Onsite Kitchen Management and Tasks

Immediately before Site Set Up

A couple of kitchen people need to be in the area the day before the camp. They should buy enough veg and bread for two-three days of provision to about 100 people and store it in a van with kitchen equipment. If it is a squatted site it is best to be in the area quietly and not to take part in taking the site. You will need to be fresh for a whole day feeding people who have been up all night and have to set up a camp.

Get onsite as soon as you can after it is taken. Get hot water and tea provision set up as soon as possible and provide bread and breakfast provisions. Set up the kitchen! And get going….

A Brief and Not Comprehensive Summary of Onsite Tasks and Routines.

Set up

a) Liase with the gate at the earliest possible time to get regular updates of numbers of people on site approximately. This is hugely helpful if not always accurate.

b) Provide three meals a day for set up people and try and stay sane! Have a rota and make sure welcome team are including kitchen work in the set up tasks.

c) Hot water crew set up hot water areas for washing up and tea

d) Check in with neighbourhoods as they arrive: Find out when they will be set up, how many they will be feeding and make sure you have a kitchens meeting as soon as possible when the camp is nearly fully set up. Do health and hygiene advice sessions and gas set up checks.

e) Set up food store and put fresh food in it in an orderly manner as it arrives. Expect disruption to this from the police and try to stay calm and negotiate. Get the food from the storage location when agreed .

Main Camp

a) When neighbourhoods kitchens are at full capacity try and scale down central provision fully and have a rest day or two, or at least do less meals than before. Try and maintain a position as overflow capacity or soup and snacks.

b) Maintain kitchens meetings for troubleshooting and capacity checks.

c) Neighbourhoods must  collect donations and pay them to central kitchen.Take in donations money from neighbourhoods, count, record and pass to finance group and 'check that neighbourhoods are collecting donations and at right level

d)Set up a rota and keen crew for the 24 hour kitchen in action periods.

e)Keep an eye on stock and liase with neighbourhoods about prudent use of expensive and easier to cook items.

f)Try and change crew mid week and allow people to have rest and enjoy the camp.

g)Re-order food and get new supplies on site as needed. This will be when vital items have generally run low, not when you run out of any non vital items. Bread and veg will need restocking at least twice. Take account of delivery days. Cash and Carries are also an option.

Tat Down

a) Begin to increase capacity again as neighbourhoods leave and gradually we move into tat down when we will be the only kitchen left.

b) Try and have a fresh crew coming in for tat down or at least a co-ordinator with a clear head to do the last few days of cooking.

c) When only a skelton crew is left then begin to dismantle the kitchen and distribute surplus food to appropriate places.

d) Load the van and go home. Make sure central kitchen equipment ends up back in leeds!

e) Have some kind of review meeting on lessons learnt for next year