By supporting community kitchens, food clubs, and social supermarkets, we can make sure everyone has access to good food
We don’t just have to sit back and let bad things happen to us, it can feel really great to be a part of the solution too!
“Communities can be powerful agents of change when they come together to address food issues,” says MP Kerry McCarthy, an advocate for transforming our food systems. She isn’t the only one. While the government is doing its bit to tackle the food crisis, local people are forming ‘collectives’ to help feed their community.
According to the Trussell Trust, over 3 million emergency food parcels were distributed last year. To help ease the pressure off food banks, other models are have opened up over the years. What they all have in common is creating better access to quality food, and helping to build a community.
Here’s how they work…
Community kitchens
Community kitchens are popping up all over. They take food that might go to waste and turn it into delicious meals for everyone. For example, places like The Long Table in Stroud whip up meals from surplus ingredients and create a sense of community while they do it. They even deliver frozen meals to those who can’t get out.
The model operates on a “pay as you feel” basis. Everybody receives a meal and becomes a customer. This creates the idea of a ‘collective’ which Will Mansell, co-founder of The Long Table, believes is important to our mental wellbeing, “Eating as a collective reduces the feeling of isolation,” he says. “We’re much better off living in a community than as individuals.”
Finding Community Kitchens: Many cities and towns across the UK have community kitchens. We can often find them through local council websites, community centres, or by searching online directories like FoodCycle.
Pantries and Food Clubs
Meanwhile, food clubs and pantries are popping up all over the UK.
Food Clubs are normally found in children’s centres. We will typically pay an annual £1 membership fee and weekly payments of £3.50 which gets us approximately £15-£20 worth of food. Members will have access to a support network and cookery lessons.
Pantries are located in churches and community centres. They work on a local membership model too. We pay a couple of quid per visit and are entitled to a basket of groceries worth up to five times more. Pantries work in partnership with the charity FareShare and local wholesalers, who provide surplus food and other items.
Feeding Britain has a network of food clubs across the UK. Find one near you here: https://feedingbritain.org/about-us/where-we-work/
Food Clubs
Citizens’ Supermarkets are large facilities which have a community café and advice hub. Some have cookery and IT classes on-site, as well as second hand furniture shops. Usually we are referred by our housing provider, agency or we can self refer. Some supermarkets have a pay-per-item system at the checkout while others ask for a flat fee in return for a range of items. Food is heavily discounted, using surplus stocks from retailers and manufacturers.
We can find citizens supermarkets in Birkenhead, Coventry and Bradford. There are plans for new openings in Glasgow, Norwich, and Sheffield too. In some parts of the UK there are ‘mobile’ citizens’ supermarkets – that’s a double decker bus kitted out with a shopping area, advice booth and café.
Food Banks
A food bank is a storehouse for millions of pounds of food and other products that are donated by the public. Volunteers sort the food into parcels. In times of emergency, health visitors, schools or social workers can give us a voucher which entitles us to a food bank parcel worth three days of food. The Trussell Trust is the largest food bank network in the UK with over 1,200 food bank centres.
Social Supermarkets
Here, we can pay for food at a heavily reduced rate – it can be as low as 30p for every £1 we would spend in a normal supermarket. They know their customer base and who needs that bit of extra help. Social supermarkets aim to be completely sustainable and use local suppliers.
Image: Sunshine Seeds / Shutterstock
Article updated 2024.