British Army to supply 20,000 ration packs for the homeless and elderly The rations, which include packs of beans, pasta and peas, contain enough food to feed a person for breakfast, lunch and dinner

Army ration packs are being given to the homeless and the elderly to combat the rising number of people in need of food in the UK.

The rations, which include packs of beans, pasta and peas, contain 4,000 calories’ worth of food to feed a person for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Up to 20,000 unused “operational ration packs” are to be donated to citizens in need in the UK over the next few years and will be distributed by charities, The Telegraph reported.

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Beans, pasta and peas

The Ministry of Defence has partnered up with FairShare, which distributes food to nearly 10,000 charities that work with youth hostels and community groups.



Those who will benefit from the donations include homeless hostels, children’s breakfast clubs and lunch groups for the elderly, according to The Mirror.

The MoD has roughly one per cent of its ration stock spare at the end of a year. FairShare will use this spare stock to distribute the food that is close to its sell-by date.

Tobias Ellwood, Minister for Defence People and Veterans, said he is proud the military can support communities through food redistribution.

“Ration packs help provide nutritionally balanced meals to our armed forces on operations around the world. But charity begins at home, and I’m pleased our partnership with FareShare will make sure no food goes to waste,” he said.

Roger West, the head of logistics at the MoD’s procurement organisation based in Bristol, said the solution will see food products delivered to where they are needed while also minimising waste.

“This is the right thing to do,” he added.

The move was first suggested by Labour MP Frank Field, the Independent MP for Birkenhead.

The former Labour whip, who resigned in August last year over alleged antisemitism in the Labour Party, told The Telegraph he welcomed the “really encouraging initiative”.

Minister for hunger

Food poverty has become an increasingly pressing issue for the Government, and last week a group of MPs called for a “minister for hunger” to be created.

It followed a report by the Environmental Audit Committee that found one in five children in the UK are facing malnutrition.

Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, welcomed the call, while statistics from the charity showed that food banks provided nearly 660,000 emergency supplies to people in crisis between April and September 2018.

The figure is a 13 per cent increase on the same period in 2017.

Ms Revie said: “A failure to address the root causes of poverty has led to soaring need for food banks, with more than 1.3 million food parcels provided to people by our network last year. It’s not right that anyone in our country faces hunger, and it’s not inevitable.

“Although food bank volunteers are providing vital support to those in crisis, no charity can replace people having enough money for the basics.”