Pupils from Maritime Academy Trust Schools, in SE London, were so inspired by Marcus Rashford’s #EndChildFoodPoverty campaign, and his latest collaboration with Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge to promote healthy daily budget recipes – they created their own ‘5 meals for £15’, Maritime Recipe eBook using BookCreator.
“£15 supermarket vouchers per eligible child were provided by the Government to families to cover a week of school lunches under Covid lockdowns in 2020/2021. We asked our children to create a shopping list and meal planner with just £15 for five delicious meals and then cook and share their favourite with us. We were amazed at the response. Preparing and cooking food is an essential part of learning and great fun. The children learnt about cooking skills, budgeting and planning healthy meals,” said Nick Osborne, CEO, Maritime Academy Trust.
The delicious recipes range from traditional ‘Toad in The Hole’ to ‘Colourful Prawn Salad’, and options for vegetarian and vegan diets, with preparation and cooking times as well as recipe tips including variations – adding meat, prawns or Quorn to ‘Thai Style Veggie Rice’ for extra protein – and useful budgeting ideas – roasting a whole chicken and using the remaining portions for meals later in the week. For more Maritime Recipes please click here.
The level of child poverty in the UK has increased over the last five years with a dramatic rise during the pandemic and the economic crisis accompanying it. Today’s statistics are alarming. Before Covid-19, 4.3 million children were living in poverty in the UK, that’s 9 in every classroom of 30. 2.3 million children experienced food insecurity2 between August 2020 and January 2021. Two in five children (1.3 million) in the UK living under the poverty line are not eligible for Free School Meals.1
Marcus Rashford has highlighted the need for children and young people to be encouraged to develop their cooking skills and understand how to budget, plan and create healthy and delicious meals. Sparking an interest in cooking with projects like these, will ensure that pupils are on the way to developing these lifelong skills, and maybe the next generation of Michelin-starred chefs are in the making!