We are overwhelmed with the amazing support so far. We have so much more we can do. 

Extra funding over our initial target will allow us to provide the participants with cooking equipment to allow them to put into practice what they have learnt with us at home and store  cupboard ingredients such as spices and oils to allow them to cook fantastic meals. 

Baking for Wellbeing is a cooking and baking programme that is part of The Shoebox Community Hub run by Shoebox Enterprises 

The Shoebox supports people to create their own groups to meet up and share experiences in order to build community and help people to lead fulfilling lives. These groups are largely peer led and hosted by volunteers using the The Shoebox building on Castle Meadow in the centre of Norwich. The Shoebox also run their famous underground medieval street tours and other history tours. Profits from these help to fund the community work which is run from the venue 

Baking for Wellbeing have been running baking classes to help people with their mental health and to overcome isolation for over 3 years through The Shoebox Community Hub. In that time we have worked with lots of groups. It has become clear that there are many people that have not had the opportunity to learn how to cook for themselves. 

Those that have been living in care or have been living in temporary accommodation and are moving towards independent living will benefit from learning some basic cooking skills and having a few cheap and nutritious recipes under their belt. We will look to work with the participants to run sessions cooking the things they want to eat helping them to make good choices and how to shop well for food on a budget. We will also encourage them to build relationships with each other, eating together and cooking for each other and talk about batch cooking to save money.

We will develop and test recipes and develop a course that covers food hygeine, allergens, cooking skills etc. We will then partner with different organisations such as YMCA, St Martin's Housing Trust and the local Council Care Leavers team to recruit participants that want to learn cooking skills for life. Through the other work that The Shoebox does including other Baking and Cooking courses run by Baking for Wellbeing we already have contacts with these organisations and they have said there will be demand for these type of sessions

We plan to initially run 3 courses with 8 participants signed up for each course. 

Each course will consist of 2 half day sessions. 

We will work with the participants to plan meals for a week to avoid food waste as well as how to shop for food to get the best value. We will show them how making their own meals can help them to manage their budgets. Even something as simple as making a packed lunch every day can save them at least £60 a month. 

Each session we will work with them to create a healthy nutritious meal from scratch such as Vegan Cottage Pie or Vegetable Curry and give them the confidence to find other recipes they can cook. 

We will show them how much these meals cost in comparison to buying a takeaway, eating at a restaurant or even pre prepared meals from supermarkets. 

We will look at what equipment they would need to be able to cook a variety of meals and support them to obtain this equipment. We will work with local supermarkets to see if we can provide them with store cupboard ingredients to get them started. 

We will also discuss batch cooking and try to provide storage containers for those that have the facilities to store food they have prepared for later meals. This will help them reduce their food costs which is often a large percentage of outgoings for people on low incomes. 

Running these first few courses and getting feedback from participants will give us the information and knowledge to refine the courses and to be able The Shoebox to bid for funding from other organisations to roll out the courses further.