We've rescued 10 million Meals worth of Food 

Each week, UKHarvest collects around 10 tonnes of food from farms, growers, producers and distributors. We have some incredible partnerships who donate their surplus food to UKHarvest, knowing it's going to reach the homes of those in need and those wishing to reduce food waste. 

At 10am on Friday morning, World Food Day, we reached the amazing milestone of having received 10 million meals worth of food. That's a staggering 4,200 tonnes of food that would otherwise have gone to waste.

This wouldn’t be possible without our operations team, our volunteers and the organisations that support us, from Bristol to Margate and London to Lewes. 

UKHarvest began in March 2017 as a man, a van and later a lockup in Chichester. Today we have a fleet of vans, a fully operational warehouse space with a chiller and freezer unit, delivering surplus food as ingredients and meals for communities across the South of England and West London. 

We’ve changed a lot over (nearly) 10 years of doing this. The Covid Pandemic bought challenges for all, and a greater need was created to access food. The UKHarvest team identified how suitable support could be provided and evolved to meet the needs of our community.  Our Community Pantries have evolved into Community Food Hubs, and we’re now delivering great food directly to communities and families, as well as to our charity partners.  

We saw Nourish Hub open its doors in 2021, welcoming members of the West London community to enjoy healthy, nutritious meals throughout the week, and to experience our NOURISHed food education programme both in our training kitchens and across our communities. 2024 saw the launch of our innovative Grub Club in-school food hub delivery which now supports 20 primary schools in West Sussex. This year, we've welcomed the latest additions to our operations; Nourish Hub Cafe and Community Grub Clubs that both began in January 2026. 

This growth is down to our recognition that surplus food shouldn't go to waste and can, instead, be used to feed people who are struggling to afford to feed their households, or who want to cut their carbon footprint. 

As a board, we are so proud of the team and the volunteers to have reached such an impressive milestone of 10 million meals delivered.  

"With the generous support of Queen Camilla as Patron, UKHarvest has continued to grow into an outstanding charity, delivering affordable food and free food education to thousands of people each year through our Community Food Hubs, Grub Clubs, Nourish Hub and community cafés.  

The team and volunteers work towards a more sustainable food system in a time when the cost of living continues to rise and more people are using our services, keeping the community at the center of everything we do. Thank you."  

Susannah Day, Chair of the Board for UKHarvest. 

As one of the founding members of Xcess, the Independent Food Redistribution network, we work with organisations across the country to make sure that surplus food finds a home. Surplus food charities including City Harvest in London work together to make sure that all food is collected and redistributed, rather than going to waste. 

Interim COO, Lauren Stoner has already experienced the impactful work taking place every day at UKHarvest. "I would like to share a huge well done to Simon (Head of Operations - South) and the warehouse team who have collectively moved the vast majority of those 10 million meals. As the new National Programme to Redistribute Surplus Food gathers at pace, I look forward to growing our ability to rescue and redistribute food to those communities who need it most." 

The work we do would not be possible without the help and support of volunteers who take part in every area of our activity.  

UKHarvest strives to create food resilience at a time when good food is thrown away before even reaching a retailer, while 14% of children live in households experiencing food insecurity. More change is needed, and we’re working to make sure that by time we reach 20 million meals donated that good food goes to waste, and no one struggles to access healthy food, no matter their circumstances.