Real Food ‘Basic Larder’ & ‘Meal In A Bag’ Summer Campaign
Wythenshawe Community Housing Group’s (WCHG’s) Real Food Team have been providing a Basic Larder and Meal in a Bag to families attending summer play activities in Wythenshawe over the school holidays thanks to support from the Holiday Activity Fund (HAF).
The HAF supports youth and play activities in Wythenshawe and the provision of a healthy lunch for all attendees.
The Real Food Team have delivered training around ‘Healthy Eating’ to both staff and volunteers from the play schemes and youth activities as the Government and Department for Education have recognised that some parents and families need additional support in providing healthy lunches during school holidays which is where the Basic Larder and Meal in a Bag come in.
All families attending one of the schemes will receive a Basic Larder Bag which contains basic store cupboard ingredients which includes: salt, pepper, spices, herbs, stock cubes and oil.
Each week parents will also receive an additional ‘Meal in a Bag’ bag which will include fresh ingredients and a recipe to make a simple, yet delicious meal. Each recipe has a link to the Real Food Youtube Channel where the recipe of the week can be seen as a video.
Parents receive one Basic larder bag and then a Meal in a Bag for each week their child attends on a registered scheme which also supports Real Food’s mission to get Wythenshawe cooking cheap, healthy and tasty meals. As part of this work the team will be collecting information and talking to parents across the summer about the Wythenshawe Food Review to help inform WCHG’s Food Strategy.
Real Food Programme Manager Jacqueline Naraynsingh said, “We have been lucky enough to have been awarded funding that gives us the opportunity to roll out these bags to a much larger audience. The Basic Larder bag is something the team have tried and tested before here at Real Food Wythenshawe as during cooking classes participants would often say ‘I would love to make that recipe, but I don’t have the basic ingredients at home that would allow me to cook it‘ which is how the idea came about. Don’t forget to follow us on social media to see what the team is up to and look out for Season 2 of our Tasty Tuesday series coming later this year.”
