King's Lynn food bank says wonky potatoes lift struggling people

Food bank volunteer Helen Gilbert and councillor Paul Kunes hold donated extra large potatoes from a farmer who cannot sell them to supermarkets

A food bank has welcomed any donations of wonky potatoes, saying the versatile and long lasting vegetables "lifted" struggling people during tough times.

King's Lynn Foodbank said fresh, hard vegetables were "a gift" rarely given.

"The good thing about potatoes is that they keep, you can use them with anything [and] you can cook them in the microwave so you're not using lots of energy," said volunteer Helen Gilbert.

So far, three food banks have been given odd potatoes by a local farmer.

King's Lynn Foodbank was approached by district councillor Paul Kunes, who wanted to prevent good potatoes going to anaerobic digestion or animal feed.

Mr Kunes said his farmer friend mourned his misshapen pots going spare, and was glad to give them to the food bank.

Potatoes and other hard veg, like carrots and onions, have a longer shelf-life and are welcomed by food bank users

"They are very, very good potatoes, just strangely shaped or very, very large," he said.

Part of a deal with some supermarkets is that farmers cannot sell unwanted crops elsewhere.

Ms Gilbert said: "It's absolutely wonderful and the smiles on people's faces when they can get some fresh vegetables from the food bank, because normally we deal with all ambient food - all tins and packets."

Fresh items are not often donated to food banks due to their short shelf-life

She added: "We see in the news all the time about so much food going to landfill, or being ploughed back into fields, or going for animal feed.

"Absolutely animals need feeding, but people also need feeding.

"Hard veg like this, or onions or carrots, are really useful for food banks, as we don't know how many people we will be feeding at a time, so having vegetables that will last a long time is absolutely brilliant."