LCBC Eco Market Join us in helping to reduce food waste whilst saving money
Our Opening Times
Mondays: 10.00 – 12.00 noon
Thursdays: 11.00 am – 1.00 pm
Last entry will be 10 minutes before closing
Our Eco Market is situated within our LCBC Community Hub, Selby Close, St. Helen Auckland, DL14 9ED
There is limited parking available in the cul-de-sac, please be considerate of local residents
(The building is the community centre to the rear of the school playing field, just off Melrose Drive – map below)
We strive to meet maintain our high standards and make improvements if necessary. Therefore, we would appreciate it if you could give us some feedback:
Eco Market Feedback
What is the LCBC Eco Market?
The Eco Market (previously known as LCBC Community Pantry) is a small ‘store’ open to ALL members of the community and aimed at reducing food, non-food and plastic waste whilst helping everyone to save money. We are not able to provide a food bank service, but we will endeavour to signpost and give support where we can. Please see the links on our food support page.
By helping change mindsets over using surplus foods, we not only hope to reduce perfectly edible food going to landfill and impacting our beautiful planet, but also help to reduce household expenditure on food.
We decided to change the name to coincide with the move to our new venue in 2022, to recognise that this is a surplus food project, and to reflect on our environmental ethos to encourage people to ‘shop’ ethically.
Did you know that the average family ends up wasting food with a value of £1000 each year, even without intention?** I’m sure that this would be better off in pockets than down the drain!
(Source: **WRAP 2023)
What will be on offer?
As a charitable organisation, we collect surplus foods from local stores, pay into a food membership scheme, and supplement the service by purchasing foods to ensure we can offer a wide variety. The foods include bakery, storecupboard, fruit, vegetables, some chilled and frozen foods, as well as various non-food items including flowers, occasionally clothing and household items from local stores. The amounts and types of food and non-food vary so this will be reflected on what will be offered each week.
We can offer guidance and recipes on how to use the different foods (just like a traditional greengrocer or butcher) and how you can use leftovers. Leaflets on how to use up foods, recipes and recycling will also be available. We can also signpost and refer people to services and activities in the area.
Free Fruit for Children
*During school holidays, all children visiting our Eco Market with their parents/carers will be able to take a piece of fresh fruit. This initiative is funded by the income from this project.
Pay It Forward
*Our Pay It Forward initiative aims to show the kindness in the community. These are simply £3 post it notes which anyone can donate online/in the hub, or access to use against the total cost of a basket. Just approach a member of our team if wishing to access PIF.
Little Library
We started our ‘little library’ initiative during the height of the pandemic to help reduce boredom and hopefully, help to increase literacy in children. Like our coat scheme, this relies on donations from the public of good quality books, which are then put out for others to share. We constantly need children’s books, so please get in touch if you have any to donate.
We are happy if the books are taken to keep, or brought back.
Please check to see if we are currently accepting donations.
How will it work?
- Simply take a basket when you arrive and follow your way around our one way/queuing system.
- We kindly ask that you are considerate of others when taking foods and non foods, including flowers. We have team members who are able to give guidance and offer support if needed.
- We put a restriction on how many certain foods can be taken to make this fair to everyone.
- You will be asked for a service contribution for your basket, which is reflective of the amount you take.
- We can accept card payments, Apple/Google pay, PayPal or cash, whichever you prefer.
All contributions are rolled directly into our charitable organisation to ensure we can purchase supplementary food, continue this project and other services, as well as to fund activities and events.
Will the food offered be safe to eat?
YES, YES, YES! The food we collect is surplus stock. This can be the result of over-ordering, stock which will not scan, a damaged box, donations from the public/shops, or some foods can be near, or just past the best before date but this is still safe to eat. Best before refers to the quality of the food, not the safety, so for example, the texture may be different. We can only pass on foods with a use by date if we can freeze them on this date. We then label this appropriately with guidance of when to use. This is perfectly safe and legal as freezing acts as a ‘pause’ button.
DUE TO CROSS CONTAMINATION OF LOOSE BAKERY FOODS, WE HAVE TO ADVISE THAT THOSE WITH SEVERE ALLERGIES SHOULD NOT USE OUR ECO MARKET OR HUB.
We have been awarded the a 5* rating again for our LCBC Community Hub. Our high standards and observation of laws surrounding the passing on of surplus foods are there to ensure everyone’s safety.
LCBC Community Hub
Our main team members have all undertaken Food Safety in Catering Level 2 training.
J. Iceton holds a Level 3 Food Safety & Hygiene for Management certificate.
We wish to actively reduce the stigma and fear of consuming food past its best before date and truly believe that we need to return to using our own judgement on these foods and in doing so, reduce our food waste and therefore our impact on the environment.
Why we can’t provide bags and why we unpack foods?
Much of the plastic packaging and bags cannot be recycled at home in our area*, and due to their composition, they will take many years to break down. If we encourage everyone to bring their own bags to reuse again, this will help to reduce the amount of plastic going to landfill.
Many foods wrapped in plastic sweat and deteriorate quicker, and sometimes we are tempted to buy foods prepacked because they work out cheaper per product, or there are no smaller options. Both reasons can lead to more food waste.
As you may be aware, we are facing a big shift in climate change, so if we all did a little bit in reducing our carbon footprint by reducing our plastic waste, as well as our food and general waste too, we may help to slow this change.
Reducing our waste, reusing what we can, and recycling can be a key part of a climate change strategy to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
* Local supermarkets often have collection points at the front of stores where soft plastics can be dropped off to be recycled by them.
Are there any other benefits to this project?
Yes!
Any food which is edible, is passed on to other groups in our area to share with their users.
Any food which is not fit for human consumption is passed on to local smallholders and an animal charity to feed their animals/birds (that are not in the food chain). This not only means even less food goes to landfill, but the progression of the food through their ‘plumbing system’ produces manure which contributes to the fertility of soil.
This means that we reduce food waste even more.
As an extra bonus, any flowers which have passed their best are reused to create toiletries, craft items or composted.
Little Chefs Big Chefs CIC is a registered food business and we adhere strictly to our legal responsibilities to comply with food legislation in order to keep everyone safe.
We hope to help support our local community and would like to invite you all to be a part of this project through feedback, ideas and perhaps volunteering.
It is only through this support that we can work together to create change and a better place.
LCBC Community Hub, Selby Close, St. Helen Auckland, DL14 9ED
All surplus contributions from our Eco Market project are re-invested back into our non-profit organisation. These contributions are the reason we can offer initiatives such as our activities, services, events and towards the overhead costs associated with our LCBC Community Hub. We feel that our project is vital, not only to help distribute food at the end of the supply chain to save it from going to landfill (thus impacting our environment), but to also help save everyone money, especially in these times of economic uncertainty.
If you wish to donate, and help us continue this project, you can do so below.
We have also opened up our project for volunteer opportunities. Please get in touch if you wish to offer support:
info@littlechefsbigchefs.org.uk
Jo: 07507 666 805
Your support will be greatly appreciated.
