Wasabi In The Bag to go along with the Banter

A weekly shop for £8.50 sounds like a myth until you hear what happens when surplus food meets a community that actually looks out for each other. We sit down with Donna from Hartlepool, a long-time member and volunteer, to talk about how a Bread and Butter Thing hub really feels on the ground: tables going up, the van pulling in, careful food safety checks for chilled items, and a room full of people who know each other by name.

Donna shares how she first came along through family, why she chose to volunteer, and what keeps her coming back week after week. The detail that lands hardest is also the simplest: people need to be seen, listened to and heard. That’s why the hub is not just food redistribution, it is friendship, routine and a bit of much-needed laughter. We also get into the dignity piece: paying a little towards the bags changes the whole tone, shifting it away from charity stigma and towards a “canny shop” that helps pennies go further.

Along the way we swap stories about surprising items that turn up in surplus food bags (including a memorable encounter with wasabi), and we explain how the mobile food club model works with local venues, community partners and volunteers who make the whole thing tick.

Transcript

Welcome To Bread And Butter

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Hello and welcome back to a slice of bread and butter with me, Vic, and Mark. We're from the Bread and Butter Thing.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

We run a network of mobile food clubs that take surplus food from supermarkets, farms and factories, and we take it straight into communities where families are struggling to get by.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

For less than a tenner, our members get bags packed with fruit, veg, fridge food and cupboard staples. It's a weekly shop that helps stretch the budget and take some of the pressure off.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

And our members are at the heart of everything we do. They turn food into friendship and neighbours into community. And that's what makes us tick.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Yeah, and today

Meeting Donna From Hartlepool

SPEAKER_02 0:43

we're chatting with Donna from Hartley Pool.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

The main reason I got involved with the bread and butter hub was almost six years now. My mother-in-law attended the hub at Winyard Road. At the time, the first three bags were free. So the following week, the following week I attended and I collected our three bags. It was then that I asked Kirsty if I could volunteer. And the rest, as you say, is history.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Well, it is to you and I, but uh um the whole purpose of getting you on here, Donna, is so that you can tell everybody else as well. Okay, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

So you've been volunteering how long?

SPEAKER_03 1:39

Oh well, I would say almost six years now. And even my daughter, when she was at Middlesbrough College, if she had a day off, she came to volunteer. And then she went to Carlisle Uni, and when when she was home, she came to volunteer. And now she's working at McDonald's, can I say McDonald's? Of course, yeah. Now she's working at McDonald's. And when when she's off, she'll come and help as well.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Everybody's got their own thing, right? So uh everybody has their little space. So which bit do you do?

SPEAKER_03 2:07

Well,

Unloading The Van And Food Safety

SPEAKER_03 2:08

and to be quite honest, the put they pull the van up, and everybody in the hub actually takes all the produce out. Yeah. So first of all, the tables get sorted, then we get detox, and then we have rows at the back for the bread and the tins and the cans and things like that. Then once everything's been loaded apart from the chills, the doors closed. We don't go into the van until the temperature is at least five degrees. So by that time, I'm helping the volunteers with the potatoes, and I'll say, mate, I'll just go and see what temperature the van's on.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

I'm liking all this food safety compliance. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

You know your beans. So I'm I'm guessing if you've done it for so long that uh you've got to know a lot of the people there, but I'm guessing because you're a governor as well, you probably know a lot of them anyway, don't you?

SPEAKER_03 3:04

You know,

From Customers To Friends

SPEAKER_03 3:06

I like to talk and I think it's important. Not enough people talk to each other. And during COVID, maybe we were the th only people we could see. I've broke the test goes for almost 32 years, and people need to be seen, they need to be listened to, and they need to be heard. So when people come to the hub, the blags are helpful, they are valued and they are needed. The customers aren't our customers, they're our friends. Yeah, we do it because it's good for our heart and soul, and it makes us feel good. We don't do it because we have to. It's absolutely something that we all choose to do. We absolutely are there because we just love to catch the bags and to hand them out.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

I don't think we'd call them customers either.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

No, no, they're not they're all friends. Yeah. When we say we have the banter, it's me that has the banter. Not last week, but the other week. We just finished the van and I just wanted to see how many bags there was left. And I started singing, and I can't remember what I was singing. I'm in the mood dancing, and I looked, and there's people on my left-hand side wait waiting to see if there's any bags. And I think it's just lovely because it's nice to show that we are there because we want to be there. Yeah. And I love Christmas. I love Christmas because then the Christmas music comes out and I'm singing. Can't sing, but love to sing. Can't dance, but love to dance. And we all get on really, really well.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

So you get the bags as well?

SPEAKER_03 4:34

Yes, we get the bags as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

What's the weirdest thing you've had?

