol prices is having on families across central Victoria and our capacity to respond," Bendigo Foodshare chief executive Michelle Murphy said.

Related: Foodbank report exposes food security crisis, Bendigo Foodshare confirms struggle

"The community organisations we work with have been reporting increasing requests for food.

"We only anticipate this will grow as families have to make impossible decisions each week such as whether to pay the rent, put fuel in the car or put food on the table".

Ms Murphy said when the budget becomes tight, healthy options were the first to be cut.

"Unfortunately food can become a discretionary purchase and healthy nutritious food can be one of the first things to go when budgets are so stretched," she said.

"While we have welcomed state government funding to purchase food, this doesn't meet the steadily increasing costs to run our warehouse and keep our food vans on the road.

"We always give out all the food that we can get and there is never enough, we are incredibly grateful for the food that is donated to us."

With fuel prices also increasing, Ms Murphy said it also impacts the operations of the service.

"We run a very lean operation with very few paid staff, relying on hundreds of volunteers each week to get food out to those in need," she said.

"When a van breaks down, as one did last week, it has big consequences for us when we are already running such a lean budget, heavily relying on the generosity of our local community."

"We are really concerned about the cost of living going up and it has an impact on us as an organisation also. Our vans are on the road delivering food so the cost of fuel directing impacts us.

"It all has an impact on our budget and ultimately an impact on the amount of food that we are able to deliver."

Salvation Army north west Victoria area officer Andrew Walker said they were already seeing the effects of the cost of living rising.

Related: How rising fuel prices are impacting everyday Australians

"I think it will have a big impact on local families and we are already really seeing a difference," he said.

"The main areas that will hit hard is the cost of fuel along with the increased increase on general basic groceries.

"At least during COVID-19, people that were on low incomes, there was those assistance payments but of course with the current situation that we are in now, the cost of living going up $30-$50 a week, there is no extra assistance and income to cater for that."

Mr Walker said for people who are scraping by each week, this increase could tip people over the edge.

"In the last few weeks, we have been seeing an increase in people accessing our services.

"It is actually lots of new people that have never accessed our services before or people that haven't accessed our services for several years, this cost has just been another hit and has seen them ask for help, something that they hadn't needed for a number of years.

"This will stretch things a bit."

Mr Walker said if people were experiencing any difficulties, help is around.

"If they do feel like they are tipping over the edge and do need help, don't be afraid today something, seek help. People don't need to go hungry and battle on alone, we are here to help," he said.

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