M&S has partnered with FareShare to donate one million freshly prepared meals from its ‘Eat Well’ range in the eight weeks leading up to Christmas.
The meals will be made at 2 Sisters Food Group manufacturing sites and donated to FareShare directly from the M&S Food supply chain.
The meals consist of three of the retailer’s most popular seasonal ‘Eat Well’ products including chilli con carne and rice, tomato and basil soup, and pizza.
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This comes as 13m people are facing food insecurity in the UK, a figure which has doubled in the last three years.
M&S managing director of food, Alex Freudmann, said: “Making great quality, delicious and nutritious food is what we do at M&S Food and its hugely important to me that we make this as accessible to as many families as possible.
“I am hugely proud that we are coming together with our supplier partners and supporting FareShare by flipping our mindset from using food that is too good to waste to innovating to use capacity that is too good to waste. This donation is just the start and in the coming months we’ll be expanding this work to support more families who find themselves in need of a bit of extra help this winter.”
FareShare CEO George Wright added: “We’re incredibly grateful for the support from M&S who, by providing a million meals, will help so many people struggling at this time of year.
“Demand for our food has skyrocketed, and the 8,500 charities we provide food to have seen firsthand how more and more families and working people have been forced to seek help. The charities we support, which include homelessness shelters, afterschool clubs, and older people’s lunch clubs, will be working harder than ever this winter.”
