Cooking/ Food Services

We’re a charity based in Boscombe, Bournemouth. We work with others in our community to give everyone access to healthy, nutritious food. We grow and share fruit and veg; we teach others how to grow their own food; we redistribute food surplus from gardens and businesses; and we connect networks of people who store and share homegrown food.

For over 30 years, we’ve been cooking and delivering delicious frozen meals for you to enjoy whenever you like.

Our menu is bursting with over 330 brilliantly easy meals to brighten your day, delivered free to your door by our friendly local team who are always happy to go that extra mile.

We provide exceptional meals to organisations catering to the young and the elderly. Our meals are expertly crafted by our Dietitian and Chefs, then frozen to lock in the goodness.

Simply contact your local centre or council to arrange a daily Hot Meals on Wheels delivery. You can receive this up to 7 days a week, 365 days per year and can choose from a wide range of delicious meals.

Our friendly and qualified drivers will deliver meals every day, and check-in to make sure you or your loved ones are happy and well. They are all DBS (Disclosure and Barring service) checked and carry identification badges.

Our vision is to get as many people as we can to care about what they eat and to enjoy the process of cooking & eating together, ultimately developing a healthier, more sustainable and affordable life style for everyone.
The Friendly Food Club does this mainly, although not exclusively, through FREE, fun and informal workshops based on cooking, eating and talking together, proven to have a beneficial effect on both physical and mental health.
As well as developing cooking skills and food knowledge, the workshops boost self-confidence and enable individuals to make more informed choices about the food they buy, cook and eat.
The hands-on workshops enable people to learn and develop their cooking skills with easy to follow recipes. The focus is to have fun, whilst practically learning about nutrition, food hygiene and safe working practices. Several workshops enable participants to gain a new qualification such as Food Safety & Hygiene Certificates.
Projects can include shopping trips to the local market or supermarket, planting and cooking with vegetables in a community garden, menu planning and how to avoid food waste.
Environmental issues and animal welfare concerns and an appreciation of where and how our food is produced are embedded in the practical workshops.
The Friendly Food Club also runs community lunch and dinner clubs,often bringing lonely, vulnerable and otherwise isolated people together to help improve their daily lives.

A 2-course hot lunch, for people over the age of 60 at Greystones Hall, Christchurch.
Approx £3 for a 2 course hot lunch (please call to confirm)

Hope for Food’s mission is to assist men, women and children in Bournemouth and the surrounding areas, who are either homeless or living in poverty, by providing fresh food at our community meals and hampers of food, good quality clothing, bedding and household goods, where needed. We aim to preserve the dignity of those we help and treat everyone with the utmost respect without judgement. We help anyone who reaches out to us in need.

This map shows the variety of community food support that is available throughout Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, and how you can access it.

Together we are creating a Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole where everyone can feed themselves and their family nutritious food, all of the time.

The café can be used as a training facility for women in our care, many of whom have very low self-esteem and limited cooking skills. Here they can gain their Food & Hygiene certificates and build their confidence through hospitality skills.

Current services:

-FREE 1:1 support with a trained support worker – 12 month program where we get alongside each beneficiary and use Individual Support Plans to help you get through whatever you’re going through. Sessions last from 30-45 minutes.

-We provide FREE weekly lunch from the café for our beneficiaries

-We signpost to various organisations/counsellors

-We provide training on site in both our café and IT room.  This may include training in Food/Hygiene certificate, help with CV writing, help using IT etc.

-We provide a befriending service where befrienders get alongside our women, providing a listening ear and or helping with practical issues, such as escorting our beneficiaries to court, taking them to the Foodbank etc.

-Thursday sessions for craft/chat

-Companion Calls with one of our volunteers

-Monthly Book Club

Guest chefs from in and around Dorset teach specific classes according to their specialist fields and demonstrate techniques, ingredients used in the industry today and work with you to create amazing dishes. Most of our classes are hands-on, which means you get to cook alongside chef gaining expert advice right there and then. If you would rather watch and taste we have a number of classes that will give you some great ideas and get you all fired up to cook at home

We provide all necessary equipment and ingredients for our classes, so just bring your smile and a comfy pair of shoes!

The Foodbank+ is more than just food. Our + projects are: *Furniture bank, providing white goods, furniture and a home equip pack (kettle, toaster, plates, cups, saucepans, bedding etc) *Homeless assist, helping with clothes, sleeping bags, washing clothes, food, Sponsor a night in, attend housing appointments, assist filling out forms. *Cooking on a budget workshops, teaching people to Shop, cook and eat on a budget, *Community Supper, Hot meal and pudding one night a week to bring community to the lonely or isolated families *MIAB Meal in a bag, all the ingredients and recipe needed to make a good home cooked meal. *School holiday hunger provision *CMA community money advice, budget help and debt advice service *drop in, drop in for a tea/coffee and a chat

Christchurch Food Bank+ is about much more than just food in an emergency. We are passionate about caring for the whole person and so have developed our centre to support, walk alongside you and to provide you with the skills and tools to not just survive the crisis but to thrive so that you can live life to the full.

Open:
Tuesdays, 10am – 12pm
Thursdays, 11am – 1pm
Fridays, 2pm – 4pm
Mondays, 10am – 12pm for donations only
*Outside open hours and for our other projects, please call the number below and leave a message.

07587 371088 or 07536 983678

Breakfast Hub: – Our term time group provides breakfast and toddler play for £2pp including unlimited refreshments (under 5s eat free).

Parents have highlighted the struggles families face regarding education. We are slowly building a monthly advice drop-in for various services to meet with parent’s face-face at breakfast hub, SWAN UK and the Parent Carer Foundation currently attend supporting parents and carers to participate, engage and express their views as a collective voice to all organisations who shape and deliver services locally for all disabled children, adults, SEND or special educational needs, with or without a diagnosis.

The Samee Charity recently joined breakfast hub working with lone parents one to one enabling them to explore self-employment by creatively exploring their ideas and potential, helping them achieve financial independence through successful business start-up and/or improved employment prospects.

Breakfast hub is replaced in half term with Children’s Activities: – Our weekly crafting throughout the holidays brings families together for £1 per child.

We provide a weekly two course home-cooked meal to the community for £3.50pp.

The purpose of lunch club is specifically to target loneliness by bringing older people together in a safe and welcoming environment.

It is important to us that mobility does not create a barrier to accessibility, teamed with Christchurch Community Partnership we are able to offer our residents a door-to-door bus service for £1 return.