The number of people turning to charities for help with food and other essentials has doubled in two years, a report reveals.
Some low-paid workers and benefit claimants face a "Dickensian situation", according to Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS), which compiled the report.
Last year staff at Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) helped people make around 2200 applications for charitable support, mainly for food but also for help with other essentials such as electricity.
That is double the number made in 2009-10, with changes to the benefits system and problems with welfare payments the most important factors behind the increase, CAS claims.
With other changes to benefits being made by the UK Government, the organisation expects even more people to turn to food banks and charities to feed themselves and their families.
Across the UK, the Trussell Trust charity provided food parcels to 126,697 people in 2011-12, more than double the number from the previous year, with almost 46,000 children fed by the trust last year.
It estimates that by 2016, 500,000 people a year will receive a food parcel.
Other organisations such as the Salvation Army and local churches also give out free food to those in need, with many applications for help coming from those on a low income who have some kind of crisis such as unemployment or the loss of benefits.
CAS chief executive Margaret Lynch said: "In this recession there has been an exponential increase in the number of working families and people on benefits who are needing help to feed their children and themselves.
"The report reveals a Dickensian situation facing many of Scotland's low-paid workers and people who rely on welfare benefits.
"The national minimum wage has failed to keep pace with the massive increase in food prices over the last five years, leaving many low income families facing food insecurity.
"The fact that 50% of those getting food parcels are working is shocking. The fact that the remaining 50% who rely on food parcels do so because their benefit payments are delayed or because of changes to their benefits entitlement is both avoidable and disgraceful.
"Sadly this indignity is about to be inflicted on many more of our fellow Scots as welfare changes begin to bite.
"The welfare state was set up to provide a safety net from cradle to grave. The safety net has been withdrawn and the task of feeding the poor once more falls to the churches and charitable organisations whose philanthropy once helped to feed the poor of the industrial revolution."
More people are needing food parcels also because of unemployment, low income and rising food costs, according to CAS. The charity Oxfam reports that food costs have risen by 30.5% over the past five years.
The CAS report said: "Evidence from Citizens Advice Bureaux and food banks suggest that problems and changes in the benefits system are the most important factors.
"A number of welfare changes are causing claimants to need food parcels, including changes to the social fund, JSA [jobseeker's allowance] sanctions and the sickness benefit reassessment.
"With recent changes in tax credits and future changes to DLA [disability living allowance] and housing benefit, we expect the number of Scottish CAB clients that require food parcels to increase further."
A UK Government spokeswoman said: "We're committed to supporting people on low incomes, which is why we have increased the personal allowance to take more than two million people out of tax and given a triple lock for rises in the basic state pension.
"The benefits system provides a safety net to cover costs such as food and housing and these benefits increase every year in line with inflation. We also provide emergency financial support through crisis loans if people find themselves in trouble."
