Carnival Cook-Ups!
Join the carnival! As you come together in one day with over 90 volunteers to make 1,500+ meals for homeless communities using food saved from waste.
Across three events, here’s what we’ve achieved so far:
What is Carnival Cook-Up?
Join us for a whole day jam-packed with feel-good fun and community spirit – step away from your desk and flip your 9–5 on its head under the disco lights and electric energy of the iconic Freight Island.
Don your apron and cook alongside 90+ socially conscious individuals from companies across Manchester to meet our collective target of 1,500+ meals for Greater Manchester’s homeless communities.
Through our partnership with FareShare, all food used is saved from landfill (up to 0.5 tonnes), and any food waste goes to our community garden partner. By supporting social enterprise Cracking Good Food, you’re truly making a difference to the lives of Greater Manchester’s residents.
We also have…. Festive Cook-Up!
The same great day but with a festive twist – think holiday jumpers, decorations, groups of singers, engaging games, entertainment, raffle prizes and all the magic that comes with the season of giving. You’ll also have opportunity to donate hats, scarves, gloves, coats and sleeping bags etc to be distributed across homeless support organisations
Our Promise to you…
We’re always trying to keep things fresh and new at Cracking Good Food, with our events with several repeat supporters, we work to ensure every event is bigger, better and also slightly different. Across our events we have had Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham in attendance, 3 singing groups including Women Asylum Seekers Together and, at our latest event hosted a juggler and live artist/illustrator who both engaged attendees in fun activities (who also received a handdrawn team photo from the day – an amazing memoir from the day!)
To spread and share even more joy and care with our meals, we also now have a working partnership with BKinder (making kindness contagious one act at a time) They facilitate activities whereby attendees handwrite a personalised message for meal recipients.
With the true purpose behind the event being to support those who are impacted by homelessness we try to center our support around their needs. We do this by engaging teams in dropping off and donating their clean, working preloved kitchen kit items in our orange bins as well as any materials (caps, sleeping bags, shorts, tents etc) that help support the groups we are helping with a better quality of life.
The entire day is built on community connections and showing care for others through food. It’s an amazing chance to get out from behind your desk, talk to others and your colleagues in an unconventional yet wholesome setting as you meet and are surrounded by other kind-hearted individuals making a true difference to the live’s of Greater Manchester’s homeless communities, together.
The Day’s Itinerary
When & Where:
📍 The main room at Freight Island, 11 Baring St, M1 2PY
🕙 9:30am – 5pm
event itinerary is just an indication and may vary from what is stated*
How it works:
9:30am – Register, grab a brew and briefing
10am – Welcome, find your table & cooking begins!
11am – It’s a surprise!
12pm – Chat, chop & work together with colleagues and new contacts
1pm – Lunch & Raffle tickets for sale
2pm – Back to cooking & packing
3pm – End-of-day games and carnival activities. Label writing with Ella Schweiger
4pm – Event finishes with Raffle Prize Draw, meal total reveal and collective cheer!
5pm – Homeless support organisations arrive to network and collect meals
Come away from the day knowing you have directly provided nourishing meals for 1,500+ homeless people from across Greater Manchester and delivered heart-felt messages to a portion of those people. You’ll be part of our current total of 5,667 meals made for 13 homeless support organisations across Greater Manchester.
Questions?
If you have any questions about the events, any requirements or if you’d like a smaller more bespoke event just for your team please contact: kate@crackinggoodfood.org. Thank you for helping us make a real difference!
Our Partners