SPEAKER_03 4:37

The ways is things we have, that's a good question. There must be something. I'll get back to that. I'll get back to that question in a minute. Sometimes

What You Get For £8.50

SPEAKER_03 4:48

the bags are brilliant, sometimes they're not as brilliant, but it depends on people's opinions. People's opinions. We always say, look, you're paying £8.50. You couldn't get that in the shop if you paid £8.50. But the bags are really, really good for what you get, to be honest. I'm working, husband's working, and it is a good help. And you know what? You're getting something that you wouldn't always buy. There was something, and I didn't know, I can't remember what it was. I went, I don't know. How on earth do we do this? So the internet came out, but I can't remember what it was. But we really, really appreciate it, and everybody who gets the bag say thank you. You know?

SPEAKER_00 5:30

How's it evolved over the years? Have you seen much change?

SPEAKER_03 5:33

I would say the the younger, the younger. Me personally, I would say when it first started the were the older range, but now we're getting a lot of the younger generation. So when I say younger, it's anybody younger than me, even though I think I'm only 25, you know? Yeah. But anybody who gets the bags are really, really grateful.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

I always think in my head, it's people grabbing a bargain and doing the right thing, and it is great that they are, rather than them feeling grateful for it, because it just feels a bit too charity, shall we say?

SPEAKER_03 6:05

Do you know it doesn't feel like a charity? It just feels like people are coming to get their three bags and they go home and we are all grateful.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

I would say at least three-quarters of the volunteers have our names down, and it is really, really helpful. Oh it's okay. Any potatoes today, I've got no potatoes left.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:26

You know, I'll have to go buy some. Any any any bread there, I have to go and buy some. And the friends works alternately Tuesdays, they'll pay for our bags when he's off. And then we'll collect and pay for their bags the following week, which really went and it said, What's in the bags? What's in the bags? Is there any cheese I could do with some cheese? And it's just the banter. It really, really is the banter. It really is. How long has the hub been going on for?

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Hartleypool. Um do you know it's a good question. I uh if I had to guess it'd be seven, eight years. It was during COVID.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

COVID, I was gonna say yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yeah. So tell us about your family then. Was it mum that introduced us?

SPEAKER_03 7:08

How far back do you want to go? Do you want to go back from when I was born or do you want to go when we came to Hartley Pool?

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Hartley Pool.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

Hartley Pool. Okay, so I came to Hartleypool with my boyfriend in 1990. Stephen's from home and I'm from Southby. I'm I'm a Yorkshire lass. And you can always take me out of Yorkshire, but you can't take Yorkshire out of me. So I worked in Tesco's and I find that it's important to talk. If you see me in Tesco's, you would always find me talking. I'm not perfect, but I do like to treat people the way that I would like to be dressed. Or maybe friends would like to be dressed, or maybe members of family would like to be dressed. I don't always get it right, but 90% of the cat time, you know, that would that and that's basically me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

Right. Have you had time to think about a weird thing from bread and butter?

SPEAKER_03 7:59

No, I haven't. Just bear with me. One minute. Two minutes.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

We're going to phone a friend, I think.

SPEAKER_03 8:12

Wasabi?

The Mystery Item Was Wasabi

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Wasabi.

SPEAKER_03 8:15

Wasabi? We hadn't a flipping Scooby-Doo. What to do with it, but the powers of the internet, any search engine golden. It wasabi.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Dare I ask what you did with it?

SPEAKER_03 8:27

See, I I don't like cooking, I don't mind washing the pots. It got it.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

That's all that matters.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

It's all that matters. But yeah, anything else.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Tell me what you think bread and butter thing has done for your community.

Why The Hub Feels Like A Lifeline

SPEAKER_03 8:39

It has. Given them, is it a lifeline of giving them so the pennies can go a bit further? I was talking to a gentleman and he said the fence give me £10 so I can come and get these bags of £8.50. And it's just so lovely. If anybody wants to volunteer, it is really good for the heart and the soul, and you are meeting people. Even if you're you only see four ones and you just want to go out on a Tuesday, come along to Winyard Road and you're gonna get a smile, you're gonna get a chat, and you're gonna get a banter. And that's what that's what the world needs. People just need to know that there's people out there, okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Agreed. Now

How Volunteers And Members Overlap

SPEAKER_01 9:34

you said we were chatting with Donna. I feel I was chatted at.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

I loved Donna. Donna's just got so much to say about, you know, all things bread and butter, and he's genuinely like part of the bread and butter family.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Yeah, and I've got to say, if she's not, because she works at Tesco, if she's not the Tesco meet and greet, she should be.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. But I think it's like really brilliant to showcase the volunteering side of bread and butter and membership and to see how like for us across bread and butter community, the two are like massively intertwined. I think more than lots of other organisations actually.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

I couldn't agree more. I I think that that's one of the beauties of bread and butter volunteer base, right? You know, the vast majority of them are our members, and I think that counts for something, and I think they really get something out of that as well. And it's not just pride, it's ownership and community resilience that they're helping give back to their communities somehow.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

Yeah, I mean I think Donna puts it better, to be honest. The heart and soul.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

I don't know where to go with that. Donna, Donna would say lots of things better than I can.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Yeah, I think I think like heart and soul is true though, isn't it? Because it's our volunteers that make it tick, that make each community be just as brilliant as it is. So we're really lucky to have people like Donna.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Definitely. I so I haven't done it for a while. So let's have a curveball question for you. Or even as some of the pods say nowadays, do an explainer.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Because obviously we always talk a lot about why the volunteers matter so much. But could you just tell us a bit about how it actually works out in the community?

