It was a chilly night, but this didn't deter three of our GoodGym regulars, who were on hand to support at FoodCycle.

Gill did a. double wammy as she was asked to help with the surplus collection at Sainsbury's as the volunteer on collection duty hadn't anticipated the crates and crates of bananas and other produce they had for us.

Back at the church, having unpacked the produced she was joined by Martin and the others in the kitchen team and were soon chopping mixing and cooking up a storm. Gill was on pudding duty and with some help from Martin soon whipped up 4 delicious banana upside down cakes.

Martin was also helping with chopping the peppers and other veg for the baked rice main course and helping with the soup. He always cuts a dash, but in his super stylised blue hair net, who could fail to admire his style and flair. :-)

Omar was soon in the hall and started setting up and was great at serving guests and washing and clearing up.

We think we served over 50 guests and no one went home empty handed or with an empty tummy.

Another great meal served, and GoodGym's help is always much appreciated.

We knew it would be a busy evening, as they were operating a takeaway service only at FoodCycle. So the four of us were only too keen to get involved again. Gill and Martin were in the kitchen team and worked together with the other volunteers to create a hearty meal for our guests to take away. While Gill prepped an autumnal stew, Martin got creative, making a delicious stiry fry to go in a wrap for the starter. 50 wraps, umpteen shredded omeletes and a plethora of fresh vegetables - peppers and pakchoi - made this dish the star of the show. What a shame that there were so many guests there were no left overs for the volunteers as it looked and smelt amazing.

Shady and Omar were a great help on the hosting team and soon adapted to the different way of supporting the guests when it is takeaway night. Tehy filled bags with food surplus, helped manage the food queue and supported with the clearing up afterwards, including filling Gill's boot with the empty crates for her to return to Sainsbury's later that night.

We all worked hard to ensure all parts of the meal were ready by 6pm and by 7 the who was over - and that's a wrap.

Guy Fawkes night was not a deterrent for our team of 4 at FoodCycle tonight, especially as they knew they could go on form the task to see some of the local fireworks display after serving up a sumptuous meal to the 50 guests.

There was lots of produce available and Martin and Gill were busy as usual, chopping, mixing and grating to help prepare various elements of tonights dinner. Martin, now dubbed the Custard King was all set to make his usual batch, but was slightly disappointed to find out our usual custard powder had been substituted for instant powder - just add hot water. It wasn't quite as tasty as his usual milk laden custard but it went very well with Gill's apple and pear crumble.

There was also a joint effort to create a delicious "bistrot" side salad to accompany the main pasta course, while one of the other volunteers conjoured up a large pot of leek and potato soup.

Chanel and Omar joined the team, and Omar again was a wizard at the kitchen sink while Chanel helped to put together the goody bags, serve the guests and clean up afterwards.

Great team effort and another fabulous meal. Well done Team.

Five of us joined the team at Foodcycle today, and it was great to have Omar join us for his first FoodCycle task. Martin and Gill were busy in the kitchen cooking up a shepherdless pie. Yazed, Omar and Shady joined the hosting team and did a great job of setting up the hall ready for the guests. Omar then joined the team in the kitchen and took on responsibility for washing up, while Yazed and Shady got on with serving the guests. All 54 eating in plus 5 takeaways too. Another successful FoodCycle Evening.

Goodgym Luton turned out to support Foodcycle this evening, as we do every Tuesday. Unfortunately tonight the surplus food from the supermarkets was quite minimal, but the kitchen team still managed to knock up 2 courses. A main of fajitas with rice 🍚, with Mexican inspired flavours. This was accompanied by a spicy 🍅 and chilli 🌶 sauce. Following that was a Christmas bread pudding, this layered dessert had bread, custard and a couple of mashed up Christmas puds inside, topped with a dollop of (quire thick) custard. 3 of tonight's Goodgymers helped the hosting team and as ever Foodcycle were pleased to have us present. Well done everyone 👏

New week, new challenge at Foodcycle. A small kitchen team and very little food surplus from the donating supermarkets, meant the challenge was on. On the menu this week was a take on French Onion 🌰 soup, with a cheesey 🧀 croutons on top, a vegetable stir fry with noodles and a side salad, and Cake with fruit salad 🍎🍏🍐🍇🥝🍌. The starter was well received and nearly everyone of the 47 guests asked for seconds. The main was equally enjoyed but there wasn't enough for any seconds. There were 3 cakes in the store cupboard that hadn't been used on previous weeks so that was divided up into portions and served with a delicious fruit salad, containing apples, pears, grapes, kiwi, plums and bananas 🍌. Shady worked really hard with the hosting team which helped the under resourced kitchen team massively. Great effort 👌