Welcome
How It Works
1) Login using your email and password at the top of this page.You can join the Hub by filling in your details here www.deanforestfoodhub.org.uk/hub/join
2) Click 'FoodHub Shop' to browse and order from the range of local and non-local produce available. Orders close 11:59pm Tuesday each week.
3) Pay using one of the payment methods - BACS or PayPal. See here for more details: 'Welcome Pack' If this isn't possible for you, contact us before ordering.
4) Pick up your order from your pick-up point on Friday or Saturday (not all pick-up points will have the same opening hours. Please check with your pick-up point).
Note: Check the Order Date when you are ordering. Orders received on a Wednesday-Saturday will not be ready for pick up this week, but for the following week. The date of pick up is displayed on the screen while you are ordering.
What's new?
There are a few *staples* items back in the shop! Thanks to the generosity of those that can afford it, we've been able to offer some discounts. They'll last till the funding runs out - and given the donations we're getting, that could be some time. I can't tell you how impressed we are!
I've just added watermelons (mini ones) to the shop. Hoping for some warmer weather!
PRICES: I'm afraid Model Farm have had to put their prices up with a bump. They've been trying to hold them down, but now I'm afraid they've had to bite the bullet. The costs of raising & processing livestock have skyrocketed, even for pasture fed animals.
But there are LOTS of lovely local veg appearing now. We ate all of Ambleside's broad beans in 2 weeks (!) but it's well worth having a hunt around... the hungry gap is just about over.
MILK: We can't find a supplier for organic milk at the moment. We're still looking for a supplier, but so far we can only find it in glass bottles, which are too heavy & too fragile for us. So all the milk you see at the moment is as local as we can get it, but sadly not organic.
We'd like a few more customers...
We pay some of the people who work with us - people like the drivers! - and the living wage is going up by quite a lot, which is entirely as it should be, given the rate of inflation.
But our prices are not going up as fast - we're still not the cheapest, but the difference between conventional and organic food is shrinking, as the cost of agrichemicals shoots up.
Which leaves us with a problem. We don't want to increase prices or charge our producers a bigger cut, but we do need to find some extra income.
We've found that word-of-mouth is way the best advertising for us. If you like what we do, could you talk to people you know about us and tell them how to join?
Volunteering: If you can come & help us pack the boxes - Wednesday or Friday mornings at Oaklands Park - you can have a 10% discount on an order, each time you pack. Drop us an email if you're interested (deanforestfood@gmail.com). We can sometimes organise shared transport if that's a problem.
If you order & then find you can't pick your order up - particularly if you find you need to self isolate - email us on deanforestfood@gmail.com (or reply to your order confirmation) and let us know. We'll try to organise home delivery if we can.
By the way, you can sign up to get an email reminding you to order on Mondays here . If you don't find it, check your spam folder - but I'm afraid some servers just bounce off automated emails and there's not much we can do about that.