Tonight there was a trio of GoodGymers volunteering at FoodCycle, and all had signed up to the cooking team tonight. Gill was first on the scene getting the venue unlocked, the oven on and the tables prepared to receive the food surplus. As the surplus arrived she was met by Tigger who soon joined in the task of unloading the food from the car. Surplus weighed, then then started to think about what they could make with the random produce on offer. Lots of peppers and aubergines were crying out to be turned into a ratatouille, and Tigger was happy to take the lead on making a vegetable stew with peeling and chopping help from a newbie FoodCycle volunteer. And finally they were joined by Martin to complete the GoodGym trio, who was soon busy preparing mangoes for a gorgeous mango, lime and mint sauce to accompany a rather unctious bread and butter pudding. We had Harrison and Dean from Foodcycle with us, and by 6 o'clock we were ready to serve up a delicious and warming three course meal to our hungry guests. Great team work, and all your efforts were greatly appreciated, with some excellent feedback from many of the guests.

Two of our regular Goodgym FoodCyclers had already signed up to cook this evening, but as the day wore on the organisers were worried about the number of regular volunteers for hosting the meal and put out a plea for any extra help. Having posted this on our WhatsApp group it was great that Derrick was free this evening and willing to sign up to the Foodcycle website, complete the training and sign himself up to help with the hosting. Gill and Mayra had arrived early to start on the cooking with three of the FoodCycle Team and dinner preparations were soon underway. Myra was tasked with peeling and chopping an enormous number of leeks ready for the leek, potato and cauliflower soup. She just have enjoyed it a lot as she was soon weeping with joy... yes I'm sure they were tears of joy and not that the leeks were making her cry! Gill and Jordi got busy preparing a Quorn based Bolognaise while one of new friends Harrison put together a delicious apple and pear crumbled with an oaty topping. Around 6pm Derrick arrived and we welcomed him into the fold - although his welcome was more like being thrown into the deep end, as service was underway. He was given the briefest of briefings, and then dived straight into serving up steaming bowls of soup, clearing tables, serving the mains and puddings. Although he was only able to stay for part of the shift his help was appreciated by guests and hosts alike. Another delicious meal served with care and kindness to around 48 guests down to GoodGym and FoodCycle 's great partnership. We're hoping we can encourage a few more GoodGYmers to take a turn at FoodCycle as it's a great team with a fab atmosphere.

Despite the miserable weather, Martin , Mayra , and Gill turned up at High Town Baptist Church ready to get stuck into food preparation for tonight's FoodCycle meal. They had been hoping for a bumper delivery of food, but today there was no food surplus from Sainsbury's and only a few boxes of veg from Aldi. Gill's quick thinking meant that she had bought over 100 Quorn sausages, to go with some chips and wedges we had stored in the freezer a few weeks ago. Mayra got busy turning some tins of kidney beans and chopped tomatoes into home made baked beans and the main course was on it's way to being sorted. In the meantime Martin got busy with the help of another FoodCycler in preparing a delicious and hearty leek, potato and parsnip soup and while Gill was detailed with pudding (a vegan upside down banana sponge with syrupy orange segments and of course some custard.

While the cooking crew were kept busy Fredy arrived for his first time at FoodCycle and was soon put to work getting out the tables and chairs, and getting the hall ready for our guests. He was then a wizz at getting drinks made and then serving up the dinner alongside the others on the hosting team.

Once again GoodGym made a huge impact on the successful running of the session and there were lots of empty plates and satisfied guests who paid tribute to their efforts.

Well done Team - it was a great effort and a fabulous meal.

Once again there was no one signed up to do the food surplus collection for FoodCycle today so Holly and Nisa had been on the phone to Gill to ask if she could step in with possibly some help form he trusty side kick Tim.

An email came around 12 asking them to get to a supermarket the other side of town before 1pm. So they headed off to Hatters Way wondering what goodies they would be collecting before the usual trip to Sainsbury's and Aldi. Unfortunately they were rather disappointed to find they had driven all that way for a small box containing tea bags, a box of latte sachets and a bag of spinach. So they quickly returned to work before ether next pick up was due.

Fortunately their disappointment at Lidl was soon eclipsed when Gill found that due to a glitch in ordering Sainsbury's had a. bountiful supply of food - more than ever before. Both cars were gradually loaded to the gunnels, and they both set off for Reginald Street to deliver their booty to the FoodCycle HQ. They were so glad that there were several volunteers on hand to help unload the cars.

Tonight at Foodcycle, the surplus food from the 2 local supermarkets was not a large amount. Lots of breads and cake as well as quite a few packets of mange tout (Rodney) and some cauliflower and broccoli. As ever the kitchen team put there heads together and came up with a fantastic menu, utilising some saved stock from previous weeks, some store cupboard favourites and the days offering from the shops. For starter there was a delicious vegetable soup 🍲😋 with warmed bread 🍞. Main course was a Mac n cheese 🧀 mixed and baked with cauliflower and broccoli 🥦 with a melted chees topping. Dessert was a wacky concoction using hot cross buns, cherry 🍒 kefir yoghurt and a custard mixture, served with a slice of cake. There were 60 guests in total this evening, which i'm told is a record, 56 seated and 4 take away. The kitchen team and the hosting team all chipped in and worked together to make this a really successful evening. Well done team

This evening we had a whopping 7 GoodGymmers assisting at FoodCycle Luton in a number of different capacities. Gill did a cracking job at running the kitchen as her first night flying solo as Project Leader. Bravo Gill, everyone commented on how calm it was in the kitchen and the food was VERY well received by our guests with a huge amount of empty plates- always a good sign!

Also in the Kitchen was Mayra who did a brilliant job, wasting no time and just getting stuck in. Having volunteered a few times now at FoodCycle, Mayra has done both cooking and hosting so having knowledge on both sides is a real bonus. Helped by the other FoodCycle cooks, a delicious menu was created using the surplus food donations.

The starter was Welsh Rarebit with a mixed leaf salad, main course was Veggie Spaghetti Bolognaise with cheese, and for pudding our guests had delicious donuts with a beautifully arranged fruit salad. The 5-8pm hosting team was entirely made up of GoodGymmers, which was just brilliant! It was wonderful to welcome back Kamal and Tigger who have hosted before, but not for a while! They wasted no time and immediately got stuck in with setting out the chairs and laying the tables, setting up the all important tea and coffee station and just preparing everything ready for our guests arrival.

Corinne attended to volunteer for the second time, so we were relieved not to have scared her off! So friendly, she did a great job helping our guests feel immediately at ease. FoodCycle newbie Gail absolutely smashed her first hosting shift! Nobody would have known it was Gails first time, she jumped right in chatting with guests and keeping the tea and coffee station topped up, along with the other hosts. This week, Dani worked closely with Project Leader Craig to keep track of the number of guests and coordinate with the kitchen team accordingly. This seemed to help the evening run smoothly, and once we had hit our capacity of 50 sit down guests, latecomers were offered takeaways so nobody went away empty handed.

The hosting team worked hard to divide the remaining food donations in to enough takeaway bags so that each guest could take one if they wanted to. The atmosphere was very positive and our guests left having been fed and watered.

All together, a really great team effort- very well done gang! ❤