Both Tesco and Aldi have pledged to donate three and one million meals respectively to children in low-income families over the course of the school summer holidays.

Aldi made a commitment at the beginning of the year to donate 10 million meals across the UK in 2021, in tandem with community giving app Neighbourly.

The budget supermarket has joined forces with charities, foodbanks and community groups to distribute excess food to causes that support children.

Mary Dunn, managing director of corporate responsibility at Aldi UK, said: "We're proud to be supporting so many incredible causes up and down the country, helping them to donate meals to those in need this summer.

"The school holidays can be a hard time for families, particularly when many are experiencing heightened financial hardship due to the pandemic, and this is why we are committed to doing what we can to donate more meals than ever before."

Steve Butterworth, from Neighbourly, added: "The summer school holidays are always one of the busiest times for the nation's charities and foodbanks, but this year we're expecting things to be even busier.

"Aldi's donations have never been more of a vital support to these organisations."

Tesco has launched a Buy One to Help a Child scheme, with the company donating to charity FareShare every time fresh food and vegetables are bought in its stores.

Over the three-week campaign, Tesco expects to sell enough fruit and veg to donate up to three million meals to its charity partner FareShare to redistribute to charities and local community groups supporting children.

Tesco has been working with FareShare since 2016, and, to date, has redistributed more than 120 million meals of food to charities and community groups across the UK. FareShare supports frontline charities and community groups working with children - from summer holiday clubs and breakfast clubs, to community kitchens and groups which supply food parcels to those facing food insecurity.