Casserole Club – strengthening neighbourhood relationships with food

We love innovative ideas that focus on companionship and wellbeing. Over the coming months we’ll be posting guest blogs and articles that share projects and ideas that are making a difference in the community.   The first is a project after our own heart, called the Casserole Club it uses food to strengthen local neighbourhoods.

Casserole Club is a new project based in London, UK, that helps people share extra portions of home-cooked food with others in their area who might not always be able to cook for themselves.

Like a local, community-led takeaway, Casserole Club members serve up meals to their neighbours, getting more people eating and cooking fresh while strengthening local neighbourhood relationships with every bite.

Good food and good company go hand-in-hand, even for those who aren’t on the internet. Casserole Club helps those who are offline to order meals, connect and pair up with local people.

Casserole Club was started by FutureGov,who make public services better and cheaper through elegantly designed digital products.

As Matt Skinner, who leads Casserole Club for FutureGov, explains: “We saw that while people might have great circles of friends, school or other networks, they didn’t necessarily know the people living right on their doorstep.

“With this in mind, Casserole Club was born out of a desire to help bring communities together with the realisation that there are a lot of people cooking up food, and many others who would greatly appreciate a home-cooked meal.”

The older people who receive meals give something back too, as they get to connect to their neighbours. Take Casserole Club diner Mary, who describes how the service has helped her:

“I don’t go to the supermarket much now so it’s really nice to see someone come to the house. It was perfect, a piping hot casserole. The meal was lovely, home-cooked, made for a family.”

Casserole’s diners love that they can also give something back to their cooks, like sharing stories over food.

There are projects similar to Casserole Club in the States. For example, Share My Meal is a peer-to-peer cooking platform. However, this is more for people who don’t feel like cooking, rather than addressing a social need.

Casserole Club is currently looking for cooks who live in the UK. However, if you’re interested in the project and want to hear more, sign up now at casseroleclub.com