Hello! Welcome to The Pantri, Risca’s eco-shopping solution for those looking for a sustainable lifestyle on a budget. If you are looking to lower your carbon impact we are the solution for you. We always have a range of fresh, delicious food that you can use to make nutritious meals for you and your family at a significantly lower cost.
Formally located a few doors away at Snug Coffee Shop (formally We Connect), The Pantri has proudly amassed over 250 members and has supplied 450 meals per hour that it has been open in just one year. Over 300kgs of surplus food has been redirected from landfill every week, saving 1500kg in carbon emissions and twenty two times that amount in methane. This small little venture has had a massive impact in just its first year on being open and now is expanding to be able to serve more members and secure more food for the community.
Cutting Food Waste – One Basket at a Time
According to an article in the Independent, UK Supermarkets waste the equivalent of 190 million meals a year that could be given to charities. Less than 9% of this is donated for human consumption and instead is sent to landfill to rot while people go hungry. WRAP have estimated that a massive 10% of global green house gasses can be attributed purely to food waste. Shopping at community pantry’s like The Pantri means you can have a huge impact on your personal carbon emissions. Working with amazing initiatives like Fareshare as well as our local superstores like Tesco Risca and Morrisons Rogerstone our Pantry aims to reposition this surplus food.
WRAP Support Food Action Week every year to raise awareness for the impact food waste has on the environment
Membership to our Pantry is just £2 for six months (or 24 baskets.) This fee funds our membership to Fareshare from whom we purchase 200 KGs of surplus food, every week.
Why Risca Needs The Pantri
The Pantri is the brainchild of Community Volunteers Wales founders Tara Holloway-Scott and Dawn Derravan. After launching the charity through the Global Pandemic, three major lockdowns and a prolonged local lockdown they have both seen a real need for change in the way food is distributed in our community.
Dawn Derraven explains;
“We launched Community Volunteer Wales (formally RCV UK) as a way to help the most vulnerable in our community during a time when lockdown meant they were completely isolated from their support systems. During that time we saw people in our community suffering with hunger and the heartbreaking choice between eating or heating. We knew we had to do something to help. Our mission is to to create robust self-sufficient communities that have kindness and connection at the very heart. The Pantri is the embodiment of this, where people can shop without judgment whether they need the shop to get through the month, or whether they are just making the eco-decision to shop with us.”
Tara adds;
“I’ve seen the need for The Pantri directly through constant and at times almost heartbreaking conversations with people from all walks of life in our community. Over the festive period we supported Risca foodbank, as we have done since June 2020 with our Tin on a Wall scheme and we were shocked with how close Risca Foodbank and other local food banks came to being completely cleaned out. We begun to think, wouldn’t it be lovely if there was a way that rather than giving people limited handouts we could find a way to give them a constant hand up – and the concept for The Pantri was born.”
The Pantri has achieved a lot in it’s first year, and now we’re looking forward to a bright new future.
Not Foodbank but a Sustainable Shopping Solution
Although The Pantri is a low cost shopping solution, it is not a food bank. The Pantri is open to all, no means testing, no income information required. The purpose of our eco-grocery store is to lower the amount of surplus food ending in landfill. The advantage to you is that you can boost your weekly shop for a fraction of the price. Each basket of food with us is just £4. There is a misconception that if you shop at a Community Pantry you are taking food from people who really need it and it really isn’t the case. Anyone can join The Pantri’s membership, the more members we have the more we can grow and secure more food from needlessly ending up in landfill.
Read more about the differences between a Community Pantry and a Food Bank on our blog here.
The Pantri is located at 49 Tredegar Street in Risca. Parking can be found at Risca Rugby Club, or has limited parking in the street outside the shop. Our opening hours can be found here.
