A Slice of Bread and Butter

The Bread and Butter Thing
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The voice of The Bread and Butter Thing - with stories from the frontline of the cost of living crisis from one of the UK's leading food charities.

  1. 1d ago

    How Volunteering Rebuilds Confidence After Retirement

    Retirement is meant to feel like freedom, but for a lot of people it can land more like silence. Anne is an ex-teacher who took early retirement, tells us what it’s like to go from a busy school community to days that feel smaller, with friends still working and confidence slowly slipping. Then she walks into a Bread and Butter hub and, within weeks, finds herself back in the thick of people, laughter, and purpose.  We talk about what The Bread and Butter Thing actually does: rescuing surplus food from supermarkets, farms, and factories, then turning it into affordable food bags that go straight into communities. Anne shares the real nuts and bolts of volunteering, from unloading the van and sorting food to bagging and helping members with trolleys, plus why those simple tasks create space for proper conversations. We also zoom out to the power of a venue like Family Gateway, where a community café, youth activities, sport, and support services sit side by side, making it easier to ask for help before a crisis hits.  Along the way we unpack why an open, affordable food scheme can feel different from a traditional food bank, and we meet the hub’s folk hero: Ray, the long-time volunteer whose kindness, work ethic, and very specific bag-stacking standards make him unforgettable. If you care about cutting food waste, building community, and finding practical ways to support people through the cost of living squeeze, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave us a review, what’s one local place that makes you feel you belong?

  2. Aug 14

    How A Gateshead Food Hub Builds Belonging

    A van pulls up, the doors open, and suddenly a normal Thursday feels like an event. That is the bit people see first. What they often miss is what happens next: neighbours sticking around for a brew, volunteers finding their feet again, and a family hub turning into a place where everyone belongs.  We’re in Gateshead with Vicki, who brings years of childcare and family support into the heart of the Deckham Family Hub in Carhill. She shares how Bread and Butter has grown from a quiet pick-up into a genuinely welcoming community space, with parent carer volunteers driving the atmosphere and shaping what the hub becomes. We talk about the “Family Voice” approach, how confidence grows when people are trusted with real responsibility, and why the mix of parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, and first-time volunteers matters.  The conversation also gets practical about affordable food, surplus food redistribution, and the unpredictable reality of supply. Sometimes you get artichokes that make you try something new. Sometimes you get “an insane amount of bread and chicken”. Alongside the food, the hub attracts wraparound support like Citizens Advice, skills and employment routes, and council services that reduce social isolation and help people navigate everyday pressures like debt, food and fuel poverty, and housing worries.

  3. Aug 7

    From Nursing Degree To Fostering And Food Support

    Three jobs alongside a full-time nursing degree sounds intense enough, but Michaela’s life keeps stacking up: a menagerie of pets, a move to a new area, and now becoming newly approved foster carers with their first placement. We talk about what it really takes to keep going when you’re doing the “right” things, yet the money still doesn’t work and you find yourself living week to week. Michaela opens up about student finance only stretching so far, why she turned to delivery driving in the gig economy, and what it feels like to carry the weight of maxed-out credit cards and overdrafts just to get through training. We also dig into the nursing job landscape and the hidden costs of working, from travel to uniforms to the way life has to bend around work, not the other way round. Then we shift to something hopeful: how The Bread and Butter Thing turns surplus food from supermarkets, farms, and factories into affordable food parcels that can genuinely cut a weekly shop in half. For Michaela, it’s not only about value for money, it’s about community: unloading the van, sharing a brew, making friends, and finding a place in local life that even leads to joining the parish council.

  4. Jul 31

    Surplus Food With A Side Of Banter

    Bags so heavy people bring trolleys. And a volunteer team laughing so much they come home with aching faces. That’s the reality behind this chat with Geoff, a former military medic and civil servant who’s found a second family through The Bread and Butter Thing.  We talk about Geoffs years in the military, travelling with different regiments, and what it’s like to step into a new routine after service and retirement. From there, the story turns local.  How Geoff first heard about the community food club through a neighbour, why he started coming along, and how volunteering at the hub became a highlight of the week. You’ll hear what makes this affordable food scheme feel different, not just the surplus food saved from supermarkets, farms, and factories, but the dignity, warmth, and neighbour-to-neighbour care that keeps people coming back.  We also get practical about the UK cost of living crisis and the real value inside those bags, plus the behind-the-scenes logistics of packing, weighing, and getting food safely to members. And then we will discuss the problems of bags.

