DROITWICH residents are receiving free cooking sessions tailored to preparing cheap healthy meals.
Moving Forward designed ‘Cooking on a Budget’ to help bring the community together while also teaching money-saving techniques.
Dennis Walker found the sessions made him fall in love with cooking.
“I came here out of curiosity, and I am now finding it really good with all the quick tips, and hints you find out.
“The sessions have opened up my eyes to how to use ingredients in various ways.”
After each session, participants can then take ingredients home, which can provide two to three free meals after the session, which further helps them with the cost of living.
The sessions are also tailored to each individual’s dietary needs, such as those who are vegan or may have diabetes.
Adult Learning Tutor for Worcestershire County Council, Lisa Brooker, said: “Quite a lot of the areas we go into are quite deprived, so it is incredibly important to teach how to budget, how to cook and what they can use.”
One visitor, Tracy Brady, found the socialising aspect of the sessions the most useful and said it had improved her mental health.
Lucy Bird, a Community Builder for Droitwich CVS highlighted the importance of connecting people in the community and having conversations.
“The idea is to enable people to cook and use good ingredients but on a budget to be able to afford and cook these recipes for the future.
“But also, it is about connecting and getting conversations going between the group.
“This is an opportunity to get people to come out, and food is the best way to connect people – everyone needs to eat – everyone likes food – what better way than this to get people together.”
Late last year, Moving Forward also set up a community fridge to ensure no one on the Westland estate goes hungry.
The course runs over six weeks at a time and takes place every Thursday between midday and 2pm.
The next session will be run after October.
To sign up, contact the Moving Forward Facebook page, or call Nikki on 07562 009906.
A budget recipe for you to try, by Lisa Brooker:
Photo by Eva Bronzini
Winter Roasted Vegetable Traybake
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
3 old potatoes
1 onion
1 parsnip
2 carrots
1-2 garlic cloves or 1 tsp garlic granules
Any other vegetables available. For example: Brussel sprouts Cauliflower Swede Sweet potato
Oil Salt and pepper Herbs – fresh or dried Chilli flakes to add heat (optional)
Equipment:
Knife
Roasting tray
Chopping board
Peeler
Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6
Method:
1. Peel vegetables.
2. Cut into chunks of similar size. Not too small, because they will burn.
3. Finely chop the garlic cloves and any fresh herbs.
4. Add 2-3 tbsp of oil to your roasting tray. Not too much, because you want them to roast, not fry.
5. Tip all your chopped ingredients on the tray
6. Sprinkle with chilli flakes and the herbs, a sprinkle of pepper and salt.
7. Then mix everything together well with your hands and spread them out over the tray.
8. After 20 minutes, turn over the vegetables to make sure all sides get crispy.
9. Place in oven for 40 min until the root vegetables and potatoes are cooked.
Try adding meatballs (meat or meat-free), sausages, chorizo sausage, diced chicken at the beginning.
Traybakes are great for using up old vegetables. Some crusty bread is good to mop up any oily juices.
