How the city is sprucing up for the NSW Governor's visit

Pot plants are being positioned outside and celebratory bunting is going up.

It's all part of the preparations for NSW Governor Margaret Beazley's arrival at the Slow Food Hunter Valley Food Rescue Kitchen on Thursday, and volunteers cannot wait to meet her.

They've been rehearsing a checklist from Ms Beazley's office which explains how they must converse with her and her partner Dennis Wilson, who will also be there.

"You don't introduce someone to the governor, you must present them," the group's Earth Market Maitland chairwoman Amorelle Dempster said.

"You must bow or curtsy too."

When asked which one she would choose Ms Dempster said "I'll probably bow".

"If I curtsy, knowing me, I'd probably trip myself and fall over.

"We have to refer to her as 'Her Excellency' and call her partner Mr Wilson.

"Everyone who is coming to see her has a copy of the procedures we must follow."

Ms Beazley will be shown how meals made from donated food are boxed up so they can be delivered to the most vulnerable in the community.

She will then have lunch with the volunteers. Pea and ham soup is on the menu.

The 10 kilogram ham was donated to the kitchen and volunteers bought split green peas to put with it.

There will also be frittata and salad - all from rescued ingredients - and apple crumble for dessert.

"The apples were donated as well. Everything she will eat is food that we make for the community," Ms Dempster said.

"Our skill really is taking something and making it into a lot of meals by adding vegetables and whatever we need to extend it but still keep the nutrition levels high.

"The 10kg ham will make about 100 meals."

Ms Beazley won't be eating off the finest bone china though. In keeping with the group's 'rescue style', all of the dinnerware is second hand and doesn't match.

"It's what we use when we have a meeting so we hope the governor won't mind," Ms Dempster said.

The food rescue kitchen has been operating out of the Teapot Cafe at Maitland Showground since 2022. Hilton Grugeon pays the rent so it can operate there.

Seventy volunteers transform six tonnes of food each year into nutritious meals for the community. The food would have ended up in landfill.

The meals are distributed to St Peter's Anglican Church in East Maitland - who have a weekly welfare day - the Salvation Army, the Woodberry Family Centre and Maitland Region Community Support.

Volunteers from the kitchen and Slow Food's other projects - like the earth market and the seed library - will join Ms Beazley for lunch.

"We got a call from the governor's office asking if she could come and we said "Yes! Yes! Yes!"," Ms Dempster said.

"It's exciting for the governor to acknowledge a little group like ours.

"We're little but our impact is big. It's nice someone special, like the governor, wants to acknowledge the work the volunteers do."

Ms Beazley will start her tour of the Hunter in Maitland on Wednesday. She will also visit Port Stephens.