Essex charity makes meals from food which would otherwise go to waste
They give them away free to anyone needing food
Last updated 24th Jan 2022
A charity in Essex is making hot, three-course meals from food which would otherwise be thrown away.
FoodCycle in Chelmsford offers free meals every Thursday, along with a chance to sit down and get to know others in the community.
The charity launched in Chelmsford over summer, but they say uptake hasn't been as high as they'd hoped.
Lucy Self works for the charity and wants more people to come out: "We're saving food that would end up in the bin which is obviously a great and very valid thing to do, particularly at the moment when you the cost of living is so high...
"We turn that food into delicious three course hot vegetarian meals, we lay the table and we get tea and coffee and then everyone sits down together and shares a conversation. It's as much about food as it is about people connecting."
She says they get all sorts of people round their tables: "There are elderly people that might have lost someone during the pandemic who might be feeling a bit lonely, there are mums that just don't want to do the washing up that day and who might want to bring their family down.
"We have people that are suffering from food poverty and homelessness, we have refugees and then we just have people in the community that just fancy having a chat with other people."
With inflation at its highest in almost 30 years, Lucy says FoodCycle wants to help those affected: "What we can do with a FoodCycle meal is not only offer someone a free meal, which can save them some money on buying ingredients for a meal, but also if you're not home that night, you might leave your heating off or save yourself heating the water for washing up.
"We we will always do our best to be there for the communities we're in and we'll just try and work harder and do better and reach more people so that we can help anyone that is affected by the high cost of living."
She also promised the food would be tasty: "If you'd like to come down and support us, whether that's coming for a meal, or volunteering with us, we would so appreciate it because we really believe that these meals strengthen the community and we can only obviously do that if we have the support around us... we've been told the meals are delicious!"