What can I cook for dinner? This is a common question asked in many households throughout the country. Sometimes, the effort involved in thinking about a meal and its preparation is just too much after a busy day. For some, there is not the luxury of choice or ability to pay for a nice home-cooked meal—it just costs too much. For others, there can be sickness, disability or a life event—such as having a baby—that means that not too much thought and energy can go into making dinner.

In all these cases, there is now an answer.

Bellyful is an organisation with branches throughout New Zealand. Each centre has a team of volunteers who get together regularly to have a big cook-up of five dishes: Beef Lasagne, Beef Bolognese Sauce, Macaroni Cheese, Tomato and Red Lentil Soup and Mild Vegetarian Curry (they all sound yum!), which are then frozen. Whenever Bellyful hears about a person or family in need, volunteers then deliver meals for three days and can follow up after that in case more meals are needed. What a great service! Not only are new Mums or sick people and their whānau helped with meals but the community also benefits through social interaction and giving back to those around them.

For those who just don’t have the time nor inclination to think about what to have for dinner, there’s FED. FED is a company that also cooks and freezes meals, but they sell them online. They have more than five options though … how does Triple Cheese Beef Lasagne or French Tarragon Chicken Pie sound to you? There’s more of those gourmet meals on offer too. And—they deliver to your door, so all that’s left to do is to check the freezer when you’re unsure about what to cook for the family dinner. FED can even put together Care Boxes so you can give some meals to a friend or loved one as well.

But FED also cares about meeting needs in the community, so, doing what they do best, they paid-it-forward a voucher to Bellyful for $250 worth of their meals to add to Bellyful’s stocks. Thanks to FED, many more needy people and their families can be fed.

Again, not sure what to cook for dinner? Look no further than FED and Bellyful.

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