WISE ABOUT FOOD

working with one housing

I ran an online zoom cooking/nutrition course with One Housing in Camden, we made some really yummy dishes and we all had a fun time.  Recipes and tips were learned and shared and stories were told

working with carers in herts

I ran a series of cooking zoom workshops and webinars ( including e-learning) 

In our webinars we covered diabetes and gluten-free cooking, these provoked some greater discussions!

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Thanks to the grant I was able to reach out and help all these carers. Due to Covid  face to face workshops had all come to an end, so being able to adapt to offering the classes on line has been amazing.  By doing these classes, it has given me the confidence to offer live streaming cooking class which are also available on YouTube.  Some of the carers have subscribed which means they can still benefit from ideas and thoughts around food and nutrition.

Some of the comments: from the carers themselves

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It's helped them feel less isolated by sharing the challenges of cooking for someone who is disabled or can't/won't eat certain ingredients. They've enjoyed chatting to others about something that is  unrelated to caring and have appreciated the flexibility of attending over Zoom.

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 One participant said “Sarah’s cooking has been great fun and I have enjoyed sitting back watching. Loads of handy tips from the group means I now have a cupboard with spices and herbs and found I like quinoa and buckwheat for healthier eating."

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working with Hightown and clients with learning difficulties

I ran a workshop for this group in July. We had a really good turnout, three members of staff and five residents.  What worked so well was that a couple of residents recognised me from some organised cooking sessions I had done with them a year or so ago, during life before covid.

The workshop was set for four hours which seemed like a long time and I did wonder if everyone would stay. They did and the hours flew by!

Although the residents knew each other really well, it was great to have an ice breaker and to set a fun laid back element to the day.  A fun chat around food was had, using a variety of plastic foods - no surprise most of the foods chosen were the naughy ones! This got people talking about what foods they liked and whether they were good or bad foods. A very interesting topic.

We had lunch, which I brought with me: cooked pasta and lots of cut up veggies. We had fun putting together a salad, which for some people involved adventurous new foods

We used a workbook I had made and talked about healthy eating and what foods were full of sugar. To showcase these foods we had picture cards. We weighed out the sugar using a set of scales.  Some residents were shocked to see the amount of sugar they might consume each day.  This led one resident to go to her flat to bring down some of the foods that she eats, keen to know if they were good or bad.  Indeed her favourite foods were a lot higher in sugar than the 30g recommended daily intake.

I was invited back to the group’s annual barbecue. It was great to see the residents again. I got to meet the parents of the residents. This made me determined to invite them to any future course too, since they are often the ones buying the food. Not only did I receive a lovely welcome, I learned about some of the changes people had made to their diets. This, at the end of the day, is what it is all about.