This year’s Million Meal Appeal, run by Sainsbury’s and FareShare, has collected 2 million meals – nearly double that collected last year.

In what is a record collection for the country’s largest single-charity food drive, the supermarket giant this year extended the appeal to 900 stores across the country, compared to 600 last year when 1.2 million meals were donated.

The collection, which occurred over the weekend, was matched meal-for-meal by Sainsbury’s and involved 1,000 staff and 600 FareShare volunteers.

Andy White, head of community affairs at Sainsbury’s, said the expansion this year to more stores and encompass an entire weekend was in response to donor demand. “Our customers have been telling us that they like giving in this way and it’s really apparent by their generosity despite difficult times.”

Lindsay Boswell, former chief executive of the Institute of Fundraising and present CEO of FareShare said that the response to the appeal was “incredible”.

Pasta and pasta sauce were reportedly the most donated items, with these long-life foods being distributed to 700 local community groups along with the fresh surplus produce regularly collected by FareShare.