I went to a social supermarket and got all this for under £10

There's no getting away from the cost of living crisis and more and more families are struggling to put meals on the table.

The demand on food banks has soared, with those on benefits needing them more than ever. But the current crisis is affecting people across the board, even families with two full-time incomes, and many are turning to so-called social supermarkets to make ends meet.

Unlike many food banks, these places are open to all - no matter what their income - and they're proving a lifeline for the many people who are now struggling to pay their bills.

READ MORE: 'I don't use food banks. I would rather not eat': The Greater Manchester streets where people pawn their things to survive

This week I visited one such supermarket in Wigan and was amazed by how far my money stretched. Fur Clemt is a charity organisation that makes edible surplus food available to the community through its shop and on-site café.

A quick glance around shows labels from all kinds of places, including Waitrose, Tesco and Morrisons and there are big brands such as Heinz, Kellogg's and Warburtons. It works using a traffic light system so anything with a red sticker costs £1, yellow sticker 50p and green sticker 25p.

Anyone can shop there - you simply pay £5 annual membership and can do two shops a week there, sometimes a third shop on a Friday if there's surplus stock (they use their Facebook page to update members).

With fruit and veg you can pick up five portions of anything there and it costs just £1 for the lot. I picked up a broccoli, a cucumber, some potatoes, a bag of spinach and a couple of bananas.

The majority of stock was in date - or had been frozen before reaching its use-by date - and anything past its best before date