Meal-kit March
Food parcels appear in all sorts of ways, from our neighbours, friends or strangers. Some arrive from exclusive; subscription services and others are received after standing in line at a food bank.
Here at Larder>East, we pulled together all that’s best about receiving a food parcel and back in February 2021 we piloted our first Dinners Done programme. With funding from Urban Villages and volunteer delivery drivers we introduced a 4 week Dinners Done Club, 20 families who had been relying on emergency food for over 6 months received slow cookers and weekly recipe bags of fresh ingredients delivered right to their doorstep.
Our pilot was a roaring success and as we moved towards a shop model, our regular shoppers showed enthusiasm that Dinners Done became a regular appearance on our shelves.
People on low incomes are often heavily scrutinised for their decisions on food and recent public discourse has shown how Ultra Processed Food can drive down prices but deplete our meals from nutritional value.
But everyone dabbles in convenience food, no matter the income. The success of meal kit franchises like Hello Fresh show that busy people, full of daily decision fatigue, want an easier pathway to a full belly at the end of the day and not at the cost of nutritional value.
Dinners Done, gives a judgement free nod of acknowledgement to tired parents and a reality check on the obstacles to healthy, seasonal fresh food. Our gifted volunteers in the kitchen work alongside our green finger gardening team to curate fresh recipes. Most of all we love that our Samson members can grab a parcel off the shelves and for a bargain cost of £1 – chop, chop, Dinners Done!
This March 10 Samson members will be participating in Meal-kit March – where they share their experience of signing up to a four week recipe challenge. We're looking forward to shared learning, confidence boosting and mutual appreciation of good food.
