A PIE company has donated thousands of meals to the needy.

Higgidy, based in Shoreham, has pledged to donate a further 30,000 meals in Sussex by the end of the year as it celebrates a landmark 20,000 meals given out through its Higgidy Helping Hand project.

With many vulnerable families and elderly people struggling to put food on the table, the project has teamed up with 11 charity schemes to donate surplus pies, quiches, tortillas and rolls and help those suffering food poverty.

Higgidy makes more than 260,000 pies, quiches and rolls every week.

Founder Camilla Stephens has seen the business grow from a kitchen start-up in just 15 years, and it now has a team of 300 people and supplies pies to some 2,500 shops across the country.

Camilla said: “Times are tougher for everyone right now but for some, navigating day-to-day life and putting a meal on the table is more difficult than ever before.

“Higgidy’s mission is to provide glorious everyday food and help people live well and I feel like we are in a very privileged position to be able to supply food parcels to local residents who may not be in a position to buy food for themselves.

“We’re working with a range of local charities such as Brighton and Hove Food Partnership and Safehaven to make this happen.”

Alongside the pies and quiches Higgidy has donated through the project, it has also created a Book Of Boredom Busters which includes crafts, puzzles, colouring sheets and trivia to help keep children and parents entertained during lockdown.

The company said it hopes to continue donating meals to those in need and supporting groups including food redistribution charity FareShare.

Camilla Stephens founded Higgidy in 2003.

She said she was inspired by companies like Innocent and Green and Blacks and driven by the desire to share her home-cooked pies.

Last year, Higgidy moved into the vegan market with the launch of a plant-based mushroom and kale pie.

It became a permanent fixture in the Higgidy range and the firm has now added two new vegan products – an aubergine and spinach masala pie and miso mushroom vegan rolls.

Camilla once told The Argus the secret of her company’s success. She said: “We make pies, quiches and sausage rolls that are as close to homemade as possible.

“We only use ingredients that you’d use in your kitchen at home, bake in small batches and finish everything by hand.

“We try to make our pies as special as possible by adding a twist to classic combinations.”

In 2013 Camilla wrote The Higgidy Cookbook, which includes 100 recipes for pies, quiches, tarts and puddings for budding cooks to make at home to share with family and friends.

This was followed by the launch of Higgidy: The Veggie Cookbook in autumn 2019, with 120 everyday vegetarian recipes.