Norwegian Food Bank Meal Initiative: From Surplus to Nutritious Food Aid

The Norwegian Food Bank’s Meal Initiative (“Matsentralen Måltid”) is a project where surplus food from the food bank is transformed into healthy, ready-made meals, which are distributed as food aid to people in need.

The project was first established in Oslo in 2020, as a direct consequence of the COVID-19 restrictions, which left large volumes of surplus food from the food service industry at risk to go to waste. Together with Church City Mission Norway, Food Bank Oslo established a trial project where surplus food was transformed into healthy, ready-made meals for people who lack access to a kitchen, cooking equipment, or the capacity to prepare meals themselves. The project was a big success and is still going strong today!
In 2024, a similar concept was established at Food Bank Rogaland in Western Norway. As in Oslo, the kitchen is operated by the Church City Mission and functions as an arena for employment preparation training for individuals who are currently outside the labour market. In this way, the project also contributes to social inclusion, skills development, and employment opportunities.

Closed circuit
The Meal Initiative operates as a closed-loop redistribution model, where the food banks are the sole supplier to the professional production kitchen run by the Church City Mission:

1. The food bank collects surplus food for the production kitchen
2. Under close supervision and guidance from professional chefs, individuals in employment preparation training transform the food into ready-made portions of meals
3. The meals are returned to the Food Banks and redistributed through local NGOs alongside “regular” surplus food. The ready-made meals are reserved for people who have little or no possibility of preparing food themselves

Through this initiative, food assistance becomes more accessible to those who need it the most, at the same time as we help vulnerable people enter the labour market. The project also allows the Norwegian Food Banks to redistribute food that is unsuitable for regular food boxes aimed at private households.