Buncrana Community Pantry
With the support and help of Clonmany Community Pantry, The Exchange has now launched Buncrana Community Pantry to replace our food bank. This wonderful initiative moves away from food handouts to tackling the huge problem of Food Waste.
Clonmany Community Pantry was officially launched in 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown to ensure zero hunger in the community. FoodCloud connects us with local retailers with surplus food to ensure no good food goes to waste.
Inspired by their example, The Exchange also registered with Food Cloud and began collecting and re-distributing surplus food from local supermarkets. With the huge growth and development of Clonmany's hugely successful Community Pantry and with rising demand on our food bank making it unsustainable, The Exchange decided to transition to a Food Pantry in May 2024.
Who can use the community Pantry?
The Community Pantry is open to the entire community and we encourage everyone to get involved and make use of this fantastic initiative. It is a wonderful community space where the sharing of information, produce, and learning takes place.
Where does the Pantry food come from?
FoodCloud is a national social enterprise and they have created the links for our pantry to collect foodstock from locally assigned supermarkets who may have surplus foods, foods with damaged packaging, end of line items or foods that are nearing their best before dates.
Are the foods in the pantry good, in date and safe to eat foods?
Foods for the pantry may be received as dried goods, fresh fruit/veg, chilled or frozen items. All food items are stored within the pantry in a safe manner according to the FSAI (Food Safety Authority of Ireland) guidelines. Refrigerated foods are maintained at 0-5 degrees (and within 'use by date') Frozen foods are maintained at <-18 degrees.
Clonmany Community Pantry was officially launched in 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown to ensure zero hunger in the community. FoodCloud connects us with local retailers with surplus food to ensure no good food goes to waste.
Inspired by their example, The Exchange also registered with Food Cloud and began collecting and re-distributing surplus food from local supermarkets. With the huge growth and development of Clonmany's hugely successful Community Pantry and with rising demand on our food bank making it unsustainable, The Exchange decided to transition to a Food Pantry in May 2024.
Who can use the community Pantry?
The Community Pantry is open to the entire community and we encourage everyone to get involved and make use of this fantastic initiative. It is a wonderful community space where the sharing of information, produce, and learning takes place.
Where does the Pantry food come from?
FoodCloud is a national social enterprise and they have created the links for our pantry to collect foodstock from locally assigned supermarkets who may have surplus foods, foods with damaged packaging, end of line items or foods that are nearing their best before dates.
Are the foods in the pantry good, in date and safe to eat foods?
Foods for the pantry may be received as dried goods, fresh fruit/veg, chilled or frozen items. All food items are stored within the pantry in a safe manner according to the FSAI (Food Safety Authority of Ireland) guidelines. Refrigerated foods are maintained at 0-5 degrees (and within 'use by date') Frozen foods are maintained at <-18 degrees.
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Buncrana Community Pantry is open three times a week from 11am to 1pm and is regularly re-stocked with donations from Food Cloud with the wonderful support from the Clonmany Pantry. Members can call down as often as they would like and fill their bag with items. There are a wide range of items available including bags of potatoes, branded items and more. Some items are close to or past their "best before" dates but can be safely redistributed according to food safety rules.
We also have some frozen items available that have been collected from local supermarkets and stored carefully at -18 degrees (food safety regulations). Members of the Food Pantry team have been trained in food safety and the pantry is managed according to HACCP guidelines. |
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Become a Member!
The Community Pantry is not a project focusing on people's needs, but rather a project with a focus on food wastage, climate action, and it also offers more sustainable food choices for our community. The Pantry operates on a membership basis with an annual membership fee of €20. Each member receives a community pantry hessian bag for life and a membership card. Membership to the community pantry will allow you to fill your hessian pantry bag for just €5. This money is reinvested back in to the pantry which will help it to become a more sustainable project for our community. Your annual registration fee and weekly purchase fees will also help to cover the cost of collection of food items, pantry running costs and insurance.
The Community Pantry is not a project focusing on people's needs, but rather a project with a focus on food wastage, climate action, and it also offers more sustainable food choices for our community. The Pantry operates on a membership basis with an annual membership fee of €20. Each member receives a community pantry hessian bag for life and a membership card. Membership to the community pantry will allow you to fill your hessian pantry bag for just €5. This money is reinvested back in to the pantry which will help it to become a more sustainable project for our community. Your annual registration fee and weekly purchase fees will also help to cover the cost of collection of food items, pantry running costs and insurance.
