Tonight at Foodcycle, GoodGym Luton was represented very well . 2 kitchen staff and 4 host helped the wider team serve 46 meals and 2 take aways. The menu this evening was a beautiful mixed salad 🥗 and baked curried chickpeas on toast for starter, an amazing cheesey vegetable pasta bake and dessert was malt loaf with fruit salad. It was well received by he guests and everyone left full and grateful. Just before service, the whole team stopped to sing happy birthday to our very own Mayra who celebrates tomorrow.
It was an amazing effort by all of the team, well done everyone.

I have no doubt that an organization like this in Luton will help a lot of vulnerable people and those who are homeless with food. Although I have been living in Luton for more than two years and have not had the opportunity to volunteer until last year with Good Gym, I am sure that the Good Gym team is great and kind people. However, this is the first time I have had the opportunity to volunteer with FOOD CYCLE, so my feelings were wonderful, amazing, gorgeous, magnificent, fabulous, terrific, fantastic. Though this opportunity was late, let me answer this question: why do I want to be a volunteer? I am a frank and straightforward man, so I want to make new friends, share ideas, help poor people, be active, support my community, enhance my skills, strengthen my CV, and improve my mental health.

Well GoodGym were out in force this afternoon and evening for FoodCycle, with two of our newer GoodGymers making their debut at this project.

Gill arrived early as she was once again co-ordinating the cooking team and needed to unlock the church and do the kitchen checks. Joined by a couple of our regular FoodCycle cooking volunteers they were rather limited by the lack of good fresh ingredients but soon decided on a healthy menu for tonight's meal. As the prep got underway Martin and Mayra completed the cooking team and we were off to a great start. Martin and Harrison undertook to make tray loads of potato wedges, which would be topped of with cheese towards the end. Gill started working on an oaty apple bake for pudding while Mayra supported Caron in making a delicious vegetarian chilli packed full of kidney beans, shallots, peppers, tomatoes and much more beside. We're a pretty versatile team, so as one lot of prep was completed, we would turn our hand to the next job: Martin and Harrison helped with prepping peppers and salad stuff and keeping a check on the washing up; and Mayra helped preparing the rest of the salad while Gill got started on caramelising bananas and sorting out some custard. At the end of two hours we were ready to serve up a veritable feast to our 46 guests.

Our Menu

Starter: chopped salad with garlic croutons

Main: Vegetable chilli with cheesy wedges and a side salad

Dessert: Oaty apple bake with caramelised bananas and custard.

We had a good hosting team who were joined by Derrick (an old hand, it being his second time at FoodCycle) who had brought Lukyamuzi and Joseph with him to experience their first evening at foodCycle. They did an excellent job of serving the food to the guests and cleaning up the hall and kitchen afterwards alongside the other hostibng volunteers. All were agreed that goodGym were absolutely vital in ensuring a successful meal was enjoyed by all.

Although there was less food available than usual, there wasn't any less enthusiasm form our three GoodGymers who joined the cooking team at FoodCycle this evening.

Gill was on the scene first as she had to open up the church, do the safety checks and also do a stock take ready to do an order later in the week. When her other half delivered the surplus food from the supermarkets they were both rather disappointed by the lack of food available. Fortunately, however, at the task on Sunday Gill had been given two large cream cakes, some double cream and some surplus veg, and this would help bulk out what was on offer.

Ideas were gradually developing and by the time Mayra arrived Gill and Cecilia had pretty much settled on the menu. The main event would be a vegetarian shepherd's pie and for this we would need a ton of mash. Cecilia and Mayra got stuck into peeling a mammoth pile of potatoes, and soon had them boiling away, ready for Cecilia to turn into a monstrous amount of mash.

When Martin arrived he joined Gill in prepping peppers and noodles for an Asian inspired mango, pepper and noodle salad. Harrison (who we are trying to persuade to join GoodGym) was given a brief to create a meat free filling for the shepherd's pie.

The cooking was cool, calm and collected and the whole team. worked well. Our menu was ready on time, plated elegantly and served up swiftly by the hosts. We even had time to do the bulk of the washing up before hot footing it to our next task at the temple.

Tonight there was a trio of GoodGymers volunteering at FoodCycle, and all had signed up to the cooking team tonight. Gill was first on the scene getting the venue unlocked, the oven on and the tables prepared to receive the food surplus. As the surplus arrived she was met by Tigger who soon joined in the task of unloading the food from the car. Surplus weighed, then then started to think about what they could make with the random produce on offer. Lots of peppers and aubergines were crying out to be turned into a ratatouille, and Tigger was happy to take the lead on making a vegetable stew with peeling and chopping help from a newbie FoodCycle volunteer. And finally they were joined by Martin to complete the GoodGym trio, who was soon busy preparing mangoes for a gorgeous mango, lime and mint sauce to accompany a rather unctious bread and butter pudding. We had Harrison and Dean from Foodcycle with us, and by 6 o'clock we were ready to serve up a delicious and warming three course meal to our hungry guests. Great team work, and all your efforts were greatly appreciated, with some excellent feedback from many of the guests.

Two of our regular Goodgym FoodCyclers had already signed up to cook this evening, but as the day wore on the organisers were worried about the number of regular volunteers for hosting the meal and put out a plea for any extra help. Having posted this on our WhatsApp group it was great that Derrick was free this evening and willing to sign up to the Foodcycle website, complete the training and sign himself up to help with the hosting. Gill and Mayra had arrived early to start on the cooking with three of the FoodCycle Team and dinner preparations were soon underway. Myra was tasked with peeling and chopping an enormous number of leeks ready for the leek, potato and cauliflower soup. She just have enjoyed it a lot as she was soon weeping with joy... yes I'm sure they were tears of joy and not that the leeks were making her cry! Gill and Jordi got busy preparing a Quorn based Bolognaise while one of new friends Harrison put together a delicious apple and pear crumbled with an oaty topping. Around 6pm Derrick arrived and we welcomed him into the fold - although his welcome was more like being thrown into the deep end, as service was underway. He was given the briefest of briefings, and then dived straight into serving up steaming bowls of soup, clearing tables, serving the mains and puddings. Although he was only able to stay for part of the shift his help was appreciated by guests and hosts alike. Another delicious meal served with care and kindness to around 48 guests down to GoodGym and FoodCycle 's great partnership. We're hoping we can encourage a few more GoodGYmers to take a turn at FoodCycle as it's a great team with a fab atmosphere.