Our Projects
Our Spring 2025 Wellbeing Cafe, ‘Friendly Food’ will begin on Monday, April 14th
Join us for 10 weeks of wellbeing, connection and finding joy through food. Make and taste simple recipes, learn how to cook, shop and eat in ways that are good for you, the planet and your pocket.
These sessions are referral only (self referral is ok) , please fill out the form to attend.
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Solidarity Supermarket
Monday afternoons, 4pm to 6pm in the cafe space.
Using co-operative principles that adhere more to ideas of mutual aid than philanthropy, this initiative combines elements from the pantry model with the concept of bulk buying to reduce packaging and cost. Our tiered pricing structure means that those who can pay a little more than cost price can enable those with a little less financial flexibility can still access organic wholefoods at a discount.
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People’s Kitchen
Our Tuesday People’s Kitchen is a day dedicated to volunteers which aims to bring people together, connecting with one another through cooking and sharing a FREE, healthy meal made from surplus food. We want this project to be as inclusive as possible – it is open to all! Come from 10am to chop & chat, lunch is served at 1pm.
We welcome friendly volunteers, drop an email to volunteering@hornbeam.org.uk
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Food Redistribution Network
The Food Redistribution Network is at the core of what we do at the Hornbeam. We receive regular surplus food from our suppliers such as the Felix Project, City Harvest and local food businesses (which would otherwise have been sent to landfill), sort it and then redistribute it to a network of Waltham Forest local projects across the week, often by bike!
Do you have a regular supply of food, or have time to volunteer in the yard? -
Good Deeds on Bikes
Hornbeam’s Good Deeds on Bikes scheme allows you to help out your local community whilst spending some time on your bike! This project includes both surplus food collection and local deliveries.
We love to hear from folk wanting to volunteer, is this you? We offer training for people who’d like to cycle the big electric cargo bike.
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Waltham Forest Food Partnership
A cross borough partnership bringing together Organiclea, Hornbeam and key food partners together with the council to develop a vision and strategy for a more resilient food system in Waltham Forest. Informed by the food growing and food redistribution network, the partnership is developing a strategy based on the ground level work of groups and projects who have identified the gaps, needs and places for solutions.
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Climate Fresk
Understanding the changing climate and figuring out how to respond both as an individual and in community can feel quite overwhelming.
We are hosting regular Climate Fresk session with a free hot meal as a way to help our community members grasp the scale of what we face, and be empowered to work towards building community resilience. -
Food Co-ops
A food co-op is a membership-based and non-hierarchical collective within which the group decides on alternative ways of sourcing their food, bypassing supermarkets and instead utilising bulk buying and surplus food. At the Hornbeam we help mentor and supply two local food co-ops to promote a more sustainable and affordable way of engaging with our food system.
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Food Streets
Working with people on a street level to find neighbourhood food solutions that help the planet and each other. Ideas range from potluck dinners, sharing oven space to reduce energy costs, bulk buying food together or growing veg in your front gardens to share out. Click here to see some of the ideas we’ve come up with!
Previous Projects
Ready Healthy Eat
Ready Healthy Eat is a project which helps provide nutritious ready meals to the most vulnerable people in our community. It is through this long-term project that we were able to quickly adapt to the outbreak of the pandemic and the lockdown restrictions that came with it. With a strong network of cycling volunteers & cooking volunteers, we were able to give out over 40 000 meals over the 2 years of the pandemic.
Leyton Wellbeing & Food Project
This project aims to target food insecurity in Waltham Forest and increase the wellbeing of the community through the collaboration between food growers and community food 'sharing' groups with a focus on overall health and wellbeing of the community. We look to encourage residents of Leyton to take part in gardening, social cooking, food sharing, walking activities; engage with the established groups like community gardens and mutual-aid groups, and be inspired to set up their own wellbeing groups with our active support.