Inflation hits area food banks as demand increases and prices climb

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Rising inflation isn't just impacting gas prices. The cost of food is also on the rise.

Officials with Hunger Task Force expect to see more people in the community needing assistance in the coming months.

In the meantime, inflation is impacting their costs in-house.

"The cost of fuel is skyrocketing," said Sherrie Tussler, Hunger Task Force. "Everybody is complaining about that but what they're not complaining about is another cost we have -- cardboard. We pack all our food in these cardboard boxes and we send it out, more than 10,000 of those boxes are going out just to the seniors, not to mention the food pantries."

Tussler says they're also seeing the cost of plastic drastically increase.

Hunger Task Force uses plastic bins to deliver produce from its farm to the local food pantries.

She says consumers shopping in grocery stores are likely to see price increases because packaging costs more.