Organic groceries

Photo shoot by Luca Vermeer, photography student at Grafisch Lyceum Utrecht, during the Eilandsteede harvest festival on September 22, 2024.

Luca is also happy to take photos at your activity. Contact her for more information.

Our goal: Affordable organic food for everyone who wants it by 2030


 We regularly talk to Utrecht residents with a low income about sustainable living. Many people want to eat organic, sustainable and healthy food, but that is often too expensive or difficult to access. Since 2022, students from various study programs have come up with solutions in co-creation with the target group and with a broad network of partner organizations. So far, we have been most active in Lunetten and Kanaleneiland. In both neighborhoods, we have had residents try out organic food and collected their reactions. More information about this can be found below on this page. Would you like to have residents with a low income try out organic food in your own neighborhood? Be inspired by our manual and share your recommendations with us to encourage politicians and stakeholders to take action together. Are you already taking action to make organic food accessible to everyone and are you looking for partners? Join our roadmap Organic food on a low income for 2030. Email ineke@duurzaamutrecht2030.nl for more information.


Current activities of Sustainable Utrecht 2030:

Information about the trial with subsidized organic groceries on Kanaleneiland in 2024:


Read the highlights in this flyer, download the  report on this trial by Noor Ul Ain from ZENODO.

On Friday mornings May 17, June 14, July 12, and August 2, AND EXTRA ON MONDAY MORNING SEPTEMBER 2, 2024, from 10:00-12:00 we handed out coupons at Bij Bosshardt, Marco Pololaan 10, Kanaleneiland, with which visitors could buy organic products at Eilandsteede city farm and Food for Good in Transwijk park, or at the Loos Utrecht cart that was next to Bij Bosshardt at that time.


We collected responses from participants in a draft report, and discussed the preliminary conclusions and recommendations with them on Friday September 13 between 10:00 and 12:00.


We also collected suggestions at the Harvest Festival at Eilandsteede city farm on September 22. We have published the final report and presented it to participants in a workshop on 29 November 2024. Read more in this flyer.

 

 We still had vouchers left with which residents of the Joseph Haydnlaan asylum seekers' centre could also shop packaging-free in January 2025.


Workshop Organic food on a small budget

On April 8, 2024, we organized a workshop on Organic food with a small budget in the Social Impact Factory on the Gracht in Utrecht. Read the report here.


Organic food in Lunetten


On May 6, 2024, we consulted with people from the city farm Koppelsteede and allotment association ATV Utrecht Zuid about new initiatives to regularly provide residents of Lunetten with a small budget with organic, sustainable and healthy food. On June 4, 2024, we discussed this further with ten visitors to the WIJ3.0 giveaway shop. We came up with a new initiative for a cookbook Organic food with a small budget in Lunetten. Also on July 9, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., we made more concrete agreements with eight people in the giveaway shop.


During the autumn of 2024, we started cooking and tasting activities to collect photos, recipes and dishes for the cookbook project.

This spring, students Information Science of the University of Utrecht will co-create prototypes of a cookbook app together with residents and stakeholder organisations in Lunetten.

You are very welcome to join this project, especially if you want to eat delicious affordable organic food, are a kitchen princess or prince, are good at writing or photography, or want to publish the book. Download the roadmap for organic food on a small budget in Lunetten here. Join in! Info: ineke@duurzaamutrecht2030.nl

Partner contributions:


Organic food in Wittevrouwen and Northeast Utrecht

Griftsteede City Farm: Weekly harvest of vegetables and herbs, Loos collection point, Buy delicious local food

Via Rechtstreex you can order local fruit and vegetables and pick them up at a pick-up point in the neighbourhood. Rechtstreex recently opened pick-up points in Voordorp, Wittevrouwen and Tuindorp.


Fork Ranger contributes to Sustainable Utrecht 2030 with free tips for sustainable affordable dishes:

  • Smokey Chili 
  • Caponata
  • Chickpea What
  • Risotto with Fennel
  • Spinazie Pasta Pesto
  • Rice with Plums and Orange
  • Curry with Eggplant and Tomatoes
  • Spaghetti with Garlic and Lime
  • Chickpea stew with apricot
  • Carrot and Cauliflower Biryani

With an iPhone it can be even easier (the Android version is coming soon):

  1. Download de Fork Ranger app
  2. Unlock all recipes by clicking on the 'My recipes' gift icon and entering the special code 'duurzaamutrecht'
  3. Search for ingredient using the search function

This is the link.


AERES University of Applied Sciences published a collection of essays "Oyster salons, cod croquettes and donut shops".


On October 16, 2023, Milieucentrum Utrecht presented the updated list of sustainable stores: Duurzamer030.nl

Read the response of the Utrecht municipal executive to our petition for organic food on a tight budget


Results of the trial with subsidized organic groceries in Lunetten in 2023

We handed out gift vouchers for organic and sustainable products at the Stichting Limoenz giveaway shop, Treek 15 in Utrecht-Lunetten, on these Tuesday mornings: June 13, July 4, August 1, September 5, and October 3 and 17, 2023. On September 7, 10-12 we also came to the giveaway shop and on September 17 we also had a stall at the Harvest Festival at Koppelsteede.

On November 7, 2023, we discussed the report with fourteen people in the giveaway shop.

On November 27, 2023, intern Elizabete discussed the concept recommendations with six participants in the workshop Making sustainable living on a tight budget possible, in the Social Impact Factory on the Gracht.

On December 15, 16:00-18:00 Elizabete presented the final report to approximately 30 participants, including a member of the city council, during the meeting "Organic food for all of Utrecht" in the Domkerk. Read the summary here.

On January 30, 2024, we brought the participants of the trial in Lunetten at the Wij3.0 giveaway shop (Treek 15) a copy of the final report in Dutch and English. On February 8, 2024, from 9:45 to 10:00, we presented a petition to the Utrecht city council at the city hall. On March 7, 2024, the petition will be on the agenda of the council committee for Youth, Welfare, Culture and Sports.

On April 8, 2024, we organized a workshop on organic food on a budget at the Social Impact Factory on the Gracht, with 23 participants.

On Kanaleneiland we have repeated the trial from May to September 2024 (see left column). In Lunetten, we initiated the cookbook project as a follow-up to the trial with subsidised organic groceries.


This trial was made possible in part by subsidies from the Initiatives Fund of the municipality of Utrecht, the Catholic Caritas Utrecht and part of the third prize of the Mantel van Sint Maarten 2022.

With this we build on the research 'Sustainable Utrecht 2030 - subsidizing organic and sustainable fruit and vegetables' by Jinte van Eijk, Teun Hartstra, Tymen Swets, Niels Hoevenberg and Maud Rampaart (Environmental Science students at HAS University of Applied Sciences).


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