Going into Meanwood Pantry feels almost like entering a small, bright green corner shop - and that's the intention.
The pantry, which is outside the Meanwood Community Centre in Leeds, was founded in July 2021 with the intention of tackling food insecurity in a different way. Vanessa Brown, coordinator of charity InterACT, had been part of helping people with food parcels during the Covid pandemic, and wanted to continue helping people in a different way.
She found out about Your Local Pantry, a network of membership food pantries operating in neighbourhoods across the UK that use supermarket surplus food to provide food to people at more manageable prices. The premise is simple - members pay a weekly membership fee of just £3.50, and for that they can go choose 10 items from the shop every week.
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And so the Meanwood Pantry was born, run by InterACT. Every week, the pantry gets shipments of food that supermarkets would have wasted, and those are categorised into more expensive, rarer, items (symbolised by hearts), and cheaper, more common items (symbolised by diamonds).
For their £3.50, members can do a weekly shop that includes three heart items, and seven diamond ones. It depends what the pantry gets in that week, but hearts can include things like meat, jars of coffee and ice cream, while diamonds are things like pasta, fruit and veg, and tins.
Vanessa told LeedsLive: "Food banks aren't always the best thing when it comes to actually changing the system that leads to food poverty. You get more choice here, which I think is really important, and everything is fresh.
"It feels like a normal shop you can browse in and I think that can make people feel less ashamed and like they have more dignity coming here. We really work on reducing the stigma around food poverty - this is for everyone in the local community who lives within a 20 minute walk."
Bob Powley, a volunteer at the pantry, added: "We don't ask people to prove they're struggling or anything like that - it's for everyone. And people spend quite a while choosing and looking around."
The shelves are well stocked in the small pantry with a variety of foods. When members come down, they're free to wander about and choose whichever 10 items they want from the shelves as if they were doing a weekly shop.
Much of the food comes through Fare Share, and can vary widely from week to week so people aren't constrained to the same things. Currently, the team have a large stock of pumpkins, and have previously had veal steaks on offer.
"It is for anyone in the local community, but the majority of people that come down are struggling or having to tighten their belts," Vanessa explained. "And that could be anyone right now.
"We've noticed a steep rise starting in October in our number of members after the energy bills cap went up. We currently have 95 active members and 190 visitors a month now.
"It's a big increase on what we were seeing over this summer."
While at busy times, the pantry has to give people slots. Vanessa and Bob said people tend to chat amongst each other and give each other tips on recipes or how to get the most out of their items. The pantry is also trialling a new recipe scheme where members can pay just a couple of pounds more to get a whole host of tailored recipes for the food items they get that week to help them use them effectively.
Volunteer Natalie Wood added: "There's a general air of advice here all the time. It helps people to try new things without having to spend lots of money.
"It lets people try something different and have fun without worrying they're spending all their money on something they might not like."
"It's really important for us to help people learn to cook," Vanessa said. "We know that's really important and is what helps people save the most money while getting the best out of their ingredients."
Vanessa said children particularly enjoy the hearts and diamonds system when they come in with parents. There's also a weekly selection of freebies - usually food close to its sell-by-date that members can choose from when they come in.
Natalie explained that if people are really struggling, they will check in with them. Vanessa said they're currently working with a mum who hasn't had a cooker for two years due to costs to help her get one.
Bob said: "People come here regularly. They enjoy coming here and really seem to appreciate having this facility.
"People seem to feel more in control and relaxed using this service. We know everyone by name who comes in. It's local, lively, and lovely."
Your Local Pantry is being supported by the Co-op this year, which is putting the money it usually puts into a Christmas advert into local food initiatives. The funding from the Co-op is hoped to triple pantry sites to 225 within three years.
Shirine Khoury-Haq, Group CEO at Co-op: “Whilst many of our competitors are adapting their Christmas ads to reflect the mood of the nation in a cost-of-living crisis, we are going further by pulling our ad altogether. In doing so we will be shining a light on the need to support vital community causes, throughout the year and not just at Christmas, especially with a deep recession looming.”
Our unique Co-op membership continues to drive our thinking and through our members incredible support, we are able to channel our resources and make local differences in ways no others can match. Through their ongoing commitment we can make society fairer and more co-operative.”
James Henderson, Your Local Pantry Network Development Coordinator, added: “Pantries are fantastic places. They bring people together around food, soften the impact of high living costs, and strengthen the power and potential of neighbourhoods. Communities have long wanted to improve food security while upholding dignity, choice and hope, and Pantries are a proven win-win solution. We're really excited to be teaming up with the Co-op, so another 150 neighbourhoods can open Pantries of their own."
The Meanwood Pantry opens on Mondays 2.30pm-4.30pm and 6pm-8pm and on Tuesdays 9am-11am - it's open to anyone in the Meanwood area.
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