Man Made Meals 

Confidence in the kitchen, for men. 

Deadline extended! We're so grateful for all the support we've had in reaching our initial target of £3000 to buy kitchen equipment and fund set up costs. We're now fundraising for our stretch target of £5000 which will enable us to buy new sturdy kitchen tables suitable for food prep, fund future sessions beyone March and set up post-course meet ups for the men in our sessions, among other things. Keeping a community of MMM men going beyond the initial course is something we're really keen to do.

The challenge we face:

Whether isolated, single, bereaved or caring for someone, some men find the kitchen an intimidating place and eat poorly as a result. Sharing food can be a fundamental and positive way of building relationships. Many men are ill-equipped with skills or confidence in cooking or maintaining social networks, leading to poor diet, feelings of inadequacy and increasing social isolation.

Inspired by initiatives like Community Chef's 'Man with a Pan' in Lewes, a group of volunteers from the Triangle Garden want to make a real difference to men's lives locally, through this new cookery and resilience project.

Man Made Meals aims to instill enjoyment and confidence in the kitchen, through learning the skills to make tasty healthy meals on a budget, together. 

If we can get this done it would mean:

New friendships formed, better eating habits embedded, improved household budgeting, less food waste, reduced social isolation and more fulfilment and wellbeing among men. 

We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to look after themselves by cooking and eating a balanced diet, and being able to share meals around a table. We want to prove that bereavement, age, disability or cost of living don't have to be barriers to eating well, and cooking for friends. We want to offer regular classes for men of all ages and abilities, run by experienced male home cooks, where people can learn how to prepare delicious and nutritious food wihout breaking the bank. 

We hope that this new project will build a community of men who are able to support each other to live healthier, more fulfilling lives, and share home-made meals together. In addition to learning to cook we want these classes to provide opportunities for men to reduce social isolation, build confidence, improve their household budgeting and increase their mental wellbeing.

Participant Y from another of our mental health projects said 'Coming here has made me better understand why I get so low, and hearing people share similar experiences has made me feel like I am not alone.' 

Participant X said 'I learned to make rainbow wraps using fresh ingredients from the Triangle Community Garden, I now make them twice a week and feel much healthier.'

The Triangle Community Garden has a proven track record of creating grassroots community initiatives that improve the lives of people living in our community. 

Donating to Man Made Meals will help us to put this knowledge and experience into action to help support a group of people we have yet to reach.

This matters because:

Eating and cooking healthily and frugally is an acquired skill (so much cheap food is processed and bad for our diets). Food and utility bills have a big effect on household finances and if poor decisions are taken, declining health may result, putting pressure on public services and families. Enabling isolated men, whether younger, older, bereaved or carers, to be self-sufficient in the kitchen, keep food and fuel bills down (through use of leftovers, eco appliances, etc), develop friendship networks around shared cooking and shared meals - all these things can improve life chances, boost wellbeing, and keep people more financially resilient. This helps older people stay longer in their own homes, reduces the burden on their/their offsprings' finances and staves off the need for social/nursing care.

What we need from you is...

Donations! We want to start the first six-week block of Man Made Meals in the spring, but first we need to kit out the kitchen and here's where you can help!

- A £25 donation will pay for a week's fresh ingredients for the project

- A £50 donation will pay for store cupboard ingredients for up to six sessions

- A £75 donation will pay for branded aprons for all participants

- A £100 donation will pay for an eco-friendly double induction hob for use during the project

- A £250 donation will pay for a set of pots, pans and cooking utensils

We are aiming to raise £3000 to kit out the pavilion as a cookery class venue, and run our first 6 week block of Man Made Meals next March. If we raise over this amount it will allow us to fund some new sturdy kitchen prep tables and wipe-clean chairs, fund the ingredients for further blocks, set up some alumni meet ups, and produce a booklet on 'thriftyness in the kitchen'. Please help us deliver this much needed project for our community.

Here are the changes we want to see:

- an increase in the number of men who discover enjoyment and confidence in making healthy food for themselves and others, in a financially sustainable way.  

- men leaving the course with a clear idea of how to eat well on a budget, how to make the most out of leftovers and minimise food waste, how to reduce household energy bills by canny cooking, how to reduce reliance on expensive processed foods, and employ household management around shopping, storing food and making meals

- new friendships formed leading to a support network after each course, increasing resilience and life chances, reducing social isolation, reducing depression and reducing the potential need for costly social and nursing care

- men leaving positive testimonials and recommendations to friends to join the course, a waiting list even!

- Man Made Meals alumni club success - regular post-course meet ups for alumni with a chance to share experiences and post-course successes and keep the sense of camaraderie going

Do you know someone?

If you have someone in mind who you think might benefit from confidence in the kitchen in the company of others, why not donate on their behalf and recommend them for a place on the course? Thank you!

And if you're a data person, have a look at some of the statistics produced by Age UK recently:

i)    With increasing age, higher proportions of men are widowed; among those aged 60-64 3.9% of men are widowed whereas among those aged 85+ 35.9% of men are widowed (ONS, 2018m). 

ii)   Older adults who live alone are more likely to have mental health conditions (1 in 4 among those who live alone vs 1 in 5 among those who live with others (Dreyer et al., 2018). 

iii)  Only 31% of adults aged 65+ eat 5 or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day. 

iv)   Becoming malnourished in one’s own home can mean many older adults malnourishment goes unacknowledged and unaddressed until contact with a GP or admission to hospital (MTF, 2017). Consequently, malnourished older adults are twice as likely to visit their GP, have more hospital admissions, longer stays in hospitals and have more ill health (co-morbidities) (MTF, 2018). 

v)    Treating someone who is malnourished is two to three times more expensive than treating someone who is not malnourished (MTF, 2018). 

vi)   People aged 50 and over are more likely to be lonely if they do not have someone to open up to, are widowed, are in poor health, are unable to do the things they want, feel that they do not belong in their neighbourhood or live alone (Age UK, 2018a). 17% of older people report they are in contact with family, friends and neighbours less than once a week; 11% report this contact is as infrequent as less than once a month (Age UK, 2015).

Within the next decade, 2 million people aged 50 and over in England are projected to be lonely if efforts to tackle loneliness are not made (Age UK, 2018a). Loneliness, social isolation, and living alone have all been associated with an increased risk of premature death (APA, 2017; Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T.B., Layton, 2010). Loneliness has been associated with a 40% increased risk of dementia (Sutin, Stephan, Luchetti, & Terracciano, 2018).

vii)  There has been a big rise in numbers of people living on their own in Hertfordshire recently, putting more people at risk of social isolation, depression and ill health https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/news/hertfordshire-news/hertfordshire-census-2021-data-reveals-7861381

Please help us deliver this much needed project for our community. Donate whatever you can spare - thank you