Burnley charity's ‘Waste Not, Want Not' dinners will help those in food poverty

Burnley Leisure and Culture (BLC) will support Burnley Community Grocery, a charity based at the Valley Street Community Centre, with a series of ‘Waste Not, Want Not’ dinners.

Currently, £1 from every full English breakfast sold at the Prairie 1955 Kitchen and Towneley’s 197 Bistro will go to the community grocery.

• READ MORE: Burnley Community Grocery shop opening for struggling families

Now, BLC is planning to expand its helping hand with a series of quarterly ‘Waste Not, Want Not’ dinners whereby diners will be able to pay what they think their meal is worth, with all the proceeds going to the grocery.

80 per cent of the food used for the three-course menu will be ingredients that otherwise could go to waste.

The other 20 per cent will be fresh meat and ingredients donated by BLC’s food supplier, Burnley-based Birchall Foodservice.

David Webb, BLC Development Chef (second left), and Natalie Stephenson, BLC Deputy Hospitality Manager (second right), with community grocery staff. (Image: BLC)

Mark Dempsey, BLC’s head of culture and hospitality, said: “There is so much food waste and spoils that can be made into really top-quality food.

“A lot of supermarkets are removing use-by and best before dates from their fruit and veg because it is fine for a lot longer than you’d think.

“So, for example, if you take a head of broccoli, most people just chop the flowery bit off the top and cook that and throw away the stem. But actually, the stem is the tastiest bit. It’s just about trimming it and cooking it.

“This is an extension of our breakfast fundraising for the community grocery. What it is doing is outstanding. Shopping there has dignity, it feels very normal, just like any supermarket.”

Burnley Community Grocery is one of 19 operating throughout the UK.

Members are asked to pay a £5 annual joining fee, which allows them to shop there up to three times a week.

What is known as a ‘full shop’ costs £4, and typically includes:

• One bakery item such as a loaf of bread.
• Five portions of fresh fruit and veg.
• Seven different canned or boxed pantry items.
• One non-food item.
• One item from the freezer.

Food for the grocery is donated by local supermarkets and monetary donations can come from businesses, churches, organisations and individuals.

Breakfast donations from the Prairie’s 1955 Kitchen and Towneley’s 197 Bistro have so far raised £500 – the equivalent of 125 full shops.

Mark hopes to attract 50 to 60 diners to each ‘Waste Not, Want Not’ dinner, with the first one pencilled in for later this month or early November at the Burnley Mechanics.

He says: “We’ll be asking our staff to volunteer their time, so it is a nil cost exercise, in terms of getting the free ingredients and creating something amazing from it and then getting the diners to pay what they think it’s worth.

“The aim is to raise enough for around 400 free shops per event, so we’re hoping people will give around £25 for their meal – 50 to 60 people gets us to that target.

“Who knows what the menu will be. It’ll be unknown until the last minute when we get hold of the fruit and vegetables.”