Holiday Kitchen and a new constitution

Fellow foodies,

You may have noticed that Hangry Birds has been on holiday for a while. It's been a bit of a whirlwind since I made a snap decision to move to Brum to join a small team at a fantastic new project called Holiday Kitchen. It's a summer programme designed to address the lack of support that families on low incomes receive during the school holidays, once the infrastructure of school has disappeared. This includes access to regular nutritional meals, play and learning opportunities.

Click on the banner above to find out more about the work that is being done to address holiday hunger and child food poverty. 

So this is just a quick note to let you know that I haven't deserted you, but while I help Holiday Kitchen get it's feet off the ground, I'm just trying to find mine!

There is so much to write about and so much I've learnt over the past couple of months at Holiday Kitchen. In light of the work I've been involved in, I've realised I need to revisit the purpose of this blog, and shift the focus further onto something a little more specific, which should make the recipes accessible to everyone.

If the website is about cooking great food on a budget, I must first address the barriers that prevent people from cooking food that's good for them. In my estimations, these are twofold: 1) Lack of money 2) Lack of time/energy 3) Lack of cooking or food budgeting skills.

Regarding the third point, you'd be hard to come by any resources educating us in this way today. I've come across countless budget recipe books; that's not a problem. It becomes trickier when trying to find literature that ticks all three boxes. Very, very few recipes on paper or screen are low-cost, healthy and quick. Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals are a prime example, using tonnes of expensive, non-store cupboard ingredients which make life a bit easier but drain money as quickly as anything (and the last time I attempted cooking a '30 minute meal', the time frame quoted by Jamie was a little optimistic... an hour too optimistic!)

Healthy fast-food is designed for high-earners. Unfortunately, the current market doesn't take into account that not all hard grafters who slog long days earn the big bucks.

So what now? Well, I can start by readdressing the objectives of this blog, and that calls for a new constitution for Hangry Birds. I shall now adopt a more formal tone to highlight the gravity of my words...

Henceforth my recipes will comply with all the following criteria:

1. Low-cost
2. Healthy
3. Quick to make
 

I've set myself quite a challenge here! But it's got to be done so there you have it.