Sainsbury's will become the first UK supermarket to label products that food banks need most, including tinned food, pasta, meat, vegetables, longlife fruit juice, dried or UHT milk and tea bags.
In a bid to encourage shoppers to help those in need, customers at 1,400 stores will be able to include priority items for donation after checkout.
The initiative to label priority items came from a group of 13 young people, who were designing a social action project as part of the National Citizen Service programme - and it was their idea that led to the 300 percent increase in donations.
"We're excited to be working together to expand Sainsbury's food donation programme and to launch Argos's toy donation programme," said Claudine Blamey, head of corporate responsibility and sustainability at Sainsbury's.
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"It's been brilliant to work with NCS graduates to permanently roll out their label initiative to all our stores and help reach our target of 1m donations."
The move follows a successful pitch to the manager of a Sainsbury's branch in Exeter, where labels were implemented in store - and, in turn, donations tripled. Others will be able to follow suit when the scheme is rolled out across the country from 16 December.
Mark Richardson, the manager of Exeter food bank, added: "The result of this initiative just goes to show that sometimes you just need a new mind on an old problem. Sometimes the most simple ideas have the greatest impact. This campaign has already had fantastic results locally, and I'm excited to see how it can benefit food banks and their clients across the UK."
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According to the Guardian, shoppers will also be able to donate new toys in branches of Sainsbury's sister firm, Argos, from 16 December.
Sure, a cynic would say the companies are merely giving you more ways to spend money in their shops, but personally I'm all for anything that might help those in need in the long run.
Food writer and anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe is also doing her bit to help food bank users, having drawn her experience as one herself to create a cook book featuring recipes using canned and dried food.
Drawing on her experience as a food bank user and working with people in poverty, Tin Can Cook, brings together 75 simple, affordable recipes that can be rustled up from tinned and dried ingredients (give or take a couple of store cupboard staples) as a 'tongue-in-cheek fuck you to food snobbery and elitism'.
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Monroe, who perfected the art of frugal cooking out of necessity as a single mum, told the Sunday Telegraph: "There's a lot of snobbery around tinned food but I want to lift the lid on it and show people you can make really good meals out of it.
"We are emphasising that cookery doesn't have to be this elitist or fashionable thing you're sold on television.
"It's about looking at what's in your cupboards and knocking something together - that's what it's about for most people."
Monroe has also said that she'll be donating copies of the books to food banks, and has now set up the means for others to do the same via GoFundMe.
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Find out more about how to donate items to food banks - and what's needed - via the Trussell Trust website.
Featured Image Credit: PA