We’ve been running Good Grub Club since 2017 and it’s already helped more than 100 families put healthy food on the table. It’s all about low-cost meal ideas that taste great and provide people with the nutrition they need. Additionally, we’re helping young people learn more about healthy eating and getting families cooking up delicious meals together.
We want to help relieve the financial pressure families face during school breaks, while also promoting healthy recipes that are easy to make and low in cost. Our recipe boxes are mindfully planned by our Community Investment team. They consider cost, nutritional value and ease when they’re planning recipes and picking ingredients. By keeping the price low and the recipe itself easy to follow it’s more likely that families will keep on making these meals.
Since March 2020 Good Grub Club has been virtual. Nothing about it has changed, apart from how we run it. This means we deliver boxes to families at home and they cook-along with us online. Community Development Officer, Lucy, said:
“I’m really proud of our volunteers and families for the way they have adapted to our new virtual style Good Grub Club over the last 10 months. Adapting the club to continue to run during these times has been challenging, but it’s so great to see our families making the effort to cook nutritious food together at home.
“It’s more important now than ever that we continue to support our communities to work together to look after their own health and wellbeing and I feel the Good Grub Club is making great steps towards this”.
Good Grub Club is helping to show people that cooking can be fun and cost-friendly. And it’s getting people back into the kitchen to enjoy preparing homecooked meals. One family said:
“The kids said it was the best meal ever. They absolutely loved the whole preparation, smelling and feeling all the different ingredients; a fantastic experience, thank you.”
We want families to feed their family for as little cost as possible but with the best value. So when we put together the recipes boxes, we do it in a way that can be replicated later. Our veggie curry box is just £6.78 for six, which equates to £1.13 per serving. The recipe is generous, leaving leftover stock, curry power, lentils and rice to make the dish another time.
Our boxes are also all about using what you have and not wasting anything. So we provide only the correct amount of fresh ingredients and ensure they all get used up in that recipe. The curry includes:
- One sweet potato
- One pepper
- Two carrots
- One onion
- One courgette
These ingredients are all nutritious and come in just under £2. That’s another thing we’re trying to do with the Good Grub Club: promote healthy eating that is cost-effective for families. The dry ingredients we include in this recipe are:
- Rice
- Dried red lentils
- Mild curry powder
These items come in just under £4. They’re good value because they last much longer and can be used for more than one meal. We also give families ingredients and a recipe for a dessert or sweet treat, one that is healthier than pre-made snacks people might buy from shops. Cheaper, too.
The Good Grub Club isn’t just about the recipes but about supporting peoples health and wellbeing. The club aims to inject a bit of fun into food by providing families with cook-along videos that put a smile on their face. We often include activity sets as well, with thanks to our partners, that keep young people busy during breaks from school.
Find out more about our community investment here.