How unsold food is making its way to hungry Londoners
At a time of unprecedented demand at the London Food Bank, a food recovery program at several local grocery stores is preventing tonnes of nutritious meals from going to waste.
'The One More Bite program, it makes me proud to be a part of it,' explained Chris Coombs, manager of the Food Basics at 1200 Commissioners Road.
'We have a lot of people in the community that are struggling right now.'
Nine of the Metro and Food Basics stores in London participate in the food recovery program.
As a product's 'best before' date approaches, its price is often discounted by the store.
If it hasn't sold by the night of the 'best before' date, the unsold meat, dairy, bakery products, and prepared meals are loaded onto skids and frozen to await collection by the London Food Bank.
'We focus mainly on healthy, nutritious products,' added Coombs.
'And it feels good to be able to give back (and) prevent it from going to waste.'
One More Bite London Food Bank contributions
Food Basics Manager Chris Coombs explains how food is selected for donation to the London Food Bank, seen in London, Ont. on July 29, 2025. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)
On Tuesday, the store loaded two skids of products onto a refrigerator truck from the London Food Bank.
'When you look at what's come in over those past number of years from One More Bite, it's been hundreds and hundreds of tonnes worth of food,' said Jane Roy of the London Food Bank.
Province-wide last year, One More Bite saved 2.6 million kilograms of food, which is equal to about 5.2 million meals provided by food banks.
Roy said the London Food Bank has been involved in the program since 2019 and received steady growth in both the volume and variety of food received.
It's become a vital part of meeting unprecedented demand.
'We're serving double what we did before the pandemic. It's 5,800 families a month, or about 17,000 individuals a month, getting help from the food bank. So, this food we're going through really quickly,' Roy explained.
Coombs described it as a team effort.
'I'm extremely proud of my staff,' he said.
'We're one of the highest contributing stores for Food Basics. My team is very engaged in it!'
There are 247 Metro and Food Basics stores participate in the One More Bite program across Ontario.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Cision Canada
01-08-2025
- Cision Canada
Too Good To Go Launches at Food Basics to help Ontarians save money and reduce food waste
All Food Basics locations across Ontario are now featured on the Too Good To Go app TORONTO, Aug. 1, 2025 /CNW/ -- Food Basics is furthering its commitment to offer customers "always more for less" through a new partnership with Too Good To Go, the world's largest marketplace for surplus food. As of today, all 148 Food Basics locations across Ontario are live on the Too Good To Go app, giving shoppers a new, convenient way to access fresh groceries at deep discounts, while helping to tackle food waste. Building on the success of partnerships with Metro Ontario, Metro Quebec, and Super C, Food Basics becomes the latest banner in the Metro Inc. family to join the global movement to reduce food waste. Since the first Metro Ontario stores launched on the platform in November 2022, the grocer has helped save more than 1 million meals from going to waste. Starting today, consumers will have the option of picking from four categories of Surprise Bags. Varieties of the following will be sold at a significant discount: Meat and Seafood (at $9.99, $30 value) Bakery (at $5.99, $18 value) Dairy (at $5.99, $18 value) Deli (at $5.99, $18 in value "At Food Basics, we are committed to offering value to our customers every day, without compromising on quality. By offering these assortments at low prices, we are giving a second chance to products that are still perfectly good to eat, while meeting the needs of our customers who are looking for economical and responsible options," said Hardeep Kharaud, Senior Vice President, Food Basics. By offering consumers a new way to purchase perishable foods, Food Basics is helping to reduce food waste at the community level while making everyday savings more accessible to all. "At Too Good To Go, we believe that good food should be saved, not wasted. We're honoured to partner with a leading grocer who shares that passion," said Chris MacAulay, VP North America, Too Good To Go. "Together, we're making it simple, affordable, and delicious to fight food waste. This partnership continues to show that doing good is as easy as picking up your groceries." With more than 16,000 food-selling partners in Canada, Too Good To Go has helped rescue over 10 million meals from waste since its Canadian launch in July 2021 -preventing more than 25 million kilograms of CO₂e from entering the atmosphere. Too Good To Go continues to expand throughout the country by adding more partners and bag categories every day. Food selling businesses are encouraged to join by visiting and selecting "Business Sign-Up." The Too Good To Go app is available for free on the Apple App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android. To