Second Helpings co-hosts cooking course

Charities come together to teach cooking skills

September saw a brand new batch of cooks whipping up culinary delights at Second Helpings. We were delighted to join Mindspace hosting the Cooking from Scratch course, a session that sees members of the community learn how to prepare delicious and nutritious meals from basic ingredients.

Held in the Barn Hill Methodist Church kitchen, the course is designed to help participants build cooking confidence, learn basic food hygiene, while creating a range of healthy meals that they can enjoy with the rest of the group.

In the past, participants have learned how to cook simple dishes such as soups and smoothies, to more complex meals such as curry, enchiladas, fish pies, and roast dinners.

We were able to provide some of ingredients allow Mindspace to cut costs and reduce waste food. The course was able to go ahead thanks to generous donations from Stamford Action and NISA.

Sophie Driver, the nutritional therapist who leads the course said: ‘This course teaches you how to turn cheap food into something nutritious. In the past, we have had people such as widowers wanting to learn the basics or people looking to understand more about nutrition for their family. We look at reducing waste, saving money and cooking healthily. We don’t use complicated recipes and people love the social aspect of eating together afterwards when there is time for chat and connection.’