The Felix Project doubles amount of food saved

The Felix Project has more than doubled the amount of frozen food they have been able to rescue, thanks to a £1million fund supported by King Charles III Charitable Fund.

In December 2022 a £1 million fund, which included a personal donation from The King, was launched by The Prince of Wales Charitable Fund (now King Charles III Charitable Fund). The money bought 800 fridges and freezers for organisations providing food to those in need across the UK. The Felix Project, together with partners FareShare, the Trussell Trust and the British Asian Trust helped distribute the white goods. The money also enabled The Felix Project to invest in a huge industrial freezer that quickly freezes fresh food and extends its shelf life.

The charity has saved 362 tonnes of frozen food so far in 2023 – the equivalent of almost 862,000 meals. In 2022 The Felix Project rescued just under 176 tonnes of frozen food, or 418,138 meals, meaning the amount of food saved from being wasted and the numbers of people fed has more than doubled.

The freezer capacity will be even more useful during the festive season, when a lot of surplus food in circulation. In the past The Felix Project has had to turn down supplies, however, this year they expect to be able to save much more, and hope December will be a record month in terms of volume.

Charlotte Hill OBE, CEO of The Felix Project, said:

‘The extra freezers have been transformational, and I am so proud of the fact we have been able to double the amount of food saved. It is not only items like vegetables, it is also items like ready meals and meat, the kind of food people put in their freezer at home. It means we can do the same on a huge scale and then give this food to people that really need it.’

‘We know the need out there is so high at the moment, and with Christmas round the corner families are feeling even more pressure to spend money. The Felix Project is working as hard as it can to save more food and feed more people. Practical solutions like this are vital in helping to rescue more food and get it to the incredible charities on the frontline.’

The 800 fridges and freezers also purchased by the fund were distributed to food banks, pantries, shelters, and schools across all four nations of the UK.

One of the organisations to benefit was Keep the Drums, Lose the Knife, a south London organisation which provides a food bank every Friday to people in need. Sarian Karim, the charity founder, says the fridge provided to them has been life changing:

‘I cannot put into words how grateful we are, before getting the fridge we could not accept many fresh items, like meat and fish, ready meals, dairy and more, it really limited what we could provide. Now we have somewhere to store these items we can take them from Felix.

The fridge has allowed us to increase the numbers of people we feed. It’s gone from around 100 to 120 people to around 180 people. Being able to keep food for that extra day means we have more to give out and more choice, more healthy fruit and vegetables and more staples to use in their meals. I cannot thank everyone enough for the help!’

This initiative was a pre-curser to The Coronation Food Project. The Coronation Food Project, which was inspired by The King, is working with FareShare UK and The Felix Project to supercharge and expand the food distribution network across the UK. Baroness Louise Casey, a trustee for King Charles III Charitable Fund (KCCF) who has played a fundamental role in both the projects, said:

‘I am so pleased to hear how much the freezers have had an impact and how much food has already been saved. This is exactly the kind of results we are hoping to achieve with the Coronation Food Project – only on a much larger and wider scale. Food waste is an urgent issue both socially and environmentally. I am confident we can find many more innovative techniques, just like this, to ensure more food is saved. It is vital food goes to those in need, especially during these very difficult times, instead of ending up in the bin, generating harmful greenhouse gases and just being a tragic waste of edible food.’

If you would like to find out more about The Coronation Food Project please click here.

If you would like to find out more about The Felix Project click here