find out more about Too Good To Go and to find tips and tricks to waste less, follow the Instagram page About Food Basics For 30 years, Food Basics has been helping customers save money on their grocery needs by providing Always More for Less. Food Basics operates on three guiding principles: Always Fresh, Always in Stock and Always at Great Prices. Food Basics is the discount banner of Metro Ontario Inc. and currently operates 148 stores across Ontario. About Too Good To Go Too Good To G o is a global social impact company that connects users with partners to rescue unsold food and stop it from going to waste. With 100 million registered users and 175,000 active partners across 19 countries, Too Good To Go operates the world's largest marketplace for surplus food. Since its launch in 2016, Too Good To Go has helped to save over 400 million meals from going to waste, the equivalent to 1.1 million tonnes of CO2e avoided. According to Project Drawdown (2020), reducing food waste is the number one action you can take to help tackle climate change, by limiting the temperature rise to just 2˚C by 2100. For more information see
CTV News
29-07-2025
- CTV News
How unsold food is making its way to hungry Londoners
A skid of food at Food Basics being loaded onto a London Food Bank refrigerator truck, seen in London, Ont. on July 29, 2025. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London) At a time of unprecedented demand at the London Food Bank, a food recovery program at several local grocery stores is preventing tonnes of nutritious meals from going to waste. 'The One More Bite program, it makes me proud to be a part of it,' explained Chris Coombs, manager of the Food Basics at 1200 Commissioners Road. 'We have a lot of people in the community that are struggling right now.' Nine of the Metro and Food Basics stores in London participate in the food recovery program. As a product's 'best before' date approaches, its price is often discounted by the store. If it hasn't sold by the night of the 'best before' date, the unsold meat, dairy, bakery products, and prepared meals are loaded onto skids and frozen to await collection by the London Food Bank. 'We focus mainly on healthy, nutritious products,' added Coombs. 'And it feels good to be able to give back (and) prevent it from going to waste.' One More Bite London Food Bank contributions Food Basics Manager Chris Coombs explains how food is selected for donation to the London Food Bank, seen in London, Ont. on July 29, 2025. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London) On Tuesday, the store loaded two skids of products onto a refrigerator truck from the London Food Bank. 'When you look at what's come in over those past number of years from One More Bite, it's been hundreds and hundreds of tonnes worth of food,' said Jane Roy of the London Food Bank. Province-wide last year, One More Bite saved 2.6 million kilograms of food, which is equal to about 5.2 million meals provided by food banks. Roy said the London Food Bank has been involved in the program since 2019 and received steady growth in both the volume and variety of food received. It's become a vital part of meeting unprecedented demand. 'We're serving double what we did before the pandemic. It's 5,800 families a month, or about 17,000 individuals a month, getting help from the food bank. So, this food we're going through really quickly,' Roy explained. Coombs described it as a team effort. 'I'm extremely proud of my staff,' he said. 'We're one of the highest contributing stores for Food Basics. My team is very engaged in it!' There are 247 Metro and Food Basics stores participate in the One More Bite program across Ontario.
CTV News
24-07-2025
- CTV News
Lambton County awarded 2027 International Plowing Match
Rain impedes the International Plowing Match and Rural Expo in Pain Court, Ont., on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. (Courtesy Municipality of Chatham-Kent) The 2027 International Plowing Match and Rural Expo (IPM) has been awarded to Lambton County. The Ontario Plowmen's Association announced Thursday that the Bridgen fairgrounds will host the event from September 21 to 27. Lambton last hosted the IPM in 1991. More than fifty committees have been established to ensure the event generates its anticipated $25 million economic impact. Given Lambton's proximity to the US border, organizers are hopeful Americans will join thousands of Ontarians. 'We think we've got lots of great agriculture that takes place in Lambton, that it is diversified, with various types of agriculture. We think we're a great place to be,' explained Dennis Bryson, the chairperson of the event. 072425 - Lambton County Dennis Bryson, chairperson of 2027 International Plowing Match and Rural Expo (IPM). (Sean Irvine/CTV News London) 'At the end of the day, we hope to have 100,000 plus people, and we think it will be a great match if we can accomplish that.' Southwestern Ontario is also home to the 2026 IPM set to take place in Bruce County, west of Walkerton. This year's edition is at the West Niagara Agricultural Centre from September 16-20.
