'Food is expensive': How free community meals have become lifelines for people struggling to survive

A Ukrainian mother and her three children are the first to arrive at the church hall in the west end of Newcastle, where they are welcomed and offered a warm drink while they wait for their meal. They fled war two years ago and have found sanctuary in the city. 

The woman asks not to be named but tells me the people are kind and the food is good, and it helps that this community meal is somewhere she can get food for her family. 

FoodCycle runs meals across the country and offers people a three-course meal and company. People who might otherwise never have met gather in this bright room with its tall ceilings and large windows, around tables with chequered red cloths, and they chat familiarly.

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Mark, who runs this weekly meal, started volunteering three years ago. “We get mostly regulars here, and people every week who are probably lonely. We have a lot of guests who struggle. It’s nice to be able to talk to people and get to know them,” he says. 

Mark never expected FoodCycle to become such an ingrained part of his life. He first came during the pandemic with a friend, and he has never left. There was only one other volunteer at the time and they felt they couldn’t leave her to run it herself – and since then, in the aftermath of the pandemic and cost of living crisis, the need has only grown.

“I don’t want to leave until things get better, but I don’t know when things will get better,” he admits. 

“A major problem in this area, and probably most areas, is that people’s needs are more acute now. It’s not just an extra meal. It’s alcoholism. It’s housing needs. We had a guy who didn’t have a mattress for his bed. I spend a good amount of time referring people to other services, but when you look at other services, they’re all in the red.”

FoodCycle and other charities are having to step in where government and local authority services have been slashed. A day before, I had visited Newcastle Foodbank, also in the west end, which is offering support for housing, welfare and immigration.

“I appreciate coming here if I can be helpful,” Mark says, “but I despise feeling like I’m facilitating part of a system that is propping up responsible state intervention. We should have money coming in from central government, but instead you’ve got me.”

The North East of England has the highest levels of low pay in the UK, with around 170,000 jobs paying below the real living wage. It means there are disproportionate rates of in-work poverty – around 67% of children in poverty are in working families. 

As the meal gets started, children run around excitedly between tables, tossing balloons which have been laid out for FoodCycle’s 15th birthday. There is a sense of warmth here, which the volunteers have worked hard to create, despite the challenges.

Betty and her 24-year-old daughter Freya come together every week, and it has become part of their routine. “I’ve been coming for a couple of years now. Initially, I came because I was going through a hard time in my life, and I came here for the social aspect to see people and eat food. Then you get a bag at the end of it with a few little bits and bobs. It’s been all around great for me.”

Sometimes Betty will go to the local food bank, but mostly she uses the food she gets from FoodCycle to tide her over through the week. They get a bag full of leftover ingredients which are handed to the guests as they leave, most of which comes from charities like FairShare.

Freya adds: “I’ve been coming for the last couple of months, since I moved back up to the North East. Since mum’s been coming up a lot, she suggested I come to the FoodCycle to get out, and it’s really nice. I really enjoy this one on Thursday. We try to come together. Mum will come home from work and it will give us a reason to get ready, and it’s nice to see everyone and get some food.”

On the menu this week is soup to start, followed by a vegetarian chilli with sour cream and wedges (which I can attest to being delicious) and a crumble. It is a hearty and filling meal, whipped up by the volunteer cooks from scratch from the surplus ingredients donated. 

Volunteers work almost non-stop in the kitchen while I’m there, while the hosts go around greeting people and making sure they feel welcome, eating alongside people and chatting away.

Half of FoodCycle guests (44%) eat most meals alone, and 72% admit to feeling lonely, but coming to the community meal makes a difference. Ayoub and Zaheer are friends who met at this FoodCycle, and they sit together each week. 

“I met him here. I didn’t know him before. Now he’s my friend,” Ayoub, who is from Algeria and came here in 2019 says. Zaheer, who is from Pakistan, adds: “We can make new friends. We can meet new people. Everybody is busy, but this is a place we get together every Thursday. It’s very good.”

And old friendships are nurtured at FoodCycle too. Charles and James met while working in a local garden centre, and they have been coming together for a meal for years. They say they will eat everything, as long as it’s not spicy, and it helps cover the cost of living.

Sitting opposite Charles and James is their friend Reza, who they met through FoodCycle. He is from the north of Iran and has lived in Newcastle since 2016. He says he has been coming to this community meal “since it started”, and he enjoys the “respect, good service, friendly atmosphere”.

“When there’s lots of regulars, you get to know them. The atmosphere is nice. It can be a really lovely environment. That community feel of the meal is really valuable,” says Louise Green, FoodCycle’s regional manager in the North East. 

So far in 2024, FoodCycle has provided more than 9,000 community meals to people in the North East, of which over 1,000 were at the venue in Newcastle Westgate. And it has meant stopping more than 25 tonnes of surplus food going to waste in the North East. 

“A lot of people we support are facing difficult choices. They are relying on the meal and the food they get to take home. The hosting team at this venue in Westgate are great at signposting people to get them help with free clothing or additional support for housing,” Green says.

“There’s a real spectrum of people we support. Sometimes it’s people new to the area. Occasionally we’ve had students who are brand new to the area. It’s a nice mix. From Covid, a lot of people were socially isolated and are still trying to get out of that now and connect with people in the community.”

In the backdrop of the volunteers doing everything they can to help people, the reality is it is getting tougher. The cost of living crisis is still not over and as prices keep rising, people will continue to rely on charities like FoodCycle and the volunteers who make it happen.

“It’s more than double the price,” Zaheer says. “Everything is going up. Everything is very expensive. Even food is expensive. It’s very difficult to survive.”

FoodCycle is looking for volunteers in the North East. You can find out more here.

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