Norwich Foodbank joins Voucher Magpie: how your shopping can help people facing hunger in Norwich

Norwich Foodbank has joined Voucher Magpie. From today, you can choose it as your cause, and whenever you shop through one of our codes or deals, we'll give 50% of the commission the shop pays us to the foodbank. You pay the same price and still get your discount.

Norwich Foodbank is a local Christian charity in the Trussell network of foodbanks. It gives three days of balanced emergency food to people in and around Norwich who are referred to it in crisis, and helps them find support with what caused the crisis.

At a glance

• Who: Norwich Foodbank, registered charity 1143528 (Norwich Food Bank on the register), with its warehouse on Ivy Road, off Bowthorpe Road in Norwich.
• What it does: collects donated food, packs emergency parcels and hands them out at 11 distribution centres to people with a foodbank voucher from a local agency.
• How to help through us: choose Norwich Foodbank on its page, then shop as normal.
• What it costs you: nothing. The money comes out of our commission, not your basket.

From a plan on paper to 11 centres

The charity was set up as a company in October 2009, and the foodbank opened in 2010. It was entered on the Charity Commission register in August 2011. Its original statement of what it would do is still on the register: collect non-perishable food given by the public at supermarkets, churches, schools and harvest festivals, hand it out as emergency parcels to last an individual or family three days, and follow the model created by the Trussell Trust.

That is still how it works. It is part of the Trussell network, and now runs 11 distribution centres, most of them in churches, from Bowthorpe and Mile Cross to Wroxham and Wymondham.

What Norwich Foodbank does today

By its own figures, the foodbank gave three-day emergency food supplies to 10,842 people in 2025, of whom 3,472 were children. Almost 93 tonnes of food went out in parcels that year. That was 17% fewer people than in 2024.

A typical parcel holds cereal, soup, pasta, rice, beans, tinned meat and vegetables, UHT milk, tea and biscuits. Parcels can be adapted for diabetes, gluten intolerance, vegetarian and halal diets, and the foodbank usually has some nappies and baby food.

Its centres offer a cup of tea and a café-style welcome. The foodbank works with over 240 referral agencies, eight of which regularly had advisers in its centres during 2025. The Charity Commission register lists 5 employees, 9 trustees and 180 volunteers, and income of £577,319 for the year to 31 October 2025.

How your shopping helps: a worked example

Say you spend £50 a month on groceries and toiletries at a shop that pays us 4% commission. That's £2.00 commission, and £1.00 of it goes to Norwich Foodbank. Over a year, £12 comes from shopping you were doing anyway.

If 100 supporters did the same, Norwich Foodbank would get £1,200 a year. Commission rates differ from shop to shop, and some shops pay more on certain products, so your own total may be higher or lower.

What you can do now

1. Choose Norwich Foodbank. Go to its page on Voucher Magpie and tap Choose. You don't need an account; we remember it on your device.
2. Do the food shop through us. Ocado has 25% off your first shop plus 3 months free Smart Pass, and half price on selected groceries. HelloFresh has meals from £1.82 per person, and you can skip a week or cancel any time. For toiletries, Superdrug has free delivery over £25, or £20 for Beautycard members.
3. Use it for everything else too. Clothes, holidays, broadband and gifts all count, so the foodbank gains whenever you shop through us.
4. Volunteer. Norwich Foodbank's volunteering page lists roles in the warehouse, at the distribution centres, driving and on supermarket collections. Volunteers need to be over 18.
5. Donate food or money. Its donate food page lists collection points and the items it needs most, such as tinned meat, tinned fruit and microwave rice. You can also have an online grocery order delivered to its warehouse. You can also give money once or regularly.

Questions

Does choosing Norwich Foodbank cost me anything?

No. The shop pays us a commission for sending it your order, and we give half of it to Norwich Foodbank. Your price and your discount stay the same.

When does Norwich Foodbank get the money?

A shop confirms a sale, usually 30 to 90 days after the order, once the return period has passed. We pay each cause its confirmed commission every quarter.

Can I go to Norwich Foodbank for help myself?

You need a foodbank voucher, which local agencies such as Citizens Advice, housing support officers, children's centres, health visitors and social services can give you. If you don't know where to start, you can call or email the foodbank and it will talk through your situation and put you in touch with an agency. Its how to get help page lists local agencies, and the locations page has the centres and opening times. It can't deliver parcels, but someone can collect for you with your voucher.

Can I change my cause later?

Yes, any time, from any cause's page. Your future shopping then goes to the new cause.

Sources: Norwich Foodbank, about our foodbank, the foodbank network, FAQs, how to get help, locations, donate food, New Year message 2026, Charity Commission: charity 1143528, Companies House: 07051996