Cutting food waste with free cooking classes

DROP-IN SESSIONS HELD ACROSS AREA

- KATIE TIMMS

A GROUP of Plymouth teenagers are helping combat food waste in the heart of their community by setting up free cooking classes using surplus food, thanks to a partnership between the Co-op and Barnardo’s.

During Take Away Tuesdays young people can cook a nutritious meal from scratch using surplus food, which they can then take home to their families.

The £5million partnership will support positive futures for 750,000 young people across the UK. Young carer Scarlet, 15, is one of a group of teenagers that helped co-design Plymouth Change Makers, a new service supporting young people to make positive changes. Thanks to the fundraising efforts of Co-op colleagues, members and customers, Take Away Tuesdays, is open to ten to 25-year-olds at free drop-in sessions across the Plymouth area.

“A lot of young people are worried about food at the moment,” said Scarlet. “When we were designing this service, we spoke to over 100 other young people, and lots of them said that they didn’t get much food because of the costof-living crisis.”