Meet and Eat Nutrition Workshops
for People from All Walks of Life!
Meet and Eat brings people from all walks of life together to make a meal and eat together. Combatting loneliness, providing confidence in the kitchen and in life through sharing of the food making process and enjoying the spoils together.
Sarah has run fun and enjoyable Meet and Eat workshops for many years across the Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire area. In the early days, we worked with housing associations and their residents using their communal living room and kitchen. Since Covid, Wise About Food became a community interest company, allowing us to apply for grants to fund and run workshops, broadening our reach into the community, these sessions are now run primarily in village halls.
Meet and Eat, originally run for the elderly, has since expanded this service to many other groups and age ranges across communities. The concept is the same, making a meal and eating it together, but for some groups has evolved to allow more individual cooking skills to be learnt where appropriate.
MEET AND EAT NUTRITION SERVICES
Meet and Eat Workshops
Enabling groups such as the elderly, those living with Dementia, SEND, Early Years, Housing Association residents,
Families and Community Groups. Our workshops aim to equip participants with more skills in the kitchen, engagement with others from a similar background and some all round fun and laughs.
Our Meet and Eat Workshops aim to encourage people to come together who might not normally leave their home. It allows participants to gain social skills but also gain confidence in cooking so they can take their recipes home and recreate them. Not only do participants have something to look forward to but it gives them a great education on food without being overwhelming.
Contact us to discuss your requirements or to discuss
how to secure funding for workshops you might like to run
GRANTS
If there are courses, workshops or initiatives you would like to run in
your organisation, we can apply for the grants you need to fund them:
At Wise About Food, we are committed to working with a range of communities and groups to not only help promote nutrition awareness but also to bring people together and to forge friendships.
A grant is money that is available from funders that wants to support work in the community. Being awarded a grant is what enables Wise About Food to carry out the amazing work that it does in the community. To date we have been lucky enough to win a selection of grants that has enabled Sarah to reach a wide selection of the population and has enabled her to make a difference to their lives.
If you’re an organisation or community group and have an idea you would like to talk about, please get in touch to discuss how we can help you.
We’d also love to hear from funders so please get in touch to see how your funding can make a difference!
FIND OUT HOW GRANTS CAN WORK FOR YOU
Meet and Eat Groups in Action
Wise About Food has run many Meet and Eat Groups over the years, find out more about these groups below.
Want to know more about our Meet and Eat Groups?
Frequently Asked Questions about our Meet & Eat.
Yes — absolutely everyone is welcome. Meet & Eat is open to anyone who wants to cook, eat, and connect in a friendly, supportive space. We run Meet & Eat Groups for the elderly, SEND groups, Patient groups for social subscribers, early years and community groups
Not at all. Meet & Eat is for all abilities — whether you love cooking, haven’t cooked in years, or feel a bit nervous in the kitchen. There’s no pressure and plenty of support
That’s completely normal. You can join in as much or as little as you like — even just sitting with a cup of tea to begin with.
You’re very welcome. Sessions are inclusive and can be adapted for people with learning disabilities, dementia, mental health challenges, or physical health conditions.
No. You can watch, chat, help a little, or simply enjoy the company. You’re free to take part in whatever way feels comfortable for you.
That’s no problem at all. Just let me know — in advance or on the day — and we’ll adapt where possible. I’m vegetarian myself, and meals can always be adjusted to suit the group.
That’s fine — we can usually adapt recipes or find alternatives. Just let me know.
Usually the group decides together… and sometimes we all forget — including me! So occasionally it ends up being a surprise, which is all part of the fun.
Sessions usually last around three hours. There’s no rush, with plenty of time for cooking, eating, chatting, and tea breaks.
No — just yourself. Everything else is provided.
Yes, of course. I provide foil containers so you can take food home, or you’re welcome to
bring your own container.
As many people as want to come. The largest group so far has been around 20 people. I just need a rough idea of numbers beforehand so I can buy enough food.
Yes — definitely. The more the merrier.
Yes. Meet & Eat often brings people together in lasting ways, with friendships forming naturally over shared meals and conversations.
Nutritional Fact Sheets for Meet & Eat
Support is offered via a selection of fact sheets that have been produced for early years settings. Offering down to earth advice around areas that might not have been thought of. For example catering for Vegan options in your setting or childhood constipation.
Sarah also offers nutritional advice and information on other topics for EYFS and many other sectors.
Meet and Eat
Come as you are. Cook what you fancy. Eat together.
Meet and Eat is a community cooking group where people come together to make a meal and share it. The food is the excuse. What really happens is something much more than cooking.
Everyone arrives, gets a cup of tea, and we decide together what we are going to make. The group chooses the menu — not Sarah. Sometimes it is something familiar, sometimes it is something nobody has tried before. Either way, everyone gets involved.
Some people chop. Some people stir. Some people sit and chat while others cook. Some people do a bit of everything. There is no pressure to do any particular job or to be any particular kind of cook. You do as much or as little as you want.
