(left to right) Key to Life’s Marie Burnett, All Saints’ Churchwarden Linda Ross, parishioner Beverley George and chef Pete Zulu
Key to Life Food Bank has teamed up with All Saints Church in Cleadon and local chefs to develop a new initiative that will provide recipe videos, cooking guides and ingredient bags to help people create affordable, nutritious meals at home.
The project will see volunteer chefs create simple, easy-to-follow recipes using everyday ingredients. Recipe demonstrations will be filmed and shared alongside printed recipe cards, helping food bank users build confidence in the kitchen and make the most of available ingredients. Key to Life Food Bank is also planning to prepare bags containing all the ingredients required for each featured meal, which will be distributed with food parcels, giving users the opportunity to recreate the recipes at home and develop their cooking skills.
The initiative has been developed in partnership with All Saints Church, whose congregation wanted to find new ways to support local people experiencing hardship. Working together, the organisations hope to provide practical support that goes beyond emergency food provision and encourages healthy, affordable home cooking.
Beverley George, former churchwarden at All Saints, said: “We wanted to help as many people as possible and have been supporting the Key to Life Food Bank for some time. Rather than just collecting food to donate to the food bank, we thought we could work with them to support their users to create affordable, nourishing and tasty meals. So, we started talking to them and local chefs as to how that might work.”
The first chef to volunteer his support is Pete Zulu, who has run The Black Horse in West Boldon for more than 20 years. Pete is helping to develop recipes that are simple, affordable and nutritious, with a focus on making cooking accessible to everyone.
Pete Zulu said: “I’ve known Beverley for a while so when she explained what she wanted me to do, I said yes straight away. I’ve been thinking about recipes for meals and want to make them as simple as possible, but interesting, affordable, wholesome and tasty.”
Marie Burnett, Poverty Prevention Team Leader at Key Community, said: “We’re really grateful to All Saints for supporting us in this way. We’re planning to share chef videos and recipes so our users can create easy-to-prepare, affordable and nutritious meals at home.
It’s a lovely, simple idea that could make a huge difference in people’s lives, particularly for those who may not know how to cook a healthy meal or who struggle to afford the ingredients without support.”
As the project develops, other South Tyneside restaurants who have pledged their support are Romano’s and Luci’s in Cleadon, helping to create a growing collection of recipes and cooking inspiration for local families.
Recipe videos, cooking guides and further information will be shared through Key Community channels in the coming weeks.
We’re delighted that this new partnership has already been highlighted in the local media. The Shields Gazette recently featured the project and the support being provided by All Saints Church and local chefs – read here.