EBFC Citywide Meals on Wheels /Surplus Food Rescue

Aim

To raise funds to cover our running costs to April for our award winning citywide community meals on wheels & surplus food redistribution .

Food is Medicine

East Brighton Food Cooperative since launching " Food is Medicine "  just before the pandemic have cooked and delivered over 300,000 + freshly made nutritious meals across Brighton & Hove whilst also saving and diverting 800+tonnes of surplus food from landfill to use in our meals and to share with 30+ community groups across our city. This is climate action on the frontline as one third of all greenhouse emissions are generated by the food industry, yet we waste one third of all food produced. Food waste is a major problem that we are addressing head one, rescuing food daily. The food we rescue not only helps climate action and planet Earth and community groups but also our isolated elderly neighbours suffering from malnutrition who live alone and are unable to access a hot daily meal due to their physical ill health, mental ill health and financial challenges, whilst also lacking a local support network. 

Fresh Surplus Food, collected and redistributed

Our wonderful volunteers provide social contact to the lovely people getting our meals. Our community meals on wheels are an essential lifeline for these people providing social contact, welfare checks and a daily hot fresh nutritious meal. This helps to keep people nourished and in better health , keeping them out of hospital and living independently in their own homes and communities.Our meals aren't just tasty - they're designed to support health, with our weekly menu packed with 30+plants for our carnivores and herbivores which helps to maintain and support gut health and a healthy immune system. 

Volunteers

Daniel and Patrick, 2 of our volunteers in the kitchen with rescued surplus fresh asparagus going straight onto the meals on wheels menu. On this occasion, 3 palettes of fresh surplus asparagus was saved. Cooked by ourselves for our meal on wheels service and the rest given to 30+ community food groups in Brighton & Hove.

Below, our local Tuesday volunteer delivery drivers and volunteer kitchen help, plus our friendly local bagel man, donating bagels, which were also given out on the meal service that day.

NHS

We are now working with NHS hospital discharge teams and the East Central Brighton Primary Care Network's GP's surgeries on a pioneering initiative to support patients at home. A proper nutritious meal can keep someone out of hospital or help them to be discharged sooner. In our last survey 78% of recipients said their health would have been worse without the EBFC's home delivered meals. Our work has been recognised nationally and we were listed as one of the UK's Top 5 pioneering social enterprises in 2024 by the Natwest Social Enterprise Top100. We will use any monies raised to help towards our costs of saving food from being wasted whilst cooking it up into fresh, nutritious meals, helping our elderly neighbours recover their health and wellbeing through the healing power of a hot nutritious daily meal.

Channel 4 Christmas Special at EBFC Kitchen

link to channel 4 Christmas Special featuring the EBFC's Kitchen & Community Meals on Wheels being delivered to 94 year old Queenie

Testimony

Here is a testimony from local pensioner Shirley, who was a carer herself, one of our meal recipients, writing to us about how much our delivered meal service means to her.

Infograph

Below the EBFC Infograph explaining the cost saving to the NHS of addressing malnutrition in the UK with fresh healthy meals on wheels. Beds are blocked by many elderly patients who stay far longer than they need to in hospital for want of being able to prepare and cook fresh healthy meals at home for themselves. 

The Infograph also has the QR code for the East Brighton Food Cooperative's latest national review that we will be launching at 1pm on November 19th during National Malnutrition Awareness week ( 17th to 21st November ) with Age UK and BAPEN .  

Raising awareness of malnutrition in the UK with policymakers

East Brighton Food Co-op’s Bryan Coyle taking the EBFC malnutrition awareness information to national policymakers across the UK including the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves , Health Secretary Wes Streeting , 

Paul Farmer, CEO of Age UK .

 Bryan with Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology, UCL and legendary comedian and social activist Mark Thomas as they both appear in a new BBC film about the 1942 Beveridge  Plan to be screened in 2026.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made