👍🏻 (F )good deeds lately

The three days of British Summer may have slowed us down a bit (not a big demand for pork roast lunches when it’s Pimms o’clock every hour in the sun), but we haven’t given up on sweetening the day  of those in need.

Children and parents in Blacon making pizza together at the Holy Trinity Church during summer activities

During July, TRJFP Chester partnered up with the Holy Trinity Church in Blacon and donated food for their Summer Holiday Activities. The church is providing free meals every Monday and Thursday to children and their families in Blacon. Since some children rely on free school lunches, once school is out, that safety net is out of their reach. During the first day of the holiday activities, we made pizza under the guidance of Tesco health food advisors. We also took part in some highly satisfying crafting activities, helping children make photo frames and draw their faces on the paper tablecloths, all kindly organised by Ed Green, Trinity’s Outreach Co-Ordinator. The holiday club at the church is running at full steam through the month of August, as well, so pop in if you are in the area and give them a hand or sit down for a friendly chat with Sue over a cuppa and a snack. We guarantee that the strawberries are fresh and the fruit scones are divine.

 

Summer won’t be the same without a pop up in the park. So we are teaming up with Chester Pride again, this time sponsoring their cupcake decoration contest. That’s right – knowing how deliciously moist the giant muffins we provide are, we couldn’t help but enlist ourselves as judges in the contest. My children included, of course. It will be curious to see how many bites of chocolate on chocolate with chocolate chips can my three-year old son have before he storms out of the contest for a run around the park. That event is coming up on 13th August from 12-16 o’clock at the Grosvenor Park in Chester, so sign up for the cake icing competition, do stop by, make your own perfect cupcake and don’t forget to try our mini sandwiches and other baked delicacies. Pay as you feel, as always. See you there!

 

A marathon in vain

Another yummy pop-up completed at Wesley Church. We arrived at the cafe late, as the Chester half-marathon that had taken place earlier on Sunday, had blocked off all central roads. But our worry that we wouldn’t be ready to feed the masses in time were soon dissipated by the nice weather, which seemed to have taken everyone hostage outside. We were looking forward to feeding hungry runners, but instead, it soon became clear that most people had chosen to stay out in the sun. Except for the lonely elderly lady who wished to remain anonymous and out of photos and who was so happy to have a cooked meal. We met her at the Family Fun Day in the Park pop-up last weekend where she enjoyed the muffins and lemonade we treated her to. She kept her promise and came to see us again. She sat at her table small and white, smitten by our attention but with a twinkle in her eye, clearly enjoying in quiet disbelief the roast dinner, bruschetti and bacons baps that we piled up in front of her. She told us that she didn’t bother cooking since she was alone. She offered her help when she finsihed, but we were just happy to see her eyes glowing and greeted her on her way home.

The church cafe stayed mostly quiet, which proved a welcome respite to the friends who came in next for a fragrant mushroom soup and ended up chatting the hours away over tea and pudding.

It was a very nice Sunday pop-up, indeed, and all food leftovers were taken to Richmond court in Hoole.

We are happy to report that we have expanded the range of foods we intercept, as we have now been offically listed on neighbourly.com. Patrons of the pop-ups should be seeing this translate into lovely fresh flower bouquets soon.

Last but not least, Bindi Patel, the super-amazing owner of Cushy Life by Bindi  made us our very own The Real Junk Food Project Chester bunting. We’re ready for summer, is summer ready for us? Find out at Hoole Primary’s Summer Fair on 18th June. But first, come and listen to our sustainability talk at Chester Uni’s Green Tie Awards on 1st June.

Pop Up 3: The Proud Pop-Up in The Park

Last Saturday, we supported Chester Pride in their fund-raising activities. We hosted a stall at their Family Fun Day in the Grosvenor Park. The weather was on our side and so much fun was had by all.

We saw some known and unknown faces, played on the grass, stretched with Ty-Chi, hid in a Native American Teepee, learned ball-room dancing… oh yes, and gave away dozens of lovely giant pastries and tall glasses of home-made flat Lemonade. What a dsy! We want more. Next Pride Fun Day in July? Definitely. Watch this space.

In the meanwhile, the next pop-up at Wesley Church in Chester’s city centre is on Sunday, 15th May  from 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm. Hot meals, pay as you feel. What more can you ask for? Saunter by and say Hello.

