Charities are turning to technology and creative ideas as they struggle to source enough food to feed a growing number of people going hungry in Australia's rural and remote communities.

Key points: There is a large and growing demand for food relief in regional and rural areas

There is a large and growing demand for food relief in regional and rural areas Businesses often have a surplus of food that goes to waste

Businesses often have a surplus of food that goes to waste Food charity OzHarvest has launched an app that links the two together and expects it will provide 6 million meals in the first year alone

While communities continue to grow street gardens in a bid to access fresh food, OzHarvest has just launched an app that links rural charities with businesses that have surplus food.

OzHarvest founder and CEO Ronni Kahn said there was a huge and growing demand for food relief in regional areas while food was being thrown away because businesses did not know where to send it.

"There might be a business that is throwing away food in regional Australia because they don't have a solution and around the corner could be a charitable organisation that needs food," Ms Kahn said.

Ms Kahn said more than 4 million Australians needed food relief each year — with those in regional and remote areas a third more likely to experience food insecurity.

OzHarvest said it was not sustainable to operate its bright yellow food vans in every community, and instead launched the app to bring rural food charities and businesses together.

App connects charities

Charities with food to spare and charities that need it can register on the OzHarvest app, after which OzHarvest makes contact and brings them together.

"We then teach that food donor how to connect that food with the charity, and we manage that process so that if it falls down after connecting the two of them we either make sure we rebuild it or find another source of either food, or a recipient to take that food," Ms Kahn said.

OzHarvest has just launched an app that will link rural charities with businesses that have surplus food. ( ABC News: Laura Brierley Newton )

The app has been trialled with supermarkets and bakeries across almost every state.

Ms Kahn said OzHarvest hoped the system could support an extra 600 charities and rescue a further 2,000 tonnes of food from going to landfill.

This is expected to provide 6 million meals in the first year alone.

Red Cross health and wellbeing officer Lisa Clark said it could be particularly tough for rural people to access healthy, affordable food.

"We have a lot of isolation, we have transport networks that make the cost of food higher, we have fewer options available," she said.

'Inundated' with calls for help

The Red Cross held a town meeting in the south-east South Australian town of Millicent this week to find ways of meeting a massive demand for food relief.

She said volunteers working with one Millicent charity reported being "inundated" with requests for emergency meals.

"And that, as we know, is only a band-aid to solving the real concerns, which are, 'Why are people going hungry and what is preventing people from accessing that food?'," Ms Clark said.

One solution may be a system already in place in Port Lincoln where the Red Cross helped establish a local food security network.

It has since built a community street garden.

"That's just flourished and that's providing fresh food along the streets of Port Lincoln, available to anybody," she said.

In Mount Gambier, a group of more than 100 volunteers help run the city's soup kitchen, which marked its 10th anniversary this month.

Serving just one person on its first night of operation, a decade later the Sunset Community Kitchen is serving about 130 free hot meals over two nights a week.

"I don't think people realise how many people are struggling," chairperson Maree Thomson said.

"We have lots of young people and lots of young families — women in particular with kids — and a lot of them are working people who just can't manage to stretch the budget."

Community kitchens can provide warm, nutritious meals to people in need. ( ABC South East SA: Kate Hill )

Volunteers cook and serve food both purchased and donated locally. For example, a local winery donated two ute loads of onions and potatoes last week, while one local chicken farm donates eggs.

Home gardeners often call to donate excess produce, while food is sometimes left on the doorstep.

"I went there the other day and there was this great big pumpkin sitting by the door," Ms Thomson said.

The kitchen raises all its own funds and buys specials in bulk to freeze, while the rest is bought from the local Foodbank at prices far cheaper than the supermarket.

Demand doubles in south-east SA

Foodbank Limestone Coast branch manager Lynne Neshoda said the regional warehouse and hub had seen a doubling in demand in the past year.

Locals are referred by charities to the Mount Gambier hub, where they can access free and heavily discounted food.

The warehouse also distributes food three times a week to agencies that are feeding people in the wider region.

Food is sourced from local shops, but also from Foodbank's Adelaide warehouse because of the huge demand.

"Companies are donating but it's not enough," Ms Neshoda said.

"We just have to be out there all the time trying to get more food. And we purchase a lot of our staples because we can't keep up the demand for things like rice and pasta.

"At the moment it's turned cold and I've got no soup."

Locals are referred by charities to Foodbank's Mount Gambier Food Hub, where they can access free and heavily discounted food. ( ABC South East SA: Selina Green )

She said a lack of transport made it hard for people in the outlying towns to access the hub, while smaller towns also did not have the means to store or distribute food.

Foodbank SA recently launched its first Mobile Food Hub to get food to families living in the regional areas of highest demand.

The van has been visiting areas identified as having the greatest need and with limited access to food relief.

Foodbank said Murray Bridge, Port Adelaide, Gawler, Victor Harbor and towns within the Barossa Valley required an additional 68,000 meals per month just to keep up with current levels of demand.