Food rescue at UK Harvest
07/21/2022
UK Harvest’s mission is to nourish the nation. Formed in 2017, the charity rescues perishable food and redistributes it. It aims to eliminate hunger and food waste by providing education, inspiration and culinary stimulation! Following our article on community centres working in food justice we spoke to Sarah Morison, head of partnerships at UK Harvest. She told us about the scale of need, how community food pantries are a different model to food banks, and how they work with partners to redistribute quality excess food in a creative way which gives people dignity.
Big growth
“We think of ourselves as an environmental charity. We rescue surplus food – fresh, dry and frozen – which would otherwise go to waste. It’s shocking that so much food is wasted when people are going hungry. It’s an environmental issue as well as an economic one.
We have a warehouse in Chichester where we store everything. We collect food from farmers, producers, supermarkets and hospitality sites from Bristol to South London. We redistribute the food, free of charge to a network of 100 charities each week. This includes charities working with homeless people, domestic abuse shelters and centres with community fridges. We also distribute it through pop-up pantries we run ourselves, our community kitchen and other educational projects.
We started in 2017 but it was really the pandemic where we grew. When lockdown started, we quickly mobilised our networks so people could get food. With hospitality closed, there was a lot going to waste. We still have stock given to us by cruise liners who were stranded with no passengers to feed. We had 42 pallets of very nice coffee which we quickly passed on to NHS Trusts.
Now, five years after we launched, we’re needed more than ever. As the cost-of-living crisis hits harder, we’re seeing greater demand for our services. We’re applying for funding everywhere we can, to try and scale up our work to meet this need. Funding needs to cover our staffing, logistics and transport costs which are themselves increasing."
Food rescue
“Did you know that there are more food banks in the UK than McDonalds restaurants? This just shows how widespread they now are and the scale of need. According to Trussell Trust data, food banks provided more than 2.1 million parcels to people facing financial hardship across the country from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.
In the mix of activity helping to support people in poverty, food banks are ground zero. They are the crisis service, giving emergency parcels to people who have been referred to them. There is often an amount of stigma involved in going to a food bank, even at a point of desperate need.
Our activity supports people so they don’t get to that point. We run eight food pantries which are like pop-up markets. There’s no registration, no checks or barriers. People choose what they want and make a small donation. The transaction gives ownership. The food we source is of a high quality. People leave with full bags of good food to see them through the week. In 2021, the food we rescued and distributed turned into 2.5 million meals for people facing financial hardship.
We also offer wrap-around services at our pantries. For example, Citizens Advice volunteers offer debt and benefit advice. Because pantries are located in village halls, scout huts and community centres, people stay for tea and a chat. If you need a hug on a given day, this is where to come!"
Education
“In our marketing we invite people to help rescue the food. 80% of what we rescue is perishable and we don’t want any of it to be wasted. This is a positive environmental action people can take, especially as the majority of food waste still happens at home and can be avoided.
We’re really creative about getting the most of out the food. For example, when we get huge sacks of flour or sugar, our volunteers break them down into smaller bags for the pantries. The chefs in our Nourish Hub community kitchen in west London have to be creative too. All the ingredients they use have been rescued. We had a large donation of broccoli stalks – we turned them into delicious soups. The three pallets of horseradish will take longer to get through, but we will!
The food we rescue gets to us for all sorts of reasons. Fruit and vegetables might be oversized or surplus to requirements. Product lines with smudged barcodes can’t go onto supermarket shelves so have to be scrapped. We take seasonal promoted items which haven’t sold or those with short shelf lives. For example, Easter chocolate, clotted cream at the end of the summer, Christmas treats in January. We can always do something with them.
Our message is about reducing food waste but we talk with people about healthy eating too. We teach people how to prepare tricky vegetables or cook unfamiliar fish. We encourage them to try new ingredients and share simple, fun tips to help people get their cooking mojo."
Support
“In the school holidays we run programmes from five locations for kids on free school meals. This is now government funded. The young people learn about growing food, they make and share a heathy lunch and go home with a snack bag. It takes a lot of organising and is run with help from our brilliant volunteers but we know that the families in our communities who use it, really need it.
This year, the cost-of-living increase has already been a big change. We expect that it will get worse over the winter as the energy costs kick in. We’re a lifeline for many people. But, we provide this with dignity and a drive to get nutritious, healthy food to everyone."
Members of our team from the Chichester office, have been actively volunteering for UK Harvest over the past year. We are proud to support the work that they do in our community.
