Our Friendly Food Club is a year-long pilot that offers a 50% discount on our produce that is grown using organic methods to people who feel like they can’t usually afford it.
We believe that eating food that is good for us and the planet shouldn’t be considered a luxury. At the minute other parts of the food and farming system are being subsidised by the government and we want to see money being invested in growing good food so that the price comes down and is accessible to everyone. Our Friendly Food Club, along with other pilots in NI and across the rest of the UK, is funded by a programme called Bridging the Gap. We want to collect evidence together that will help the government and politicians think differently about how our growers are supported and to understand the difference good food makes to people’s lives when they are able to access it at an affordable price.
For us good food means food that has been produced using organic methods. Organic food is produced without the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides. This means a lower number of potentially harmful toxins, which can be damaging to our health, and higher levels of micronutrients, which support a healthy gut. Producing food organically is also better for the planet, with lower carbon emissions from chemical fertiliser and lower levels of environmental pollution from nitrogen fertilisers, resulting in healthier soils which can store more carbon.
We get our vegetables grown using organic methods from local growers including Chris Dobbs and Jubilee Farm. The veg includes salad leaves, carrots, chard, beetroot, turnips, herbs, onions and garlic from Chris. We expect to get chillis, cucumber, french beans, peppers, rhubarb and tomatoes from Jubilee Farm. We will continue to look for other suppliers so that we have a good range of produce for our members.
You can call into Carrick Greengrocers during opening hours to fill in a form and get a membership card. If you can’t get into the shop, email friendlyfoodclub@carrickgreengrocers.org or phone us on 07555 563791 and make arrangements that work for you.
No, we don’t ask for evidence or do any means-testing. The most important thing about the Friendly Food Club is making food produced using organic methods more accessible to people who feel like they can’t usually afford it. You will be best placed to make the decision if the club is right for you and, if you think it is, we look forward to hearing from you.
When you come in to shop you will need to show your membership card at the till when you’re paying for your shopping. We will add a 50% discount to any produce that is grown using organic methods.
You will be able to tell what’s included as we will put a smiley face sticker on our price labes. It’s important to note that we also sell non-organic produce in Carrick Greengrocers that is not included in the pilot and, therefore, not discounted.
We want you to be able to buy what you need and we won’t put limits on that but do remember that there are other people in the club too and we want to be able to provide good food to all our members. It’s also important to us that we reduce food waste so please buy what you think you will use.
Your card can only be used by people in your household. If you know someone who would benefit from the Friendly Food Club, give them our contact information and we’ll talk to them about joining the club.
Kind of! Because we want to collect evidence of the difference our Friendly Food Club is making, we will ask you to complete a survey for us when you join the club and when it ends – and maybe during the year. We also want to work with a small group of people to collect more detailed information about how the club is working, the difference it’s making to their diet, and how they feel. We’ll ask this smaller group to keep a notebook on what they buy and how it makes them and their family (if they have one) feel. We might also get together a few times to talk about the Club, if it’s working, and if we can make it better. If you’d like to be part of this group, let us know when you join.
Yes! As part of our grant, we have some money to hold a couple of events so that members can meet our growers and visit Jubilee Farm. We’ll let you know more about that when we have firmer plans in place.
We’ll send out regular emails to Friendly Food Club members keeping you up to date with what we have in stock, about events and other things that we hope members will find interesting. We want to get media coverage for the club so we may ask if anyone is interested in doing an interview. If you don’t use email, we can talk about other ways to stay in touch when you sign up to join the club.
