Tuesday night is FoodCycle night and our fabulous team were out to support in all roles. Gill helped with the food collection before joiningvthe cookingvteam alongside Martin and two other FoodCycle regulars. While she started on a chocolately dessert Martin started cooking up a deliciously fragrant vegetable curry. Omar, full of smiles, joined the kitchen team and his skill as pot washer was greatly appreciated while Dee and Luqman helped out the hosting team with setting up the hall and serving the guests. It was a delicious meal with lots of empty plates and lots of empty crates to be returned to Sainsbury's afterwards. Well done team - we had some great feedback from the guests. You are really appreciated.

There was a good turn out from the Luton GoodGym team this afternoon and evening to help prepare and give out the meal tonight to our guests. Gill was yo first as she was responsible for the induction of a new FoodCycle volunteer to the hob of surplus food collection. There was a lot if food so they were glad to work together. Gill had also been asked to open up the church and help on the cooking team for an hour or so. She was soon joined by Marti and the rest of the cooking team. There were limited hosts expected tonight, so they got stuck into preparing a three course takeaway menu. Gill made home made mayonnaise and helped prepare all the constituents for a mixed salad with boiled eggs, while Martin got busy preparing a vegetable cottage pie. As the evening wore on the team was joined by Omar - resplendent in his new black GoodGym shirt, Dee and Moamal, who helped with bagging up food for guests to take away and serving up the takeaways. We were joined by 36 guests who were all pleased to take away a nutritious and delicious take away as well as plenty of fresh fruit and bread to tide them over the coming week. Another great meal , thanks team.

Foodcycle had support from 4 Luton Goodgymers tonight. Gill took care of the food collection, grabbing food that would have otherwise gone to waste from the local supermarket. Then I got stuck in with other Foodcycle volunteers in the kitchen and we prepared a 3 course meal for 43 visitors. The 3 courses were, a fantastic Leek and potato soup for starters, vegetable stir fried noodles for main and apiece of cake from quite a selection that was on offer today. Omar and Dinner Dee helped the hosting team by serving the meals and refreshments and preparing and handing out surplus food bags. Great effort tonight team, well done 👏

There were two GoodGymers in the kitchen at FoodCycle this evening, both in need of some mental maths as Martin and Gill tried to work out how many packets of mince pies made 100. When they get hot and bothered in the kitchen the old grey cells don't work as quickly as normal. Martin was also using his maths brain to treble up quantities for a vat of his special custard, while Gill was working out how many litres of cream were required for 60 portions of potato dauphinoise. The Goodgymers, OMar, Moamal amnd Dee on the hosting team had less maths to do out front, as there was plenty of food to go round, so it was an easy job to ensure all the guests got a portion of the three course tonight - a vegetable frittata for starters, potato dauphinoise and veg for main, and delightful mince pies and custard for pudding. They were also able to enusre all guests got a generous goody bag as Gill had done a great job with her hubby in collecting a large quantity of surplus form the supermarket yesterday.

FoodCycle was full of Festive Cheer tonight as it was the last meal before Christmas. Martin and Gill joined the cooking team again who cooked up a delicious Christmas dinner: frittata with some star garlic croutons to start; roasted quorn with roast potatoes, stuffing balls, veg and onion gravy for the main course, and a trio of mince pies with custard for dessert. Omar and Dee helped set up the hall with flowers, poinsettias and reindeer to get the festive vibe, and were delighted to serve our guests who seemed to really enjoy tonight's meal. Well done team, now we have a well earned break from FoodCycle for the next two weeks.

Four of our GoodGym team were put to work in the kitchen at Farley Community Centre this evening under the watchful eye of Vera - who is leading on providing a Christmas dinner for 60 senior residents tomorrow.

Armed with peelers and knives we had a mountain of veg to prepare but it didn’t take long before the ingredients for the vegetable soup were in the cauldron boiling away. Then it was prep for the main course. Everything needed peeling - carrots, parsnips, sprouts and lots of potatoes. And though some of the potatoes were big enough to be bakers we were prepping for roasties and mash so no jackets were required. We hope the meal is a great success tomorrow.

GoodGym and FoodCycle were on fine form today, with another delicious meal served up to who knows how many guests. The plates just kept leaving the kitchen and hosts kept asking for more.

Martin and Gill were again in the kitchen - their favourite place to be - and the mushroom soup, burgers in buns with sides, and cake and custard all went down well with the guests.

Dee, Moamal and Omar were front of house and able to help keep the plates flying out of the kitchen. Well done team, hard work tonight but it was all worthwhile.