The Real Junk Food Project stocks surplus goods from supermarkets and lets people pay what they want.
A new food waste 'supermarket’ has opened in Pudsey, near Leeds.
The Real Junk Food Project (TRJFP) is a warehouse where shoppers can "pay what they feel" for food that would have otherwise gone to landfill.
Major supermarkets, local allotments, cafés, food banks and caterers all supply food to the warehouse.
The food isn’t just for people who are struggling to make ends meet; TRJFP says it wants to feed everyone.
Adam Smith, co-founder of the project, wants to open a warehouse in every city in the UK.
Image credit: Facebook / The Real Junk Food Project
Not just tins of beans
The warehouse has a variety of fresh and baked goods, as well as tinned produce.
The Guardian reports a “mountain of food” including Marks & Spencer cakes and Ferrero Rocher chocolate, grapes, tomatoes, posh crisps and jars of olives.
In fact, volunteers at the warehouse have been given so much bread that they struggle to shift it – supermarkets just make so much of it.
The store receives between two and 10 tonnes of food a day.
@talkRADIO 11 tons of noodles - 2 tons of soya spread - 2 tons of mayonnaise all OOD, all perfectly edible @RealJunkFood #PAYF pic.twitter.com/3WlbQ2KTPT
— Adam (@MrJunkFoodChef) 22 September 2016
And there's no need to fret about food safety. The Real Junk Food Project sticks to all environmental health regulations and volunteers smell, look at and taste the food to make sure that it’s fit to eat.
The majority of its cafés in the UK have a 3 or more star rating from their local health authority.
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Tell me more about ‘Pay as you Feel’
[SPOTLIGHT] As mentioned earlier, the warehouse and cafés operate a ‘Pay as you Feel’ policy.
This means customers can pay in two ways: either make a donation based on what they can afford or what they think the food is worth, or donate their time and volunteer for the project instead.
‘Pay as you Feel’ cafés are open up and down the country as well as other parts of the world.
Some have professional chefs on staff.
As if that wasn’t enough, volunteers are pioneering a related project called Fuel for School to give schools wasted food which goes to feed every pupil, regardless of their background.
If you want to start a café you can request a starter pack or if you want to get involved with your local café, get in touch through TRJFP’s cafés page.
The warehouse can be found in Grangefield Industrial Estate, Pudsey.
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