Eat Well MCR launches online shop selling local produce and meal kits

This weekend sees the launch of the Eat Well MCR Marketplace – an online shop selling produce and meal kits from the region’s best restaurants, growers, producers and makers.

Every week, this new one-stop-shop will feature top quality fruit and veg from Manchester Urban Diggers, selected cuts from Littlewoods Butchers and cheeses from the renowned Courtyard Dairy.

There’ll also be natural wines, locally brewed beers and more for you to put into your basket and enjoy at home, alongside treats from the likes of Krum, Siop Shop and Pollen.

And every week, different restaurants will offer the best ready meals and meal kits you’ll ever get your hands on – think Honest Crust, The Creameries, Elite Bistros and Tampopo.

You’ll also find Pippy Eats’ notoriously difficult to snag crispy chilli oil alongside Into the Gathering Dusk’s homemade vermouths and concoctions.

The organic veg boxes and locally farmed meat are sourced from within a 50 mile radius of Manchester, allowing the collective to extend their support to the region’s farmers and the wider supply chain, all caught up in the collateral damage caused by the impact the COVID-19 crisis has had on the hospitality industry.

And in bringing the best in local produce, provisions and delicious booze to your door every week, Eat Well MCR are able to direct all profits into continuing their work for the Greater Manchester community, providing nutritious meals cooked with love to those most in need.

Since forming in March, Eat Well MCR has delivered over 6,000 meals to the NHS, 8,589 meals to homeless and displaced people, and 1,846 meals to Emmie’s Kitchen, which supports parents and families with children currently patients in Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

Restaurants in the Eat Well MCR collective include: A Taste of Honey, Baratxuri, Beehive Food, Cloudwater Brew Co., Common Bar, Nells Pizzas, The Creameries, Diamond Dogs, Eagle and Child, Elite Bistros, Elnecot, Erst, Gorilla, Hawksmoor, Higher Ground, Hispi, Honest Crust, The Hungry Gecko, Isca, Koffee Pot, Konoba, Little Window, The Manchester Tart Company, Stretford Canteen, Tampopo, The Victoria Walshaw, and Where The Light Gets In.

“We are so proud of what we created during the lockdown,” said Eat Well MCR founder Mary Ellen McTague.

“Since we started all this, two things have become very clear to us – firstly that we couldn’t lose the momentum we had gathered; we have an incredible group of people doing incredible things. And secondly, the businesses in our collective have thankfully reopened so we knew it was imperative to evolve in order to continue.

“Food inequality is endemic in Greater Manchester and we are not about to walk away from that. 

“Manchester is ringed by wonderful growers, producers and makers. We also wanted to shine a light on them through the Marketplace, and support our local food economy during a tough time,  whilst holding our main goal of helping to tackle food inequality at the heart of what we do.”

Orders for the first round of deliveries can be placed between midday Friday 2nd October and 5pm Monday 5th October, with the first deliveries being fulfilled on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th  October. Click-and-collect from Cloudwater Brewery will also be available on those dates. The marketplace is accessed via shop.eatwellmcr.org/password.