The Source

Since I joined the trust, we have changed the way in which we prepare food and design our menus.  We try and use some of the traditional British favourites in our menus that are both heartwarming and tasty, sometimes they can bring a little nostalgia to our day.  We work closely with our suppliers to ensure that the ingredients we cook with have originated from within the UK. We love British and are passionate about sourcing from within the UK.

The challenges are real, and the NHS framework can sometimes cause obstacles to get these local products in our hospitals.  Since celebrating ‘Love British’ fortnight, we have made a lot of changes. We sourced a British ice cream manufacturer that makes ice-cream on their farm using their own milk. 



We then moved away from a meat supplier over 200 miles away and sourced one more local. Our beef and pork are from farms in surrey, our lamb is reared in the west country, and our chicken is red tractor approved from farms in Shropshire. We continue to use this supplier and I am still looking for one even more local to Milton keynes. 

Our greatest local supplier is our fruit and veg company, AB Fruits.  Having worked locally when I was a chef, AB Fruits were always my go-to supplier, they buy local and supply local.  We get cauliflowers from Sharnbrook, courgettes from Bromham, salad onions from Pershore lettuce, celery from Ely and potatoes from Suffolk.  These products are all grown in the UK by British farmers, you can’t get much better than that. 

We have now started to use seasonal local produce to make our daily special.  We create the dish the day before, using what the land has to offer. We received squashes from Sharnbrook last week and they went on our menu in the form of a squash risotto topped with fresh rocket, parmesan and crispy bacon pieces.

I had a long and happy career as a Chef before my Catering Manager role here at MKUH.  I have always been passionate about cooking tasty, amazing food with love and I pour my passion into trying to influence change in where we buy our food from.  I also try and pass on my passion onto my Chef Team. 

I am lucky to work in an organisation that is open to ideas and trying new things.  With the backing of our Exec team at MKUH we introduced healthier food options to staff for a cheaper price than the unhealthier choices.  For example, our fish at chips is £4.95 and our healthy noodle live cook is only £2.00.  We encourage our team to make the healthier choice.  We have received new restaurant counters and new equipment for our chefs to cook with.  We are proud of what we offer, and I would love to now see other organisations do the same. 

I would love the opportunity for British local farmers near my trust to come and approach local trust’s directly to buy what they picked yesterday, and I hope soon we could have someone in my position having the one-to-one relationship with the local farmers and flow their products straight to a patient’s plate. 

My vision and aspirations for MKUH is to have a fresh cook kitchen for our patients and to be even more influential in what patients eat.