MOD Abbey Wood donates surplus food packs to charity

The food packs will be sent to a range of charities and groups in need such as food banks

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has donated 57,000 ration packs to charity after the pandemic forced military training and exercises to be cut back.

MoD Abbey Wood in Filton, near Bristol, made the deal with food redistribution charity FareShare, which will send the packs to night shelters and food banks.

Lindsay Boswell, from FareShare, said the unrefridgerated rations were "ideal for winter night shelters".

The 24-hour packs include snacks and will make more than 170,000 meals.

Ms Boswell added families in temporary accommodation would also benefit as they often only had access to a kettle or a hob.

The meals are also going to lunch groups for older people

MoD director of logistic delivery Roger West said: "The coronavirus pandemic has affected so much this year for everyone and for our Armed Forces this has included a reduction in training where these ration packs would have been eaten.

"I'm delighted that we are able to find a way, through our relationship with FareShare, to see these meals being consumed by those that need them the most before their best before date."

Other places to benefit include community groups and lunch groups for older people.

Many military training and exercises have been cut back due to the pandemic leading to the surplus

The MoD said each pack contains three nutritionally-balanced meals. including all-day breakfasts, spaghetti meatballs, Moroccan bean stew and desserts.

The high-energy snacks range are aimed at fuelling troops during energy-sapping activities, the MoD said.

In January, the MoD base donated 210 unused 10-troop ration packs to FareShare, which amounted to 14,000 meals.

Usually, around two million ration packs are used by the UK military every year, with less than one per cent of the MoD's stock requiring redistribution.

The MoD said the donation was part of its "ongoing commitment to reduce unnecessary waste in an environmentally sustainable way".