At the end, we sit down and eat together. If you cannot eat something — because of an allergy, a dietary preference or simply because you do not fancy it — that is completely fine. And if you want to take food home rather than eat it there, that is fine too.
The meal is the catalyst. What Meet and Eat is really about is people. Connection, conversation, laughter and the simple pleasure of sitting down to eat something you have made together.
Everyone is welcome. Absolutely everyone.
Meet and Eat sessions have brought together people from all kinds of backgrounds and circumstances — older people who are lonely since losing a partner, carers who never get time for themselves, people managing mental health difficulties, people new to the area who do not yet know anyone, people who have never cooked before in their lives, and people who cook every day and just want company.
What they all have in common is that they showed up. That is the only qualification needed.
If someone in the group is less able — physically, or in terms of confidence or experience — the group naturally rallies around. That is one of the most beautiful things about Meet and Eat. People look after each other without being asked.
You do not need to be able to cook. You do not need to be sociable. You do not need to know anyone. You just need to come through the door.
Yes. Especially for someone like you.
Many of the people who come to Meet and Eat felt exactly the same before their first session. Nervous. Not sure it was for them. Worried they would not know what to say or what to do.
And then they came. And they found that when you are standing at a kitchen counter chopping carrots next to someone, the conversation just happens. You do not have to be good at socialising. You just have to be there.
Some people have made real friendships through Meet and Eat. Some people come along, enjoy the meal and go home quietly every time. Both are completely valid. We do not have an agenda about how people connect — we just create the conditions and let people find their own way.
"Food is the appetiser. What we are really about is helping people realise what they are capable of."
Absolutely. Food allergies and dietary preferences are taken into account at every single session. Before we decide what to make, we always know who is in the room and what they need.
Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free, halal, kosher or managing a specific food allergy — you are welcome and we will make sure there is something you can eat. Nobody should sit at a table and feel excluded because of what they can or cannot eat.
If you have a serious allergy, please let us know before you come so we can plan accordingly. You can email sarah@wiseaboutfood.co.uk or call 07706 576 260.
Yes. Completely.
Meet and Eat is not a cookery class. There are no recipes to follow, no techniques to master and no judgement about ability. People with no cooking experience whatsoever have come to Meet and Eat and discovered that they are perfectly capable of making something delicious from scratch.
More than that — they have discovered that cooking is enjoyable. That making something with your hands and sharing it with other people is one of the most satisfying things there is.
You will not be left to struggle alone. Someone will always be nearby to help, to show, to do it together. That is just how Meet and Eat works.
Meet and Eat sessions are funded through community grants wherever possible, which means they are usually free to attend. Where there is a small charge to cover ingredients, it is kept as low as possible and nobody is ever turned away because they cannot pay.
If cost is a concern, please just get in touch. We will always find a way.
Email sarah@wiseaboutfood.co.uk or call 07706 576 260 to find out about sessions near you and whether there is any charge to attend.
Sessions run in community halls, sheltered housing schemes and community spaces across Hertfordshire. The location changes depending on where funding is available and where the need is greatest.
Sessions are also available online for people who cannot attend in person — whether because of mobility, caring responsibilities or distance.
To find out where the nearest session is, email sarah@wiseaboutfood.co.uk or call 07706 576 260.
Frequently Asked Questions for Organisations and Community Groups
Yes — and this is exactly the kind of partnership that makes Meet and Eat possible.
Here is how it works: you say yes, and Sarah does everything else.
Sarah brings the knowledge, the session plan, the equipment and the ingredients. She designs the session around the people in your community — their abilities, their backgrounds, their needs and their preferences. You provide the people and the space. Sarah handles everything else, including helping to find the funding to make it happen.
Meet and Eat has run in sheltered housing schemes, community halls, family hubs, carers centres, mental health support organisations and more. Every group is different. Every session reflects the people in it.
Get in touch at sarah@wiseaboutfood.co.uk to talk about what a Meet and Eat programme could look like for your community.
You do not need a budget. You just need to get in touch.
Wise About Food CIC is a community interest company which means Sarah can apply for grants to fund sessions for community organisations, sheltered housing providers and support groups. She will ask you a few simple questions about your community and handle the application herself.
Funding is available from a range of sources for community wellbeing projects that tackle loneliness, support mental health and bring people together. Sarah knows which funders to approach and how to make a strong case.
You provide the people and the space. Sarah brings everything else — including the funding.
Email sarah@wiseaboutfood.co.uk with a brief description of your organisation and the people you support. We will take it from there.
Wise About Food CIC is run by Sarah Scotland BSc Nutrition, Exercise and Health (Hons), a community nutritionist based in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.
Sarah has been running community cooking and nutrition sessions for over fifteen years, working with older people, carers, families, people with learning disabilities, people experiencing social isolation and communities across Hertfordshire and beyond. She is warm, practical, endlessly patient and genuinely loves what she does.
Wise About Food is a community interest company. Every penny goes back into the work.
"Food is the appetiser. What we are really about is helping people realise what they are capable of."
Want to come along or bring Meet and Eat to your community?
No pressure. No commitment. Just get in touch.