Words by Smiley Team
Stuffed peppers, vegetable lasagne and baked rice pudding are just some of the healthy, tasty and budget friendly meals that are being created in a community kitchen in Aberdeen.
And the dishes are even more impressive given the chefs are all new to cooking, and many have never attempted homemade meals before.
Former chef Neil Woodward started running free cookery classes, called Cooking on a Budget, after he noticed bags of pasta and rice being dumped outside the city’s CFine foodbank as people receiving emergency food parcels did not know what to do with them.
Neil, a team leader at CFine, said: “It was frustrating as pasta and rice are staples which you can make three to four meals out of, but it was clear people didn’t have the skills or the knowledge of how to do that.
“We set up the cooking classes in our community kitchen and they proved very popular. We get people coming back several times and it’s great to see their confidence and skills in the kitchen improving.
“We get parents coming along who want to make healthier meals for their families on a budget and also single people who want to eat better and manage their finances better too.”
CFine give out more than 100 emergency food parcels a day to the community in and around Aberdeen, and the cookery classes run four days a week, accommodating up to 16 people at a time.
And Neil has noticed the impact that cooking and eating together has not just on the finances, but also on the emotional and social wellbeing of the charity’s clients.
“Making food and then eating it together is a very social thing to do,” he said. “Our classes can become the shining light in someone’s week, and many people say how much they look forward to it.
“Warming up a meal in the oven or eating something out of a tin might be the more convenient option, but it doesn’t have the same satisfaction or social element as cooking, and it’s far less economical too.”
And the classes also provide an opportunity for Neil and his team of volunteers to provide advice and guidance on money management.
He said: “While the food is cooking we also take the chance to organise a budgeting session. For example we look at a sample weekly budget and think about where savings could be made or check that everyone is aware of the different benefits which might be available to them.”
CFine are looking for volunteers who could fulfil various roles in the foodbank as well as assisting in the community kitchen.
For more information see www.cfine.org.
By Jenna Sloan
