A foodbank nestled in the north of England is operating quite like no other. When you step inside, it looks like a charming corner shop but it offers its visitors a unique membership service, where they can buy food for cheaper than a supermarket rate.
For 3.50 a week, people can buy 10 items of food on a weekly basis. It is open to anyone who lives in the community within a twenty-minute walk away.
Meanwood Pantry is the brainchild of Vanessa Brown, who works as a coordinator for a charity called InterACT. Vanessa has been helping people with food parcels since lockdown and wanted to carry on the work as the cost of living crisis deepens.
Each week the foodbank gets a shipment of surplus supermarket food that would have otherwise been thrown away. Vanessa was inspired by Your Local Pantry, a foodbank that operates in a similar away and she was keen to open something similar to help her local community.
Much of the food they get comes from Fare Share, a national network of charitable food redistributors. The kinds of foods varies from week to week so people aren't restricted in what they are able to buy.
The food delivered to Meanwood Pantry is organised into two categories, hearts and diamonds. Hearts can include things like meat, jars of coffee and ice cream, while diamonds are things like pasta, fruit and veg, and tins.
Speaking exclusively to LeedsLive, Vanessa said: "Food banks aren't always the best thing when it comes to actually changing the system that leads to food poverty. You get more choice here, which I think is really important, and everything is fresh.
"It feels like a normal shop you can browse in and I think that can make people feel less ashamed and like they have more dignity coming here. We really work on reducing the stigma around food poverty - this is for everyone in the local community who lives within a 20-minute walk."
When members come to Meanwood Pantry they are encouraged to wander around and take a look at what's available - much like you would in a supermarket. They are also able to choose which ten items they can to take home.
Vanessa explained: "It is for anyone in the local community, but the majority of people that come down are struggling or having to tighten their belts. And that could be anyone right now.
"We've noticed a steep rise starting in October in our number of members after the energy bills cap went up. We currently have 95 active members and 190 visitors a month now.
"It's a big increase on what we were seeing over this summer."
A volunteer at the pantry called Bob Powley added: "We don't ask people to prove they're struggling or anything like that - it's for everyone. And people spend quite a while choosing and looking around."
During busier periods of the month, the pantry gives out booking slots to people and Vanessa and Bob say that they often see everyone chatting amongst themselves.
Vanessa also says a lot of people exchange recipes or give advice to others on how to stretch out items. The pantry is also trialling a new recipe scheme where members can pay just a couple of pounds more to get a whole host of tailored recipes for the food items they get that week to help them use them effectively.
Volunteer Natalie Wood said: "There's a general air of advice here all the time. It helps people to try new things without having to spend lots of money.
"It lets people try something different and have fun without worrying they're spending all their money on something they might not like."
She said if people are really struggling they do their best to check in with them on a one-to-one basis. Vanessa said they're currently working with a mum who hasn't had a cooker for two years due to costs to help her get one.
Your Local Pantry is being supported by the Co-op this year, which is putting the money it usually puts into a Christmas advert into local food initiatives. The funding from the Co-op is hoped to triple pantry sites to 225 within three years.
Shirine Khoury-Haq, Group CEO at Co-op: “Whilst many of our competitors are adapting their Christmas ads to reflect the mood of the nation in a cost-of-living crisis, we are going further by pulling our ad altogether. In doing so we will be shining a light on the need to support vital community causes, throughout the year and not just at Christmas, especially with a deep recession looming.”
Our unique Co-op membership continues to drive our thinking and through our members incredible support, we are able to channel our resources and make local differences in ways no others can match. Through their ongoing commitment we can make society fairer and more co-operative.”
James Henderson, Your Local Pantry Network Development Coordinator, added: “Pantries are fantastic places. They bring people together around food, soften the impact of high living costs, and strengthen the power and potential of neighbourhoods. Communities have long wanted to improve food security while upholding dignity, choice and hope, and Pantries are a proven win-win solution. We're really excited to be teaming up with the Co-op, so another 150 neighbourhoods can open Pantries of their own."
Meanwood Pantry is run by InterACT.
