In response to the recent reports of inadequate food parcels being sent to vulnerable families by a national catering company, Hey Fresto! Have stepped up to help those families in need in the Sandwell area.
Rikki Chauhan, Director at Hey Fresto!, had the following to say:
“We were shocked and appalled to see reports of how little was being given to families from the company contracted by the Department for Education. We felt the need to do what we can to help our local community.”
Hey Fresto! have been working in partnership with schools in the surrounding area and have sent out where possible, food parcels to those that are in need via the school. The parcels include a selection of 9 kids meals freshly prepared by the in house chefs which are then frozen to retain flavour and nutrition.
“Obviously the food packages being provided by the government are fresh ingredients however our speciality is taking fresh ingredients and cooking some really delicious meals leaving those at home to simply pop in the microwave or oven to heat up. This hopefully will alleviate some of the hard work needed to research, prepare and cook family meals at home.”
Bhav Patel, Deputy Head at St Matthew’s C of E Primary School, Smethwick said:
“We have more families struggling than ever before and the donation of meals from Hey Fresto! has helped some who may not previously have needed it but are struggling financially now due to loss or reduction of income.”
The impact of Covid-19 has meant that some parents once with a secure income, have found themselves without work as job losses continue to rise in the UK. Additionally, some are not entitled to much in the way of benefits leaving them with mounting concerns over how they will get by day to day. The current added pressure of their child not receiving a free school meal is only adding to the worry of parents across the country.
The donation of meals by the Birmingham based frozen ready meal producer hopes to go some way to ease the worries of several parents finding themselves unable to provide an additional healthy daily meal that children would usually receive at school.
The Hey Fresto! kids range of dishes has been developed with kids’ nutrition in mind, low in salt and no added sugar. Unlike chilled or ambient foods that either rely on excessive preservatives or simply go off quickly, the blast frozen meals are as fresh as it practically gets and will provide children hot meals that they are not able to get at the present time.
“We’ve been cooking delicious meals at scale for over 30 years and wanted to use this experience to add value in the community where possible to help support families during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We were keen to get involved in supporting the local community after what has been a hard year for so many people so we are happy that our donations have been so well received and have had a positive impact in such difficult times.”
Check out the Hey Fresto! food journey today!