A Simple Breakdown Of The Model

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Yeah, for sure. So we've got a brilliant team that are beeping away behind me. Uh the vans in the morning and put on the best food that we can every day, and they drive those little vans, which is kind of like your supermarket delivery van, but branded like bread and butter. They drive those out into the community, and in the community we work in the most inclusive venue. So we have a partnership with a community organization that could be the school, the family hub, the community centre, the church, the scout hut, all of that. And once we've got to that place, there is a little team of community volunteers that come together each week that then basically take over in a brilliant way, and they unload the van and they take all the food inside apart from the chill, which stays on the van, and then they pack all the bags for our members. And we allow two hours for packing, which is plenty of time. But what that means is we can get stuck in traffic and they can have a brew and do all of the packing of bags, and it just becomes a really social occasion for the volunteers, and then members start coming in and they'll have a brew with them, and we're just creating that kind of like lovely community vibe, which you know keeps us going from strength to strength every week. There we go.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

I guess that demonstrates the kind of bricks and mortar and foundation are really the volunteers. We create that safe bubble for them to be able to actually operate in.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

Absolutely, yeah.

Why It Does Not Feel Like Charity

SPEAKER_02 12:48

But at the same time, I thought it was really interesting, you know, the chat about are we a charity, are we not a charity? I don't think people see bread and butter as traditional charity because they're doing it for themselves, the community's doing it for themselves, and they're paying a bit towards the food, and it's just a really brilliant shop. So it doesn't feel like you know that handout that people traditionally associate with charity, which I think is really important because there's still a stigma attached to that, but let's face it, everyone needs support right now. So coming and doing a canny shop, as they'd say up north, is kind of a better way around it, isn't it? I've totally adopted the word canny, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

That's fine.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

I've never said it before I started working for bread and butter.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

You were at Welvick, it's it's all good. I do have to say, I'd never had a phone a friend question before.

Sushi Doubts And Sparkly Toast

SPEAKER_02 13:44

I mean, like I was quite impressed with the answer though. Wasabi, it's uh and then what did you do with it? I don't know, but we ate it.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Yeah, the right answer.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

It was really hot.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Yeah, I don't cook. I don't know, but it was in something clearly. Surely, with with your following of Ottalengian people, where would you go with wasabi?

SPEAKER_02 14:07

It's not in my repertoire. Oh wow, yeah, it's not a thing. It kind of goes more with sushi. Yeah, and sushi at home, it just feels like it's gonna be a disaster or a food poisoning adventure.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

I'm gonna say there are very few things that I've come across in redistribution that I've said no to, and sushi was one of them because it just feels super, super safe. You've got to be on it all the time. And Donna was on it with a chill van and all the rest of it, but everybody's got to be on it all the time with sushi.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Yeah, it is not a forgiving product, no, and also quite an acquired taste.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Yeah, I think I need new questions as well because I I I do feel I'm asking far too many people what's the weirdest thing you've had in bread and butter. So I think I remember seeing once in the very early days we had a bovel. Right, but it was for Chinese market, it had traces of gold leaf in it, so it sparkled.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

Wow, fancy.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

But clearly it was it wasn't a brilliant success because we got a lot of it.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Wasn't it a best seller?

SPEAKER_01 15:15

It's a generational thing as well. I wonder how many people, I don't know, millennials or Gen Z would know what Bob Rill is.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

You see, I'm a marmite girl, so you like your marmite.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

I love my marmite.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

But I don't think I need glitter in it. I don't need sparkly toast.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Sparkly toast. Ooh, that could be quite nice. It's like eating a cupcake, but it's savoury.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

The places we go on this podcast. So

Where To Find Us And Join

SPEAKER_02 15:56

if you'd like to know more about the bread and butter thing and what we get up to, you can find us at Team TVBT on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, on LinkedIn or online at breadandbutthing.org.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

And if you have any feedback or thoughts on the podcast or you'd like to come and have an attack with us, drop us an email at podcast at breadandbutterthing.org.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

We're always open to new members at all of our hubs. If you or someone you know would benefit from our affordable food scheme, you can find your nearest hub on the Become a Member page of the website.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

And lastly, please do all those things that podcast asked you to do. Like us, subscribe to us, leave us a review, or share us with your friends and chat about us on social and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

See you next time.