The Big Feed project brings people together over food, by providing a safe, welcoming space at our community cafés. People can enjoy a hearty meal whilst meeting and spending time with others in their community. The cafés offer free meals, and welcome optional contributions such as donating time, money, or skills. In this way, money is no barrier to having a nutritious warm meal, and people can also develop their skills- from cooking, to serving and cleaning. By having community cafés in areas of need, we are able to combine the fight against food waste, food poverty and social isolation- all at once!
Community Cafés
Our Big Feed Community Cafés provide tasty meals made from locally sourced surplus food that would otherwise end up in landfill.
These nutritious meals are FREE to all so come along, share and do your bit to reduce waste and save the planet.
We also welcome optional contributions which include donating time, money or skill-sharing.
Opening times for the cafes are below:
All Saints, Herbert Road, Small Heath, B10 0PR – Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 12 – 1:30pm
Highgate Baptist Church, Conybere St, B12 0YL – Monday, 12 – 1:30pm, Wednesday 3:30 – 5pm
Highgate Baptist Church, Conybere St, B12 0YL – Come Together, Cook Together – an informal and enjoyable free cooking and dining session, Friday, 10.30 – 1.30pm.
TAWS Community Cafe – Hay Hall Manor House, Redfern Road, Tyseley, B11 2BE – Tuesday 12pm – 1:30pm. Free/Pay As You Feel cooked food. For further info, contact: [email protected]
The Spearhead Trust, Druids Heath, B14 5QP – Thursday 12pm – 1:30pm.
Please note the cafes are open for sit in meals only.
Food Waste Action Week
Did you know?
A staggering 4.5 million tonnes of edible food is thrown away each year by UK households- the equivalent of 8 meals a week. 70% of this is food we could have eaten.
Every year the average UK family throws away £730 worth of edible food.
70% of all food wasted in the UK is wasted by citizens in their own homes.
What can we do about it?
We can all help to reduce food waste, helping the environment and saving us money in the process. By storing food correctly, planning ahead, using food efficiently so less goes to waste- there’s lots that can be done. Find information, tips and resources on reducing food waste below. Share with others and see how much you can save!
Facebook live cook-alongs
We host facebook live cook-alongs to show you how to create a delicious, nutritious meal from scratch, live on Facebook. The videos are designed so you could follow along with us, and create a yummy meal for your tea.
If you want to watch any of them back at a time that suits you, you can find a playlist of the recorded videos here– perfect for when you need some cooking inspiration!
Don’t forget to share with others so they can get involved too. We’d also love to see photos of your creations!
Recipe kits
Photos from recipients of the food they created with the kits
Thanks to Food for Life and Incredible Surplus (formerly known as The Real Junk Food Project Birmingham), the Big Feed Project was able to offer free recipe kits to collect from our community cafés.
In each recipe kit you would find all the ingredients and the recipe required to make a dish, such as Dhal, Chickpea and Potato Curry with Rice, Shepherdess Pie, Caribbean Pumpkin & Black Eyed Bean Soup with Dumplings, Scone-based Pizza or Apple Crumble.
We’re no longer taking requests but you can find the recipes for the kits below:
Shepherdess Pie recipe
Caribbean Soup recipe
Dhal, chapati and chickpea curry recipes
Vegetarian Bean Chilli recipe
How you can help
Visit our volunteering page, or email [email protected] to find out our current opportunities and how you can get involved
Visit a café
Enjoying a hearty meal in one of our community cafés helps reduce the amount of food that would otherwise go to landfill- doing your bit for the planet
Donate your surplus food to us
We would love to hear from you if you are a business with surplus food about to reach or that has reached its best before date, or you have a glut of home grown veg you don’t want to go to waste. Our experienced team of creative cooks will be able to make it into something delicious to feed the community. If you have surplus food to donate, please get in contact via email: [email protected] – we would love to work with you!
Big Feed events
The Big Feed Project is happy to provide delicious meals for events in the community, made from surplus food that would otherwise go to waste. You can find out more and request food for an event here.
Get in touch
If you would like to find out more about the Big Feed Project, or would like more info about our Community Cafés, volunteering opportunities, or how your organisation could work with us, please email: [email protected]
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