What can you make with a box of surplus vegetables, a few store-cupboard staples and a little creativity?

At FareShare Cymru, the new Croeso Kitchen is helping answer that question.

Based at the charity’s Cardiff warehouse, the Croeso Kitchen is a space where surplus food becomes an opportunity to experiment, learn and share ideas. Leading the work is Culinary Lead Liam, who joined FareShare Cymru earlier this year.

Rather than starting with a recipe and buying the ingredients, Liam often starts with the ingredients themselves.

That might mean a delivery of potatoes, a crate of tomatoes or an abundance of seasonal vegetables. The challenge is then to work out how those ingredients can be turned into something delicious, practical and easy for people to recreate at home or in community settings.

“The idea is to show what surplus food can become,” says Liam. “You don't always know what is going to arrive, so there is a real element of creativity involved.”

The kitchen is already becoming a place for much more than cooking demonstrations. Liam is developing recipes, filming videos and sharing practical advice about storing and using different ingredients – from making the most of sprouting potatoes to finding new ways to cook seasonal produce.

Those ideas are being shared through FareShare Cymru's online Culinary Hub, giving Community Food Members, volunteers and supporters access to recipes and videos they can return to whenever they need inspiration.

The aim is simple: to make it easier for people to get the most from the food available to them.

For community organisations, having access to surplus ingredients can sometimes mean receiving something they haven't cooked with before or suddenly having a large quantity of one particular item. The Croeso Kitchen can help turn that challenge into inspiration.

It is also about celebrating food.

Instead of seeing surplus ingredients as something that needs to be used up, the kitchen looks at what they can become. A box of potatoes can become something completely different depending on the recipe, while an unexpected delivery of vegetables can inspire a new dish.

And because the ingredients come from FareShare Cymru's own food supply, the recipes reflect what people are actually receiving.

The Croeso Kitchen is still developing, but its role is already growing. From recipe videos and cooking demonstrations to resources for Community Food Members, it is becoming another way FareShare Cymru can share knowledge as well as food.

So, what is cooking in the Croeso Kitchen?

The answer might change from week to week – and that's part of the fun.

Liam's latest recipes, cooking videos and practical food tips can be found by searching online for FareShare Cymru Croeso Kitchen.