The Queen of Greens Bus is a mobile greengrocer that brings affordable fresh fruit and vegetables to 40 stops across Liverpool and Knowsley. Run by Feeding Liverpool and Alchemic Kitech, the initiative aims to boost access to healthy food and help tackle health inequalities by providing people with a better opportunity to shop for nutritious food closer to their home or workplace.

As the bus’s produce is collected from Liverpool’s wholesale market each morning, the greengrocers are able to offer competitive prices for the food items provided, also selling the produce loose in order to cut down on both waste and packaging. The bus also allows for multiple payment methods, taking into account the fact that a significant proportion of customers receive government Healthy Start Cards and/or Alexandra Rose Charity vouchers. A lot of customers at the primary schools, children centres and hospitals that the bus stops at have young children and appreciate that the bus allows them to buy items that would otherwise be too expensive to get and that also lasts longer than the produce available at the supermarket.

Aside from selling, greengrocer Paul also uses his 40 years of experience in the fruit and veg business to offer cooking tips and encourage customers to discover different food varieties, often opening up food on the bus for customers to sample. This feeds into the sense of community that the bus fosters: a lot of people who use the bus look forward to coming to their stop as it allows them to meet other people in the same situation as themselves, often sharing their cooking ideas and getting to know each other through a shared love of food.

With the aim of making healthy eating more available both physically and financially, we have created a Queen of Greens Recipe Book, which features 5 nutritious and delicious meal that can be cooked easily with the whole family from fruit and vegetables found on the bus.

The book includes recipes for Vegetarian Fajitas, Spinach and Sweet Potato Dhal, Slow Cooker Veg Lasagne and Italian Veggie Cottage Pie.

Click here to learn more about the Queen of Greens Bus and view its current timetable.

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Do you have a recipe that you would like to share with us? Email Antonia with details.