Community Larder

The aim of the project is to work with partners in the north of the county to ensure that, in times of need, people are well nourished, through piloting different models of community fridges and pantries and to share our experience to support emerging projects throughout Monmouthshire. The project has several objectives including: 

• Addressing food insecurity 
• Working closely with partners to understand their needs and help them to reach their users 
• Strengthening capacity in communities to support people to eat well by providing a Community Fridge which can safely store fresh food and readymade nutritious meals 
• Being recognised as a trusted partner by both donors and communities for receiving and distributing food* donations from supermarkets, the public, farms, allotments and gardens [* fresh fruit & vegetables, dairy or dry] 
• Repurposing food waste, thereby saving it from landfill with the associated CO2 emissions 
• Increasing the number of people who are able to eat 5 a day 
• Adding value to the food waste by transforming it into nutritious ready meals 
• Exploring the potential for sharing skills such as cooking, budgeting, preservation 
• Supporting families to grow more food at home through gaining skills through our 'community growing space' and 'Food for Good' network 
• Changing the relationship with supermarkets so that we cease to be seen as the passive recipients of charity 
• Investigating ways to make the work self-sustaining including income generation such as a joining fee 
• Sharing what we have learned from managing a community kitchen over four years in order to support new projects throughout the county as well as disseminating lessons from this pilot project