Tackling hunger in Bassetlaw

Aim

Providing staple bags of herbs, spices, oils and other essentials to people coming to our Affordable Food Hubs so they can cook good food.

What is this project? We currently have 15 Affordable Food Hubs in the Bassetlaw area - providing high quality, low cost food to 5,000 households each week. Through this Crowdfunder, we will provide those households with 'Staple Bags', to help them cook delicious and nutritious meals at home. The bags will provide people with staple herbs, spices, oil as well and basics of rice and pasta to help support a family to create meals with the ingredients they access within the Food Hubs. The ingredients will also come in a reusable jute/canvas bag which will also help reduce the use of single use plastic. 

How do the Food Hubs work? The Food Hub model bases Food Hubs in local Primary Schools, providing food that would otherwise be going to landfill from Fareshare Midlands, at a cost of just £3 per bag. Each Hub is open widely to the general public and they are all non-means tested. We piloted 3 schools in May 2022 and, based on how successfully they supported local families, we grew to 15 Hubs by the end of December 2022. Currently, all this work has been generously funded and supported by Feeding Britain and most recently Comic Relief.

Who is involved? The Food Hub project is run by Rhubarb Farm and the Bassetlaw Food Insecurity Network, with support from Feeding Britain, FareShare and many others. This Crowdfunder is being run by Feeding Britain on behalf of Rhubarb Farm.

What next? The vision has always been around the Food Hubs becoming ‘Community Hubs’ for local people. Strong relationships are being formed with community members through the Hubs, meaning we can provide wrap around support and help to address wider issues people may be facing too. 

Alongside the staples bags, we're hoping to do the following in 2023: 

• Slow Cooker courses;
• Cookery classes for adults and children within the schools;
• Weight management classes;
• Money Management courses;
• Recipe cards and videos to cook at home. 

This project successfully funded on 24th February 2023