A food box scheme that puts meals on the tables of people who use food banks has reached a major milestone. An incredible 100,000 meals have been distributed to people across the UK, with the landmark 100,000th meal going to a food bank in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
The national charity the Vegetarian Society launched the scheme back in March 2020 in response to the impact of Covid-19 and rising food poverty.
Each Vegetarian Society food box contains the ingredients and recipes to provide people with eight meals. One person who had a food box said: “We were really excited to receive the box. It felt like a gift as everything had been thought of, down to little packets of salt and pepper.”
A spokesperson for Newcastle West End Food Bank, said: “The meal boxes provided by the Vegetarian Society are an imaginatively thought out nutritious lifeline that allows the foodbank clients to look beyond the reality of the same weekly food parcel whilst allowing them to cook new meals by following the recipe cards”.
Lance Bell, Head of Campaigns and Engagement at the Vegetarian Society, said: “When we first started getting our food boxes out we didn’t know at the time we’d be sending out over 100,000 meals. The food boxes seem to be doing something really special–the boxes make people feel cared for and looked after.
“Not only do the boxes give filling meals, they also introduce cheaper, nutritious recipes that can be made again and again. The need to help people has unfortunately grown, and the Vegetarian Society food boxes are needed just as much as ever.”
Funding has come from individual donors, companies the Vegetarian Society works with, and from the Barclays Community Aid package and the National Lottery. The project is still in full swing. To donate visit www.vegsoc.org/foodbank.
The Vegetarian Society is a charity and the place to go for everything you want to know about the world of vegetarian food. Other work the Vegetarian Society does includes National Vegetarian Week (16 to 22 May 2022).
Notes to editors
- For media enquiries please contact Su Taylor at the Vegetarian Society on su@vegsoc.org.
- Each box contains the ingredients and recipes for two nutritious, filling, vegan dishes, which provide people with eight servings of food. With many people losing their jobs or being paid less, the amount of people needing to use food banks has increased dramatically. The Vegetarian Society is helping to tackle this problem by sending out food boxes.
- Boxes are being distributed through Trussell Trust Food Banks, housing associations and school holiday activity clubs.
- The boxes are distributed to anyone and everyone who needs them, not just vegetarians and vegans