Moray Food Plus’s new mobile pantry is set to hit the road across rural communities today to improve access to food for villages and towns.
Big Blue is a zero waste project funded by The Robertson Trust and National Lottery Community Fund Improving Lives.
The idea for the project was sparked before the pandemic after the charity’s poverty action plan revealed that food prices in rural villages and towns like Tomintoul tended to be higher than larger towns such as Elgin.
Stock comes mainly from recovered surplus foods from suppliers such as Tesco, Co-op, M&S, Baxters, FareShare and some local producers.
Moray Food Plus project manager Mairi McCallum explained: “Pre pandemic, we did a poverty action plan and a shopping basket comparison exercise where we quickly realised how high food prices are in rural areas.
“A basket in Elgin is around £7 and in Tomintoul it was £17.
Covid really highlighted the issue that access to food in rural communities can be a challenge.”
Mairi McCallum
“We have been thinking of having a mobile service for a while.
“Covid really highlighted the issue that access to food in rural communities can be a challenge.”
Route overview.
Week 1 begins Monday 11 April (then fortnightly)
Week 2 begins Monday 18 April (then fortnightly).
Thursday routes start on Monday 12 May due to existing commitments. More info on our plans for each Thursday until then will be published weekly. pic.twitter.com/wJIWMjn14I— Big Blue (@BigBlueMoray) April 7, 2022
Top up for your shopping
Mrs McCallum added: “We want to try to reach as many communities as we can.
“We don’t want people to build up a reliance on the service so we are visiting every two weeks.
“You will not be able to do your weekly shop there, but you will be able to get quite a lot of stuff which will save you money and top up your shopping.
“For £2.50, you will get around £10 to £15 worth of food.
“The pantry is open for everybody and as a zero waste project, all the food is surplus and keeping it in the food chain.”
Outreach work
Outreach activities such as cooking, gentle exercise for older people, bushcraft, cooking and community meals will also be delivered to groups inside the vehicle.
Andy Bentley, pantry development officer added: “We are going to do a lot of other things based around the vehicle.
“We want the vehicle to be a vocal point for people to meet whether that wellbeing, sport or working with groups and primary schools.
” Emma Murray is joining me on this trips.
“We are hoping to start projects in the communities where we visit and once we leave they can establish themselves and turn it into a longer project.”
Meanwhile Press and Journal and Evening Express are working on their Big Food Appeal to raise awareness and work to debunk some of the myths and stigma around foodbanks.