The 'supermarket' at Lifegate Christian Church in Cooma is an important and popular place for Snowy Monaro residents who need help putting food on the table.

Every Thursday, it is fully stocked ready for customers, many of whom rely on this food service on a weekly basis.

Lifegate Community FoodCare is a ‘foodbank’ style shop enabling the church to provide low cost groceries to those struggling to afford items in a regular supermarket. FoodCare provides a range of products from long-life pantry goods, non-food items to fresh fruit and vegetables, supporting people in the region through the provision of affordable groceries and free fresh produce.

There are not only groceries available, but a free sausage sizzle (until 11am), some donated second-hand clothing items (from clients who want to help others), and the outreach also provides an opportunity for those who have limited social contact with a cafe-style setting and free tea and coffee.

Pastor, David Reading, said there is an increasing need for the local food service.

"Our need for hampers is more in demand; people are accessing it more," he said.

"Everyone is experiencing the pressure of the cost of living, grocery items in major supermarkets are going up in price and wages aren't increasing to match it so there's pressure on household budgets.

"Coming out of winter too, everyone gets their winter bills so that then puts added pressure on families. We notice over the September/October period we generally see a rise in people accessing the foodcare service. People are getting those bills where they then don't have that extra money. Unfortunately this year they have tended to be a bit higher than people have expected."

Lifegate FoodCare supplies emergency hampers free of charge and shoppers can become members for no-cost.

"You pick your own hamper from our pantry, everything is marked with a point. Rather than a dollar figure per item, it's done on a points system," Mr Reading said.

"The various hampers are at 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 55 and then it goes up in points increments. Once a customer gets to the first hamper of 10 points, which is $9, it's free fruit, veggies and bread.

"There's a small limit on how many of each item people can have, just so it spreads around so everyone can access it; it depends on how much of each item is available as to what the limits are."

Lifegate FoodCare collects supplies from Coles, Aldi, Woolworths, Moontree and Sandy's Hotbake.

"We are averaging probably 75 to 90 hampers every week, and it's generally the same people who come in weekly, or every fortnight," Mr Reading said.

"We go through about 600-700kg of food a week. Anything that is leftover or unsuitable for human consumption goes to local farmers to give to their animals, nothing gets wasted.

"The service is about budget relief, unfortunately we can't help with everything but it makes a difference, especially for families."

Mr Reading said the service is important for building community. He said pensioners will come in for a coffee and chat before they do their shopping.

With SecondBite returning at Monaro Community Access Service (MCAS) to help residents doing it tough, it will ensure more assistance reaches those in the community who need a helping hand.

"The more people who can be helped in our community, the better," Mr Reading said.

"The reality is people need help and some people may not feel comfortable coming to us or can't access our service because we are on the outskirts of town, they may not have transport, so MCAS being central in town is easier to access."

Elsewhere in the region, the Uniting Church in Jindabyne provides hampers year-round, and at Bombala Lifegate Christian Church has an op shop on Maybe Street where pre-packaged emergency hampers are regularly available.

"We'll have Christmas hampers there as well this year," Mr Reading said.

"We have people who travel from Bombala, Adaminaby, Bredbo and Jindabyne come as well. Those who live out of town often align their appointments up for a Thursday so they can visit here while they are in Cooma and do it all in one hit."

The Lifegate Community FoodCare shop is open from 9.30am until 4.30pm. New faces are always welcome.