Building a Bridge Between Surplus Food and Demand
Shrewsbury Food Hub saves approx. 4 tonnes of good food every week from restaurants, retailers and producers in and around Shrewsbury. This good surplus food is sorted, safely stored and re-distributed to community groups and food share tables in our community. Anyone can use this surplus food, using it is the most important thing!
Read below Jo’s routine as a food hub volunteer – this week Chicken from Nando’s!
Just before 10 o’clock on a Monday morning Jo drives up to the the Hub depot. Her mission today is to follow the chill trail which will lead her to Nando’s who specialise in chicken dishes. Three kango bags are put into the car and we drive the short distance to the restaurant. It’s just one stop today though Jo sometimes also collects from a couple of Co-op stores.
A warm welcome awaits us at Nando’s – they’re obviously used to seeing Jo and we’re told that there’s quite a lot for us today. We are helped with packing the chicken into our chiller boxes. There is chicken in various guises, including wings and thighs. Straight into the car and drive as fast as legal back to the Food Hub.
Once in the building the individual bags are labelled, listing supplier and date and then placed in the freezer room. There it is shelved in strict rotation – first in, first out. Jo then completes collection sheets; it was interesting to see that one entry concerns the carbon footprint of the product.
Jo, a former social worker, has been volunteering for the Hub just over two years. Jo has received full food hygiene training from us and has clearly developed a routine which is as quick as can be but always follows meticulous guidelines for hygiene and safe practice.
What we do gives a WIN:WIN!
- WIN – Saving perfectly good and edible food from landfill, giving in a huge positive effect benefit to the environment.
- WIN – Ensure that the good food is distributed throughout our community – #belliesnotbins
“There is a huge environmental impact caused by food going to waste. Not only the harmful greenhouse gases created by producing food that isn’t used, or even from the food rotting in landfill, it’s also the waste of all the precious resources that it takes to bring that food to your plate – the land, water, energy and hard work (not to mention love and care!).”
Source: www.wrap.org.uk
Anyone can be a recipient of good surplus food. Our Facebook Page is updated daily with all the information you need to find us!
If you are interested in joining Jo and our large and friendly team us as a volunteer, please find more information here!
We also need support to keep our “Hub Wheels Turning” if you are in position to make a small donation, you can find details via this link Thank You!