Want to upgrade your cooking skills? Or maybe you know someone who lives on ready meals and need some help? It’s a sad fact that many people have lost the ability to cook while others find the convenience of ready meals, fast food and food delivery easy to rely on. However, with the cost of living highlighting the need to find cheaper ways to cook, this is rapidly changing.
Local charity The Friendly Food Club are out to help! The Dorset based charity has provided thousands of cooking courses and workshops across Dorset over the past decade.
Now thanks to funding from Dorset Council and Waitrose the charity is able to expand further by providing free training to equip community groups in rolling out their own courses.
Liz Guilmant-Cush, CEO, explained why this is so essential:
“Every day we meet people who don’t know how or lack the confidence to cook. From teenagers unable to use tin openers to recently bereaved older people who are dependent on microwave meals.
“For the past decade we have been providing cookery workshops sessions across Dorset. The Get Dorset Cooking training means that we are able to equip community groups to run their own workshops, so that together we can get as much of Dorset cooking as possible!”
Libby Lloyd is a Senior Youth Leader at Treads Youth Advice & Information Centre has recently completed the training, she explained:
“We’re finding that many young people are not maintaining a healthy diet. Parents lack time to prepare home-cooked meals, leading families to rely on ready-meals and unhealthy snacks.”.
Since having completed the training Treads have integrated cooking courses into their sessions equipping local young people to cook healthy, nutritious meals for themselves as well as passing this knowledge on to their families.
The fully funded training is ideal for, but not exclusive to, foodbanks and pantries, community, patient, youth as well as other community-led groups.
Community groups are shown all the essential skills needed to run their own cooking sessions safely. Follow up resources and support are available to ensure groups can launch out in confidence.
Before attending a training session, Sue in Weymouth found that NHS patients were prevented from preparing healthy meals due to a lack of confidence and knowledge, which affected their ability to manage chronic health conditions.
“The Get Dorset Cooking training has inspired us to run cookery courses that remove barriers to improved health and better lifestyles.” – Sue Brunt, NHS Patient Participation Group Chair.
The next training will take place in Weymouth on the 18th September and Wimborne on 10th October. Further dates will be confirmed throughout the autumn.
For general enquiries email [email protected] or go to www.thefriendlyfoodclub.org/ for more information.
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