Generous shoppers in Newham supermarkets have donated 11,000 meals to help feed families and homeless people in need.

For the second year running, Sainsbury’s stores in the Stratford Centre, Myrtle Road in East Ham, and Claps Gate Lane in Beckton held their ‘Million Meal Appeal’ in partnership with FareShare, a charity tackling hunger in the UK.

The supermarkets asked customers to buy an extra non-perishabled item such as dried pasta or canned vegetables over two days to put in donation baskets before they left the store to give to vulnerable people and families who are struggling to make ends meet.

Residents in East Ham raised 2,000 meals as did the shoppers in Beckton while the Stratford store filled nine crates with 1,500 meals for FareShare and local organisations such as Newham Foodbank.

Sainsbury’s matched the amount of meals raising the donation total in Newham to 11,000 meals.

Andy White, Sainsbury’s head of community affairs, said: “Our customers have been telling us that they like giving in this way and it’s really apparent by their generosity despite difficult times.

“We’re delighted to match all the meals donated by our customers and it means that together we’re helping to provide two million meals to vulnerable members of our communities that need it the most.”

Nationwide, two million meals were raised by shoppers and Sainsbury’s enlisting the help of 600 volunteers to benefit 720 local charities in the UK’s biggest ever single-charity food drive.