Ten tonnes of tomatoes, three tonnes of cabbage and two tonnes of peppers were amongst the 30 tonnes of surplus food used during Thomas Franks‘ challenge to cook the most ready-made meals prepared in 24 hours ever.
More than 400 volunteers took part in the Big Cook Challenge to set a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title and smashed their target of 60,000 with 79,500 meals cooked for charities within the 24 hour time frame.
Working around the clock using Thomas Franks‘ culinary expertise and quality surplus food, cooked in community, church and school kitchens from City Harvest on Wednesday, 16 charities benefitted, from food banks to food redistributers.
An official adjudicator from GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS was on hand to verify the new record, now officially confirmed as a world record for the most ready-made meals prepared in 24 hours.
Thomas Franks is a global catering company based in Hook Norton https://oxinabox.co.uk/we-will-keep-goingone-million-free-meals-and-counting-the-thomas-franks-mission-to-end-food-poverty-continues/ which set up the Thomas Franks Foundation during lockdown to help end food poverty with its Feeding Communities programme, distributing over a million free meals to date.
The tasty and nutritious dishes created included a vegetable casserole, vegetable curry, three bean chilli and a lentil dhal. A fleet of vehicles was also on hand to deliver the meals fresh out of the kitchen to the charity groups, driven by a team of volunteers.
Created to help those in need experiencing limited access to food and to raise awareness of food waste, The Big Cook Challenge only used edible surplus food from supermarkets and restaurants which might otherwise go to waste and landfill.
Raj Singh, Director of Charity at Thomas Franks says: “Working with our Big Cook Challenge partners and volunteers we’ve achieved an incredible record-breaking title, proving the power of collective action to reduce food waste and help those experiencing food poverty.
“This was truly a team effort and, together, we not only served up 79,500 meals to dozens of local charities and organisations in need, but also demonstrated how organisations can work together to create a more sustainable and compassionate future.”
Mary Parsons, Head of Food, City Harvest, said: “This is an incredible achievement by the Big Cook Challenge team who worked tirelessly to achieve the record. We’re passionate about rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste.
For more information on Thomas Franks’ charity work go to https://thomasfranks.com/charity/
