The survey was conducted in two parts, the first by Ipsos (a market research organisation) on behalf of the charity, which sent questionnaires to 4,427 random adults.
A second survey was also conducted by Ipsos, this time with 3,866 adults who had been referred to food banks.
There were also interviews with people who had and hadn’t visited food banks but were identified as facing “food insecurity”.
Food insecurity is defined by the Evidence and Network on UK Household Food insecurity (ENUF), external as the lack of money to ensure reliable and constant access to food that meets dietary and nutritional needs.
ENUF says it can be “acute, transitory, or chronic”, and ranges in severity from “worry about not being able to secure enough food to going whole days without eating”.
Figures suggest one in four children in the UK live in what the charity refers to as food insecure households.
Helen Barnard, at Trussell Trust, said she had been told parents were “losing sleep, worrying about how they will pay for new shoes, school trips, keep the lights on or afford the bus fare to work”.
She added: “We have already created a generation of children who’ve never known life without food banks. That must change”.
Ms Barnard called on the government to address the results of the survey, referencing Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s manifesto pledge to tackle poverty and end the need for food banks.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson told the BBC: “In addition to extending free school meals and ensuring the poorest children don’t go hungry in the holidays with £1billion to reform crisis support, our child poverty taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy later this year.
“We are also overhauling job centres and reforming the broken welfare system to support people into good, secure jobs, while always protecting those who need it most.”