North East charitable organisation partners with Tesco stores to ensure people don’t go without

The organisation gets surplus food from Tesco Bishop Auckland and makes it available to people in the County Durham area, ensuring that families don’t go without.

Little Chefs, Big Chefs receives the food as part of the Community Food Connection surplus food scheme, which involves local Tesco stores and food redistribution charity FareShare.

The Community Food Connection scheme ensures that surplus food from Tesco is given to charities and community groups, whose volunteer members then distribute it to the public. Across the UK it redistributes two million meals each month.

Joanne Iceton, managing director at Little Chefs, Big Chefs, said: “Little Chefs, Big Chefs CIC was originally formed to teach people of all ages and abilities how to cook for better health, with a focus on the importance of good nutrition and a positive body image, whilst teaching valuable kitchen skills in a fun and relaxed manner.

“Our work includes various social and educational groups teaching children, young people, families and adults of all abilities, as well as an Eco Market, allowing all members of the public to access a variety of surplus foods for a low service contribution, whilst helping us in our bid to reduce food waste.

“These contributions ensure our Eco Market is well stocked with healthy nutritious food, allowing us to provide our services to those in need. We couldn’t do our work without the help of organisations like Tesco providing this much-needed food that should never go to waste.”

Claire De Silva, Tesco Head of Community, said: “Working with community groups such as Little Chefs, Big Chefs to help them get the food they need is such an important service for us to be able to provide. The dedication they have to their community is amazing, and we are pleased to do what we can to support.

“We firmly believe no good food should go to waste, which is why we began our Community Food Connection scheme. It enables us to ensure our surplus food is put to good use in communities.”

FareShare is the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste. Two-thirds of the organisations it provides food to support children and families.

Katie Sadler, Head of FareShare Go, said: “The food that Tesco redistributes through FareShare makes a huge difference to people facing food insecurity across the UK.

“We work with thousands of charities and community groups providing essential support to their communities, and receiving a steady stream of food helps them to feed the people who need it most.”

Charities and community groups that could benefit from the support of the Community Food Connection scheme can find further information at https://fareshare.org.uk/getting-food/