Durham families given free food and recipes to reduce waste

The Riley family said the food bags and recipe suggestions got the whole family cooking together

Parents in County Durham are being given free food in a bid to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill.

Durham County Council is passing on surplus food donated by retailers and producers to families when they pick their children up from nursery.

It also aims to encourage healthy eating and help with the rising cost of living.

Paul Riley said the scheme had got his whole family "cooking together" and "trying new foods".

The food is redistributed from Fairshare's warehouse in Westerhope, in Newcastle.

Families are urged to use an Artificial Intelligence (AI) app to get recipe suggestions based on what ingredients they have to hand.

The council said the aim of the scheme was also to get families to eat more healthily

Mr Riley said: "Tonight we've got onions, eggs, potatoes, chopped tomatoes and peas and the suggestion of vegetable fried rice with sautéed onions comes back."

He added: "The bags of food come home with the kids on a Friday so we can cook together. It gets us all together as a family.

"It's great to get the kids to try different foods, its also really good to avoid food waste.

"It's not just about the cost of living for us, but we know that it is for some of the families.

"It's a great thing all round, just a really nice thing to do, to cook together."

Seven tonnes of food are redistributed from Fairshare North East warehouse every day, Amanda Cuskin said

Amanda Cuskin, of Fairshare North East said there was a "huge variety" of food, chilled and frozen, which is donated.

"We never know what we are going to get, much of it would go to landfill sites so by us rescuing it we can sort it out and redistribute it," she said.

"We have seven vans and we take a ton of food in each van every day."

Councillor Ted Henderson, cabinet member for children and young people's services, said: "This scheme ties in with our poverty and climate change priorities, supporting families while also reducing food waste.

"It also helps us to stay connected with the families we support and encourages people to cook together to make healthy meals without impacting on their budget.

"With the introduction of AI, we're also able to help families learn how to meal plan and create recipes with the food they have."