Yorkshire Handmade Pies, a company based on the outskirts of Ripon, has formed a partnership to support the charity FoodCycle.

The environmentally-focused charity runs community projects across the country serving meals made from surplus food which would otherwise have gone to waste.

Fresh, raw ingredients donated by local supermarkets and food outlets are collected by FoodCycle volunteers who then use the surplus food to cook three-course meals.

Prior to the covid-19 pandemic, the meals were produced to help address issues of loneliness for people living in food poverty, by creating spaces for them to meet and have a meal together.

Since the coronavirus crisis, FoodCycle, which has produced more that 270,000 meals since its formation ten years ago, has diversified to provide take-aways still helping to improve nutrition and reducing hunger by cooking healthy meals for those in need.

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Now,Yorkshire Handmade Pies is adding its weight to the charity’s efforts. For every box of pies purchased, Yorkshire Handmade Pies will donate 30p of the sale price to FoodCycle to help them to expand their work in local communities and fund more projects in more regions.

FoodCycle also aims to change attitudes to food by cooking with surplus ingredients, spreading their passion for food and the environment, which Yorkshire Handmade Pies fully supports too.

Its pies are delivered frozen because frozen food generates 47% less wastage than chilled food.

Company founder James Sturdy said:

“We wanted to support a charity which aligns with our ethos around food wastage, environmental responsibilities and wellbeing beliefs.

“FoodCycle supports a wide variety of people from low-income families, people affected by homelessness to those experiencing physical and mental health problems. They exist to ensure communities have access to healthy food and they need our support now, more than ever.”

Yorkshire Handmade Pies, which has premises in Melmerby, is a member of the Living Wage Foundation and the Good Business Charter – a voluntary accreditation scheme which recognises responsible business practices.

A community project which has provided thousands of meals to vulnerable families this year is hoping to spread extra cheer at Christmas.

Resurrected Bites has received almost 3,000 calls for help since lockdown began in March, delivering three days’ worth of food, toiletries and cleaning products to the equivalent of 4,528 adults and 2,807 children – though many of these are returning customers.

Yet this was never what the community interest company was set up to be. It was a pay-as-you-feel cafe, using food intercepted from restaurants, supermarkets and suppliers before it was sent to landfill, offering hot and cold meals at three churches in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

However, director Michelle Hayes said when lockdown began and the cafes had to close, she immediately knew what she would do.

“Within two days I had switched over. I decided to close the cafes on the Monday and by Wednesday we had started the food distribution.

“I knew there would be lots of people needing food and people were panic-buying. I knew a lot of businesses would have to close really quickly and there would be a lot of food going to waste. Supermarkets were struggling with their ordering systems.

“We were able to get a lot of food and start delivering straight away.”

Although other organisations, such as the foodbank, were already set up to support families in need, Michelle knew there was still a gap for additional help. Where the foodbank supplies mostly tinned and dried food, Resurrected Bites uses perishable items such as fruit and vegetables, eggs, and bread.

Volunteers Sally and Richard sort through donations to make parcels of food for local families

It can also provide cooked meals thanks to a team of volunteers who turn some of the ingredients into complete dishes. Though Resurrected Bites never distributes food which is out of date or of poor quality, using it to make meals can extend its usable life.

After lockdown began, requests for help began to escalate quickly, largely through referrals from other organisations but in some cases direct from struggling families. With several months of activity now behind them, Michelle and her team have settled into a rhythm of deliveries each week.

Michelle knows demand is likely to rise again if more lockdown measures are put in place.

“We’ve got really busy again this week. I wanted to be running at capacity of 30 orders a day – but when you realise how much food that involves, it’s quite overwhelming. By Friday, you’re just hoping there’s enough food available for everyone who needs it.

“I’m expecting that demand is going to go up as more people get laid off. People who are waiting for Universal Credit to start, people who have been self-employed and their business has closed. Quite a few families whose kids have been sent home from school and families have to self-isolate, but can’t get a supermarket deliver for a few days.”

If she needs to increase capacity, the only option for Michelle is to source more food and other supplies. She could request more from charity supplier Fareshare, but demand is likely to increase everywhere and more deliveries may not be available.

The only other option would be to buy more in, which they have been doing as necessary – but that needs more money to be coming in as well. It already costs more than £4,000 each month to meet the existing demands for food and toiletries.

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Now, with Christmas looming, Michelle is keen to make it special for the families supported by Resurrected Bites and is calling on the community to help.

She’s asked each family to say what their children are interested in so supporters can buy something from the list, and can donate wrapping paper and sticky tape too. She added:

“Hopefully we’ll try and get the right kind of present to the right child so there’s something for everybody.”

Donations of food and toiletries can be made at drop-off points around Harrogate and Knaresborough. Financial donations are also welcome to help fund any extra supplies. Details of both, along with order forms for people needing support, can be found on the Resurrected Bites website.

Annette Kite, her husband Nathan and son Jack, were busy over the VE Day bank holiday, preparing meals for 45 households in Ripon.

Every Sunday since the coronavirus crisis meant many people in the city had to go into self isolation, the family has been preparing meals that have been delivered free of charge to pensioners, families with limited income, people caught in food poverty and cancer sufferers.

The Monday evening meals-on-wheels-type service has grown week by week after Annette and Nathan, with assistance from trainee chef Jack, first started helping neighbours in their 90s, who were facing difficulties as COVID-19 saw them stuck at home.

The Stray Ferret joined the couple, as deliveries were made discreetly to avoid any embarrassment for the recipients, and it was clear that the the bags containing hot meals and other food items were most welcome.

Annette said:

“Nathan and I make some of the home deliveries and we also have volunteers who collect packs from us to deliver to their neighbours who are in need of help. We are very careful to ensure that social distancing is observed, both in collections made from our home and deliveries that we and the volunteers make “

The free service has been made possible because of donations in cash and kind; gifts of goods and the support of numerous businesses in Ripon, including Bambuda oriental restaurant, Southgate Fish and Chip Shop, Spa Gardens Cafe, Cafe Tempo, Wakeman House Cafe, Love Boutique, Booths and Morrisons supermarkets, Marley’s Butchers, Appleton’s and Spilmans.

Annette pointed out:

“We would not be able to do this without the fabulous support that we have received, ranging from hot meals provided by Bambuda and Southgate Fish and Chip Shop, production of puddings by Caroline Bentham and baking by Deborah Chalmers and our friends at Cafe Tempo and Wakeman House.”

The demand for the service has grown through word of mouth and posts on Facebook and underlines the fact that the coronavirus crisis has unveiled the scale of food poverty that exists in Ripon and surrounding rural areas.

As previously reported by The Stray Ferret, Marley’s Butchers – which is helping Annette and Nathan with the provision of meat at heavily discounted prices – is running its own weekly delivery of meat packs to families and individuals who are in dire need.