FAQs for the GL11 Community Pantry

The Pantry is open on Wednesdays 10am - 1pm and 2pm - 4.30pm, and Fridays 10am - 12noon. You must first register as a member by speaking to our Community Receptionist, then you can phone us or come in to GL11 on the day to pre-book a 15 minute shopping slot.

Membership is free but each visit to the Community Pantry costs £4 per visit, per person; a typical basket will hold around £15-20 of food/toiletries, frozen food and fresh fruit or veg.

Membership of the Community Pantry is open to anyone who needs it!

We do keep an eye on eligibility and this is measured at the point of joining - we want to make sure that help is going to the people who need it the most.

It’s not a lengthy application form or anything like that, but when you ring for the first time, you will be asked a few simple questions by our Community Receptionist. For example, they will ask you if you are local to either the GL11, GL12 or GL13 postcode areas and will ask you about your current financial situation. Please ring us if you would like this explained in more detail – 01453 548530.

To become a member of the Community Pantry you should ring and talk to our Community Receptionist who will check some details with you - this will help them to decide whether you are eligible. If you are eligible, then you will be signed up as a member straight away and be able to book your first 15-minute shopping slot in the pantry on a Wednesday or Friday. The Community Pantry costs £4 per person, per visit and is open on Wednesdays 10am - 1pm and 2pm - 4.30pm, and Fridays 10am - 12noon. Please note that you need to pre-book shopping slots each time you attend and for each person attending.

If you have multiple people in your household, you can pay a membership twice and receive twice as much (i.e., £8 = x24 items from the shelves) but this is subject to change and dependent on stock levels.

If you have multiple people in your household, you can pay a membership for each person, including children and you will receive shopping for that amount. Baby food is offered for free and is not counted as part of your 10 off the shelves items. This is dependent on availability but we do our best to keep items like this in stock.

The Community Pantry is stocked mainly from donations from individuals and local businesses. Also, to make sure that staples are always available, along with Members’ requests, we top up the shelves ourselves using the £4 fee collected from membership payments.

The Community Pantry is a sustainable way for people to access good quality food every week.

The Community Pantry uses a membership scheme where, for £4 each week, members can visit the Pantry (at a pre-booked time) and choose 10 items from the shelves (food and toiletries are combined in this total). Multiples of certain items (e.g., tinned fruit) are allowed but certain high value items (e.g., coffee, laundry detergent) will be restricted to one per shop. On top of this, members can also choose one item from the fridge and one from the freezer (cheese, butter, milk, frozen meat, bread and pre-cooked meals from the cafe), however, this is subject to availability and can vary each week. We also stock plenty of fresh fruit and veg. Again, the variety and quantity will vary depending on what we’ve received in that week.

Every penny spent on the Community Pantry goes into improving the Pantry. Whether that’s stocking the shelves with items requested by shoppers, buying new storage units and freezers to house stock or special, seasonal items in time for Christmas and other holidays.

We are always looking for volunteers to help with the Community Pantry. A typical day in the Pantry might include being shopkeeper, unpacking donations, stacking shelves, sorting out stock, checking dates and helping members with their shopping slot. If you would like to volunteer in the pantry, then give us a call on 01453 548530 or email adam@gl11.org.uk.

We are looking at offering recipe cards so that you can pick up all the items you need to make a meal. We are also trialling Feed Yourself Well pre-packed bags of ingredients to make a healthy and nutritious family meal. These will be available monthly and will count as 4 of your 10 items. Please ring the office for details if you are interested to know more.