  5. Jul 24

    When Shopping Becomes A Survival Skill

    A weekly shop for less than a tenner sounds like a bargain, but the real story is what happens around the bags. We’re joined by Trina, who lives locally and volunteers every Friday at The Bread and Butter Thing. She shares how she first heard about the mobile food club after separating from her partner, and why packing bags with the team has become a highlight of her week, not just a “good deed”.  We talk about dignity and belonging, including Trina’s moving memories of bringing her mum, who had dementia and used a wheelchair, to the hub. Being welcomed, included and truly seen turns a practical affordable food scheme into something deeper: a community that shows up, week after week. Along the way, we explore how surplus food diverted from landfill can ease food insecurity without the stigma people often attach to support.  Then we get practical about the cost of living crisis: savvy cooking, freezing and batch prep, whoopsies and yellow sticker shopping, and the mental load of making a tight budget work. We also zoom out to youth opportunity, work experience, apprenticeships and simple first steps that can help young people build skills and purpose. If you care about community support, food waste, affordable groceries, and what it really takes to get by right now, you’ll find plenty to take from this one. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave us a review so more people can find the podcast.

  6. Jul 17

    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.

  7. Jul 10

    Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation

    Hunger in the UK is not just an empty fridge problem, and it definitely isn’t solved by telling people to “just get a job”. We’re joined by Camille and Claire from the Sodexo UK & Ireland Stop Hunger Foundation to talk about what sits underneath food insecurity, and what it takes to build support that actually sticks.  We dig into how our partnership began through volunteering, why getting “under the hood” matters, and what separates a thoughtful corporate relationship from a quick marketing exercise. Claire shares why data is non-negotiable for making good decisions and challenging bias, while we unpack why numbers alone never tell the full story. For Bread and Butter, impact is both insight and humanity: the stats, the journeys, and the moments of confidence that change what someone believes is possible.  The conversation goes deeper into “beyond food aid” and the root causes: literacy, financial literacy, debt spirals, unregulated financial influencers, caring responsibilities, time pressure and the confidence gap that can block people from work even when the skills are there. We also share what we learned from the Women Empowerment Project with Proper Job, including why hubs create natural peer support and why outcomes like education, volunteering and counselling can be the right next step.  Finally, we talk candidly about the cost-of-living crisis and why Sodexo has agreed a new grant to help us offset inflation so we can keep our price to members stable when families are already at breaking point.

  8. Jul 3

    A Manchester YouTuber Shares The Real Tricks Of Getting By

    Food prices keep rising, even when the headlines say inflation is “down”, so what does getting by actually look like day to day? We sit down with Samantha, a Manchester YouTuber behind the channel Trying to Get By, who shares the practical systems that help her household stay afloat. Surplus food schemes, freezer routines, price tracking, and the kind of honest compromises that make vegan and vegetarian eating sustainable on a tight budget. We also dig into the bigger picture behind the weekly shop. Samantha explains how she uses tools like Olio and Too Good To Go to reduce food waste, why yellow sticker sections can be a lifeline, and how loyalty cards and app-only vouchers create a digital divide. Along the way we talk about ultra-processed food debates, the real cost of “ethical” alternatives, and the surprisingly powerful idea of keeping a top-20 price list on your phone so you can spot a fake bargain in seconds. Then we zoom out to what we are seeing across The Bread and Butter Thing community food clubs. When some households have £0 to £25 a month for food, “saving money” is not the only metric that matters. We share member survey insights that show a growing split between those who save and those who simply eat better, and why “stable” has become a new, sobering goal in the UK cost of living crisis.

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About

The voice of The Bread and Butter Thing - with stories from the frontline of the cost of living crisis from one of the UK's leading food charities.

Information

  • Creator
    The Bread and Butter Thing
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    114
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 A Slice of Bread and Butter
  • Show Website
    A Slice of Bread and Butter

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