Cooking Volunteer

Any student or family member or a student attending Ark John Archer, Ark Globe Academy or Ark White City Primary Academy can come to our meals.

If you are over 18, yes! We have a number of different roles and no specific experience is required.

Visit our volunteer page for more information and to sign up here.

FoodCycle isn’t a food bank. Food banks will provide items to be taken home to cook  FoodCycle runs Community Meals, which means we invite people to come and sit with us, around a table and enjoy a hot, nutritious meal. Our meals are served with warmth and dignity by friendly volunteers in a welcoming environment.  Our weekly community dining service not only helps tackle food poverty but it also helps alleviate loneliness by bringing the community together.

We have plans to open more school community meals as soon as we can. Any updates about new openings will be shared on this page or you can sign up to our newsletter to be the first to know.

Surplus food is food which is fit for human consumption, but has no commercial value for the retailer. This food, which may ultimately go to waste, may have become damaged in transit, might be past its ‘best before’ date or might have been over-ordered. It’s still perfectly good food, and we put it to good use.

In the UK, an estimated 12 million tonnes of food is wasted each year at all levels from plough to plate whilst 4 million people are affected by food poverty. At least 400,000 tonnes of this food is thrown away at retail level. At FoodCycle, we’re doing something about this by making use of edible food to create nutritious three-course meals for those who need it.

FoodCycle works with supermarkets, small independent grocery shops and markets to source perfectly edible surplus food in a safe and responsible way. We only reclaim fresh fruit and vegetables and we purchase extra ingredients such as dried foods and spices to make our meals as balanced and nutritious as possible.

We are only able to accept food donations from supermarkets, small independent grocery shops and markets. We can take fresh produce (e.g. fruit, vegetables and bread) and dried goods (e.g. pasta, lentils and spices). We are unable to accept meat, fish, food past its use by date, or ready-prepared foods, such as doughnuts, sandwiches or microwave meals.

We are unable to accept donations or small quantities from individuals – if you are looking to donate food, contact our friends at Plan Zheroes, Trussell Trust or Olio.

All our meals are vegetarian, and the menu changes weekly based on the food we receive. We aim to serve a two-course meal which could include anything from pasta bakes, curries, cakes and crumble.

FoodCycle only serves meat-free food. The practical and legal hurdles to obtaining and serving meat and fish are substantial, and we couldn’t access it in the safe and easy way we can with fruit and vegetables. More importantly, by serving meat-free food, our meals are accessible to people of all cultures and religions.