Pop-up pantry at Forres Town Hall is distributing food from supermarkets that would otherwise go to waste
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A scheme set up to support members of the local community while reducing food waste is proving popular.
The Pop-up Pantry at Forres Town Hall is a collaboration between charities Moray Food Plus (MFP) – who distribute food from Farshare and CFine – and Forres Area Community Trust (FACT), with support from savings and loans cooperative Moray Firth Credit Union.
FACT’s community engagement coordinator, Lindsey Standring, confirmed the pantry in the lesser hall on Fridays from 2pm-4pm or on Saturdays from 10am-noon started in April and in the first 15 weeks attracted an average of 29 customers, however, in the last 11 weeks it has averaged 46 weekly visitors.
She said: “The timetable for opening times is on the notice board in the window at the town hall and on Facebook.
“We welcome an average of six new members each week and there are currently over 240.
“Membership is free and it’s just £2.50 per shop.
“The only restriction is that only one member per household from the Forres Academy Catchment Area can shop each week.”
She added: “We are the only Moray pantry that has not had to restrict new memberships as thankfully customers are only using the pantry when needed to top on the basics.
“It helps reduce food waste as over-stocked products are donated by large companies such as Aldi, Asda, Baxters, Coop, Lidl and Tesco so it is good for the environment as well.”
The pantry offers quality fresh and frozen surplus food via the FareShare scheme. The value of a shop is much higher than what members actually pay. There are also a few free items, including donations.
FareShare is the UK’s longest- running food redistribution charity and has provided food equivalent to 236.8 million meals via schemes such as the FACT Pantry.
Lindsey said: “Popular items are meat products, fresh fruit and vegetables and items that are just out of date which have been kindly donated by local businesses and so are free to take. We have also been very fortunate to have had regular weekly donations over the summer of fresh vegetables from Transition Town Forres as well as from other local growers. We have also been inundated with apples from local gardens which we have been happy to redistribute for free.”
She added: “We currently have a core group of seven regular volunteers who run the pantry but more are always welcome.”
For more information email info@forresarea.org or call 01309 674 388.
