What is The Very Green Grocery?
We are a community grocery shop that is here to reduce food waste and provide our community with affordable food options
Very Green Grocery offer affordable groceries while helping reduce food waste. We work with local supermarkets, food distributors and haulage companies. We accept donations of surplus food, making sure good food doesn’t go to waste. You can sign up to become a member for free, and you can visit twice a week to pick up groceries for a £6 donation - you will walk away with groceries with a general retail value of between £25 - £40.
What food can I expect to get at the Grocery?
Our offerings change regularly based on surplus donations from supermarkets and other sources, but we always have a great selection of food including:
Fruit & Veg
Snacks
Tinned food
Cupboard items
Freezer items
Fridge items
Bakery items
If food is out of date, is it still safe to eat?
This is a great question, we will explain the two different labels you will get on food and what they mean. When food is manufactured it will have two labels on called "Use by" and "Best before" date. Here is a little bit more information about these labels, and what you need to look out for.
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Use by
10TH OCT
Best Before
10TH OCT
"Use by" is the stricter of the two and tends to be on meat, dairy or similar. Food that is "use by" should be used by that date or frozen, if that packaging states that it is suitable for freezing. We will never pass on food past the "use by" date, unless it has been previously frozen.
"Best before" is a guideline from the manufacturer suggesting that their produce is best eaten before that date. We follow WRAP guidelines on how long after a "best before" date we can pass something on. It is then over to you, the consumer, to decide when to use it.
Why is there surplus food?
There are many reasons why there are surplus food, here is just a few reasons why:
Can I donate food to you?
We do take food donations! To find out more please click the button below and we can give you some more information about donating food to us.
Overproduction
Past the Best Before date
Damaged packaging
Why is The Very Green Grocery important?
The Very Green Grocery is super important because we rescue food from going to waste! Many people and manufacturers throw away perfectly good food and we want to not only reduce this from happening, but to also raise awareness about food waste. Not only that, it also supports our community if you are on a tight budget, if you get given food bank tokens, if you are passionate about food waste or if you are just looking for your "filler" shop throughout the week for a good price.
WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) estimate that the total food waste for 2021 was 10.7 million tonnes of food wasted.
Our Grocery stores
Now that you have learned a little bit more about what we do, and why we do it, you probably want to now understand more about who we are and where we are.
The Old School House
Manchester Road,
Northwich,
CW9 7NS
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The Winsford Community Hub
High Street,
Winsford,
CW7 2AS
Frequently asked questions
We have put together a list of questions we have been asked, to better help you understand The Very Green Grocery and our food shop process. To read the FAQ's please press the button below.