Busy double shift today at the community cupboard. Due to banana overdose early in the morning we did our best to lure the local kids to take some as well on their way to school.🍌 We welcomed Beck to the team🥳 who was greeted by a 45 mins delivery delay before she could eventually experience the speedy and efficient work this wonderful group does every Monday morning.

Each Monday morning, GoodGym lends a hand at the South Ealing Food Cupboard helping the wonderful volunteers sort through surplus food and get it ready to share with the local community. This morning Martin, Beata, and Iram were on hand to unload the lorry and unpack a varied selection of food.

The delivery included cartons of oat milk, cranberry juice, huge cabbages, potatoes, carrots and bread. There was a brief debate over whether the oat milk was past its best, but upon investigation we learnt the date had simply been misprinted. What looked like June (6) was actually September (9). No oat milk spilled needed to be spilled! Unusually, there was no meat or ready meals this week. Instead, there were loads of ready made sandwiches.

With a prompt delivery and a smaller haul than the last few weeks, the team had everything sorted in record breaking time!

Each Monday morning, GoodGym lends a hand at the South Ealing Food Cupboard helping the wonderful volunteers sort through surplus food and get it ready to share with the local community.

This week, Iram, Mo, and Andy were on duty for what turned out to be a session full of variety (and a bit of drama!). The delivery was packed with treats: stacks of croissants, huge tins of coconut, oat milk, tubs of double cream, plenty of juice and even seafood ramen. To keep things interesting, there was also an assortment of unusual vegetables, including long and mini aubergines and some bitters.

Of course, no GoodGym session is complete without a challenge. First, a shelf gave way under the weight of the bumper haul, but Andy cleverly fixed it, saving the day (and the produce!). Then, a tub of double cream made a break for it... but Mo was quick on the scene and helped Iram clean it up in no time. It's a good job the Food Cupboard are planning to get the carpets professionally cleaned before the arrival of the new vicar! The team are super grateful for GoodGym's help preparing for their arrival and may well need extra support in the coming weeks.

All in all, it was another great morning of teamwork, quick thinking and keeping good food out of the bin and into the hands of the community.

Each Monday morning, GoodGym helps the South Ealing Food Cupboard volunteers prepare to give away food to the community. Supermarkets and other organisations donate surplus food to prevent it being wasted. Lots of heavy lifting and speedy organisation is required to get a van-load of food ready to be shared!

This week, Iram, Martin and Rebecca were on the case with a special guest appearance from Rebecca’s son, Rufus. He threw himself straight into the action, doing a stellar job organising mountains of HelloFresh bags, recycling cardboard, and bravely tackling the out-of-date oat milk. Future GoodGymer in the making!

It was a bumper haul of fridge produce this week, with a plentiful supply of butter and M&S cheeses to sort through, along with crate upon crate of carrots, potatoes, and green beans. It was definitely a good workout! There were also a load of wasabi peas - not for the faint-hearted!

Another Monday of teamwork, food saved from waste, and a little extra family spirit!

Each Monday morning, GoodGym lends a hand at the South Ealing Food Cupboard, helping the volunteers get surplus food sorted and ready for the local community.

This week’s haul was a more regular size, but still had plenty to keep us busy. Mohamed and Iram teamed up to tackle bags of carrots and piles of potatoes. Thankfully, the eggs arrived already neatly portioned into half-dozens, a much smoother job than last week’s egg marathon!

Alongside the veg, we stocked the shelves with cartons of oat milk, hot sauce and lots of popcorn. Whether patrons are making a healthy salad or settling in for a film night, this week’s delivery had them covered.

Each Monday morning, GoodGym lends a hand at the South Ealing Food Cupboard, helping the team of volunteers get surplus food sorted and ready to support the local community. This week, Martin and Iram were treated to a bumper haul and a cracking challenge.

Fresh from the farm came bunches of muddy spring onions, heaps of carrots and courgettes, juicy watermelons, herbs, lettuce, and strawberries - a proper summer spread. But the real surprise came in the form of eggs. So many eggs. We estimated around 750 in total, the first time in months the Food Cupboard had received any eggs.

The catch? Not a single one came pre-packaged. So we got eggstra creative. With only a handful of cartons available, we portioned them into dozens, half dozens, or packs of four using anything we could find, including repurposed nectarine punnets and the original egg packaging which we carefully cut down to size. It was part jigsaw, part balancing act, and fully a test of our steady hands. There may have been a few casualties along the way!

It was a cracking session (pun intended) and a great example of teamwork, resourcefulness, and keeping good food out of the bin and into the hands of those who need it most.