Exeter College links up with Food4Heroes to provide meals for NHS staff 

Exeter College has offered its state-of-the-art industrial kitchen facilities to Food4Heroes; a charity that provides free nutritious meals to frontline NHS staff during the Coronavirus pandemic.  

The College’s @34 training kitchens will now be in use providing nutritionally balanced, free meals to NHS staff. These meals will include a vegetarian and a meat option and allergens will be listed on the dishes provided. Meals will be distributed to Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in microwavable containers for NHS staff to take.  

Food4Heroes launched in response to the Coronavirus crisis when footage emerged of NHS workers finishing long shifts and finding limited stocks available in their local supermarket. Since then, Food4Heroes has worked around the country with NHS Trusts to set up initiatives to support frontline NHS staff with nutritious microwaveable meals.  

The @34 kitchens have the facilities to provide up to 200 meals a day, and Food4Heroes will be working with the NHS Trust to make sure they’re producing the correct volume of food to meet demand. Food4Heroes will also be working with other local, certified suppliers with a minimum 4* food hygiene rating to support catering, if required.  

How you can help 

For the Exeter College kitchen to operate successfully as part of this effort, Food4Heroes is now looking for volunteers with a minimum of a Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate to help prepare the food in the kitchen. Ideally, chefs would be able to commit to producing two meals a week. However, this could alter depending on how many volunteers and businesses come forward to support Food4Heroes.  

Details and support for chefs will be available once the process is finalised.  

If you’re interested in volunteering to help with Food4Heroes at Exeter College, contact Steve Tipping on steve@food4heroes.co.uk for further details.  

Donate to Food4Heroes 

To keep this free for all NHS staff, Food4Heroes is seeking donations to cover the costs of ingredients, travel and other unavoidable expenses. Donations can be made to specific regions, ensuring that local money is spent on local NHS support. Find additional details on the Food4Heroes website. Donations for the South West are being raised on Crowdfunder here.  

Supporting the NHS 

Exeter College is also helping to support those working in the NHS with PPE equipment distributed from the College’s Maths and Science Centre and the production of face shields is underway in association with PPE4Exeter, a community organisation leading on the creation and distribution of vital PPE equipment to community-based health and care workers.  

Accommodation is also available for NHS staff to use at the College’s Clock Tower Boarding House.