Third Pop Up to Share the Grounds of PRIDE Chester

Second Pop-Up Feeds Three Dozen

Let me just say that the second pop-up two Sundays ago was also very successful and attracted a lot of friends and strangers alike. Oh yes. And the roast lef of pork was juicy and fragrant. So were the home-made burgers, hand-crafted by our visiting volunteer from France, Miss Lucile Francois, aka The Energy Bunny. A huge thank you to her and the regular volunteers, Hannah, Vanisa, Anika, and Helen.

Here are some moments captured from the event on volunteer Georgi Naydenov’s camera:

 

And if you click the link below you can see some

Photos from first pop-up

In junk we trust! See you soon!

First TRJFP Pop-up Event in Chester Feeds 40

The Real Junk Food Project – Chester’s first pop-up event at Wesley Church last Friday was a sweeping success.

We intercepted 34 kilos of fresh strawberries, which we made into jam (see above). In addition, we saved 10 kilos of salmon pate, chicken and bacon spread, boxes of fresh salads, dozens of breads and rolls, quiches,  and pizzaz. There was Carrot Cake and Tiramisu, cherry chocolate cake, croissants and scones. There were 6 kg of fresh kale and 10 kg of spinach. There was so much food that we didn’t know how to serve, such as crabs’ claws and lobster legs. In the end, we gave the leftovers to Richmond court’s residents, a local hospice, and shared with freinds and neighbours, and the patrons of St. Barbara Orthodox Church in Chester.
We also had bought coffee and tea which were very appreciated at our event. We fed about 40 people and enjoyed a visit from Hoole Councillor and Chester Sheriff Alex Black and his wife, Lady Janet. Their kind words and evident appetites warmed our hearts and made us proud.

Special thanks gomout to our unbeliavably disciplined, savvy and  kind volunteers: Vanisa Tailor, Anika Shingdia and Catrin Lewis from Chester University, and the wonderfully thoughtful Helen Blank. Of course, we also couldn’t have done this without the patience and faith in us of Andrew Herbert and the Rev. Neil Stacey.

Thank you all who stopped by and tried our food!

We are at Wesley Methodist Church again two weekends from now, 17th April. We hope to see you there again.

In the meanwhile, please check out our Facebook page for photos from the event:
https://www.facebook.com/Chesterpayasyoufeelcafe/?ref=settings

And follow us Twitter: @payf_chester

Let’s spread the word about The Real Junk Food Project – Chester and find it its won premises so that it can opertae as a cafe every day of the week. There is so much great food waiting to be saved!

Best wishes,

Ellie

First Pop-Up at Wesley Church Chester

The uber-cool Sheriff of Chester, Councillor Alex Black and his Lady Janet broke bread with us at the first pop-up we did on Goood Friday. They were smitten by our peas and spinach soup, as well as by our youngest volunteer/waitress, 10-year old Jane Seymour.

Also, the lovely Shy who is documenting the delicious and colourful doings of The Real Junk Food Project’s Pay as You Feel cafes in the UK, came to see us. She took some great photos, and since a picture is worth more than a thousand words, I will let them speak for themselves.

We are looking forward to seeing you at the next pop-up event. Thank you to everyone who supported The Real Junk Food Project – Chester.

The Real Junk Food Project – Chester invites you to its first pop-up event

Ellie and Galina will be cooking with food that they have procured from major Chester supermarkets. This food would otherwise have gone to waste. Thanks to the young entrepreneurs’ kitchen savviness, it will instead be given a chance to make its debut on your plate.

So come to Wesley Methodist Church’s Cafe at 8 St.John Street, CH1 1DA in Chester city centre on Friday. Doors open at 4:30 PM and close at 6:30 PM.

Meet Ellie, Galina and their families. Tell Andrew Herbert and the Reverend Neil Stacey how thankful you are to have a hot meal and good company on the first evening of the Easter holiday. Have a chat with Councillor Alex Black and Lady Janet Black, who will be gracing the event. Last but not least, donor stores’ representatives will be there to taste the fruit of their good deed of the day, so make sure you thank them, too.

And don’t forget to invite your friends to an evening bursting with flavour, good music and good vibes.

You don’t need to RSVP. You can pay for your meals in cash or in kind, by donating your talents, skills and time to the project. We count on your discretion and your support to make this event happen again a week from the 25th March.

Thank you for caring about food and helping us to prevent food waste!