“When we first began, in 2019, our membership was more varied – half people wanting to help tackle food waste and half people struggling financially.
“Now we have to prioritise the people who need it most due to financial difficulty.
“Probably about 50% are in work but struggling to make ends meet. We’ve absolutely seen that increase with fuel prices and everything else going up. Members are always appreciative anyway but moreso in the last few weeks.
“We support a wide range of people – families, people on their own, older people, young people – and we also service other food clubs locally. We’ve a membership of 740 households that we regularly give out to – it’s nearly tripled since November alone.
“We used to operate from a small unit on an industrial estate but when Covid came we moved to home deliveries. Now we have a shop counter style outlet in Lancaster and similar in Morecambe. It allows people to choose their items – they get ambient goods, fruit and veg, meat and dairy, and frozen produce for a £5 per week membership.
“That choice is important – people can say no to stuff too, if they don’t like it or have the cooking facilities for it, that supports preventing the food waste. We’re trying to stop it from going in the bin after all.”
Phil Tarney – Operations Manager, eggcup