Hunger in the UK

Buying decent food is vital for people’s health. But often healthy food is beyond people’s means. Some adults say they are sacrificing their meals so their children can eat.

And for many people – like those with Type 1 and 2 diabetes, the elderly and pregnant women – going without healthy food at regular intervals is not an option. They have to eat well and they have to eat regularly.

More and more people are relying on food banks, but they often don’t give out fresh fruit and veg. And even they are facing supply problems as fewer people can afford to donate to them.

What’s the solution ?

In 2020, for the first time in our forty-year history, Action Against Hunger started working in the UK to tackle hunger right here.

We are pitching in. Doing what we do best: sharing our expertise and knowledge to help people tackle hunger.

Wherever we work internationally, we know local solutions solve local problems. Our expertise and our knowledge support the work local communities can do. So, we work in partnership with local people, with everyone bringing their skills together for the good of all.

We’ve partnered with groups in areas of high deprivation and where hunger levels are rising. In Manchester, southeast London, the West Midlands and the South West, we’ve set up community kitchens, food pantries and social supermarkets for the most vulnerable families.

Providing healthy and affordable food

A social supermarket is a shop that sells food to people on a lower income at a huge discount. It’s like a normal supermarket with a lot of choice but goods are available at a fraction of the price of high street stores.

Food pantries are similar, but members pay a small fee to join and in return they get to choose their own discounted food, plus they get access to fresh fruit and vegetables, helping maintain a healthy diet for them and their families.

They both buy up high-quality, surplus food. So it’s cheaper and so nothing goes to waste.

Community kitchens are different.

They provide hot meals to hungry guests – including people who are homeless, families living with food poverty and people who are isolated and lonely.

Guests can simply come along and enjoy great food and company in a welcoming community setting.

It’s about filling hungry stomachs. But it’s also about meeting others, making friends and beating loneliness.

Action Against Hunger and our partners make sure the people we help not only get filling food, but healthy and nutritious food as well.

We teach people how to cook great, healthy and nutritious meals. And we work with some of our food and hospitality partners – such as Tenderstem Broccoli, YO! Sushi and Pizza Pilgrims – to run healthy cooking workshops as well.

We’re also working with Somerset County Council to help them set up a network of food pantries across the county.

And we want to go further. Now more than ever, we must all work hand in hand to support communities in the UK who are suffering.