Hello Dear Reader,
I am happily worn out. It's been a really good day. As ever, a massive thanks to St. Austell Baptist Church for allowing me to use their kitchen and church hall and even bigger thanks to Tony and Liz of Cornwall One Parent Support for not only allowing me to run the workshops but finding the funding for the food at the workshops.
I stand by my belief that we can all eat well on a small budget and that stock taking, menu planning and sticking to a food budget really helps the family health and finances. It stops food wastage and ensures that children are healthily fed without resorting to snacking or over eating.
I show families how to take cheap and simple ingredients and turn them into something tasty, that the whole family can and will eat and that can be frozen for another day or eaten tomorrow as 'ding cuisine' After we cook, we all, including the children, sit down and eat.
I share how to make everything from scratch, how to get as much flavour and nutrition into food for as little as possible. I share the batch cooking secrets, how to freeze for another day and how to turn on part of the recipe, such as roasted veggies for a frittata into roast vegetable soup with the addition of some stock. They are cheap and simple ideas. You can go cheap and just eat soup with lentils, but you'll soon turn to the take away if your food just doesn't sustain soul as well as body. People are afraid of adding fats such as oil or butter, or flavour from seasoning and some are mortified at the sight of salt. I show how you can use just a bit and reduce your portion sizes so you can eat good food that tastes good as well as doing you good.
As I only have two hours before we serve lunch to the families and children, I get every thing prepped before the attendees arrive. That means everything gets done on time.
I do the same that I would do if I was batch cooking. I get everything ready and then it all goes into the oven in succession to come out on time.
There were plenty of homemade oven chips, quickly washed and cooked with their skins on. Less waste, more taste and more nutrition.
I even had the butter and lard cubed and in the flour so the students could just make the pastry.
Here's the start of the workshop and it was the case of.......'and we're off'.
We cooked: roasted veggie frittata, lentil and veggie chilli (Which was the biggest hit of the day and also the cheapest), cheese and broccoli quiche with homemade oven chips, Carbonara and Spicy pork with lemon pasta. Everything was well under £1 per portion, full of flavour and was as popular with the children as the adults.
Today was all about hearty main meals and next Saturday's workshop is titled 'Mum, I'm hungry'. It will be all about those breakfasts and lunches that will sustain children and working parents throughout the day. It will be about cooking for packed lunches and hearty but affordable breakfasts.
Those who attended really enjoyed the food and went away with ideas about reducing food wastage, portion sizes and plenty of food for their freezers to keep them going for the week.
Even though they exhaust me, I love running these workshops. If you are close to me, a church or organisation and would like me to come along and run some in your area, just get in contact and let me know. I might look serious in the photos, but I'm too busy to pose, I just get my head down and get prepped. I'm happy to work with individuals and families about budgeting, menu planning and frugal cooking. Just get in touch.
I have five more workshops booked in before Christmas, which leaves plenty of weeks free. I don't charge for my time or travel. I do this as I believe we can all cook healthily on a budget.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxx