Following the successful completion of five sessions, our Efficient Healthy Cooking Project is now launching sixth round starting on May 13th.
Limited spaces are available, if you’re interested in joining, please get in touch.
SPACES STILL AVAILABLE!
Good Gut Grub – Cooking Group
Develop cooking skills and learn about eating well for good gut health. Join Edinburgh Community Food for their weekly sessions here at PCHP, starting 24th April.
Contact Megan to sign up:-
T: 0131 467 7326
E: megan.mcpherson@edinburghcommunityfood.org.uk
Take-5 Tuesdays is on tomorrow at PCHP at 10am. Drop in to learn more about eating a healthy, balanced and sustainable diet on a budget.
We share lots of tips on shopping, peparing, storing, cooking – all with a view to saving money and wasting nothing. This week we’ll be making the finest tomato sauce, the most versatile sauce their is. We’ll talk about the base of all good sauces #Sofritto
Will it become a chilli, or a ragu, or a soup? Who knows… come along and find out! Everyone is welcome and if Tuesday doesn’t suit you, we’re on at the same time on Thursday. We cook, and you are welcome to either stay and eat together, or take it away to enjoy at home!
Shoppers in Edinburgh are eating healthily to live healthily, according to the latest data from Tesco.
The supermarket giant has revealed the top 20 items bought by customers across the region, with a variety of fruit, veg and milk being the main favourites.
Included in the top 10 items bought by shoppers in Edinburgh are milk, bananas, red peppers and avocados.
Tesco’s figures coincide with its recently published Clubcard Unpacked review, which analyses the shopping habits of its Clubcard users.
It shows the strong preference for fresh, locally sourced items among Edinburgh’s residents.
Oonagh Turnbull, Head of Health and Sustainable Diet Campaigns, said: “The trend in what people in Edinburgh are buying most of at our stores has taken more of a turn towards the healthy option.
“Nutrition has become important for customers, with the majority of them putting an emphasis on good-quality fruit and vegetables.
“A lot of this is down to people having an enthusiasm for home-cooked meals and for experimenting with what they prepare in the kitchen.”
Also included in the top 20 items bought by shoppers in Edinburgh are red grapes, raspberries, blueberries and free range eggs.
Oonagh added: “We’re all aware that eating a healthy diet can help to reduce our risk of developing coronary heart disease and stop us from gaining too much weight.
“That’s why we at Tesco are always keen to promote the understanding that having a balance of different foods to provide all the nutrients your body needs is key when it comes to healthy living.”
The top 20 items bought at Tesco stores in Edinburgh are:
If you’d like to know more about healthy, sustainable and affordable food that is also DELICIOUS, then this is the group to come along to.
Anyone living in the area is welcome to join Sally on Tuesdays at 10am for this relaxed but fun activity.
We’ll start preparing and cooking from 10am, then at around midday we can either sit and enjoy the food together, or you can pack it up and take it away!
Deliveroo Students has created a new food innovation to fuel hungry freshers like never before. Introducing the Boost Burger**,a lean beef burger loaded with kimchi, cheddar cheese, gochujang cabbage and carrot slaw, and curly spring onions packed in a bright orange sweet potato bun, specially designed to help uni students get through their first week.
Gearing up to burn the candle at both ends, with late nights spent socialising followed by early-morning lectures, freshers are prone to feeling run down as they start the new year. The Boost Burger aims to fuel the half (50%) of uni students who are worried about not having enough energy for Freshers Week.
It also comes at the perfect time with two in five (41%) uni students admitting that a takeaway is their go-to way to cheer themselves up when feeling run down, with half (49%) usually craving a burger.
When it comes to picking a takeaway, four in five (80%) uni students consider the price when picking what to order, and around half (48%) think about the quality, making the Boost Burger the affordable comfort food for freshers concerned about starting the year on the right foot.
The burger’s ingredients will excite the three-quarters (75%) of uni students who say they enjoy trying out the latest food trends they’ve discovered on social media channels.
The eye-catching nutrient-packed burger, available to students for just 99p, is inspired by the ultimate student-saviour – dissolvable vitamin C tablets – something almost two-thirds (65%) of uni students plan to take to help them get through the start of uni – and has been created in collaboration with registered nutritionist Jenna Hope (RNutr).
Jenna Hope helped develop the recipe, which incorporates healthy and nutritional ingredients, selected with busy uni students in mind.
A protein and iron-rich beef patty is sandwiched between a homemade ‘effervescent orange’ coloured bun, infused with whole food-based ingredients such as sweet potato, turmeric, and pumpkin. The creation is packed with nutritional ingredients including protein to support energy requirements.
It also contains vegetables and spices like chia seeds picked for texture and nutty flavour, red and white cabbage, spring onion, and pumpkin powder for an added crunch, earthy and sweet taste, whilst fermented ingredients such as kimchi and Korean gochujang give this Freshers Week must-have a satisfying ‘swicy’ flavour.
Love Island legend and ex-University of Liverpool grad Chloe Burrows kicked off festivities this week by hand-delivering the first batch of Boost Burgers to hungry uni students in London during their Freshers Week, who got a takeaway fix and fuel boost in one.
Arabella Jenkins from Deliveroo said: “What better way to kick off Freshers than to announce that our university student club, Deliveroo Students, is back with a bang, bringing bigger and better member deals to students than ever. To celebrate, we’re dropping a 99p ‘Boost Burger’ packed full of nutrients to help fuel student members across the UK – the ultimate saver meal for uni students in more ways than one!
“We hope this is great news for freshers as our research reveals around a third (31%)of uni students don’t have time to cook meals during Freshers Week, with over a quarter (28%) admitting they don’t eat enough fruit and veg in the first week of uni, while a further quarter (29%) say they tend to feel tired after week one.”
Chloe Burrows said: “I WISH I had the Boost Burger when I was at university. It’ll come as no surprise that I was the queen of burning the candle at both ends, so it would’ve really come in handy during my time at the University of Liverpool.
“I had so much fun delivering the first batch of burgers to Freshers with Deliveroo – there’s nothing like a juicy burger to please tired uni students, so I personally think I really saved the day!”
Dropping in London (17th September), Bristol (19th September), Manchester (21st September), and Edinburgh (23rd September), uni students can get their hands on the Boost Burger for just 99p (vs the non-student price of £9.90), saving them an incredible 90% when they sign up to become members of Deliveroo Students.
Members of Deliveroo Students can also get free delivery on orders over £15* and access to exclusive Freshers Week restaurant offers, alongside 10% off Wingstop, 20% off Co-op select student favourites, and 15% off National Express all year long.
The limited-edition ‘Boost Burger’ is available via Deliveroo in London (17th September), Bristol (19th September), Manchester (21st September), and Edinburgh (23rd September)—for just 99p for Deliveroo Student Members—while limited stocks last. Subject to geographical location and availability.
Search ‘Boost Burger’ to order now in the app here or online.
A new 6 week cooking course for women, run by Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC), will be starting at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre on Thursday 1st August from 12:30- 2:30.
Learn to cook healthy delicious food in a small informal group and have fun while doing so!
Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK
Healthy Heart Tip: Traffic Light Food Labels
Reading food labels can be confusing, and it can be hard to know where to look, with the back-of-pack labels often feels like navigating through a maze.
Most food and drink manufacturers, as well as supermarkets in the UK, now voluntarily display front-of-pack information in a colour-coded ‘traffic light system’. Energy, fat, saturated fat, total sugars, and salt content are commonly displayed in green, amber and red on the front of many food and drink packets to help consumers make informed choices.
By being aware of the nutrient content of foods, reading food labels correctly and making healthy swaps, you can keep your heart healthy and live a little longer too.
Here are some tips to help you make the healthiest food choices possible:
Energy value
The energy value of food or drinks is measured and displayed on packets as both calories (Kcal) and kilojoules (kJ).
On average, men need to consume around 2500kcals per day and women need approximately 2000kcals. This should be taken into account when choosing your food and drink options. Lower calorie options are often healthier, but make sure you check the sugar and salt content.
If you regularly consume more calories than you burn off, then it is likely you will gain weight. Increased weight is associated with a higher risk of developing heart diseases
Go green
You should aim to choose foods that have as many areas highlighted in green as possible. Traffic light labelling can help you to make healthy informed decisions about what brand or type of food you buy.
For example, if you are selecting a pre-packed sandwich or a jar of sauce, look at which one has more green sections on the front.
Amber: proceed with caution!
If you notice that food has amber front-of-pack information, then proceed with caution. This food can still be healthy, and it is advised to opt for foods with mainly green and amber labels, but just be aware not to consume too much of it.
Make sure that you are aware of your intake. If you are buying more than one item of food for a meal and they all have amber warnings for salt, then swap one for a healthier lower-salt alternative.
Remember high levels of salt, sugars and saturated fats can all impact your heart health.
Red: STOP!
Are you regularly choosing foods that have lots of red on the labels? Be careful!
Consuming foods that are high in fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt have a negative impact on your heart and it is generally advised to avoid those with red labels.
Eating these on occasion as a treat and part of a balanced healthy diet is fine, but when they are consumed regularly, they can increase your blood pressure and bad cholesterol levels (LDL).
This puts an increased strain on your heart and heightens your risk of cardiovascular diseases.
The public is being asked for views on proposals to restrict the promotion of food and drink high in fat, sugar and salt.
The consultation, which will run for 12 weeks, will outline the detail of proposed regulations aimed at creating a food environment which better supports healthier choices.
Proposals include restricting multi-buys, unlimited refills or selling at locations such as at checkouts and front of store.
Feedback on the proposals will help to inform regulations to be laid before the Scottish Parliament, subject to the outcome of the consultation.
Public Health Minister Jenni Minto said: “Improving health and supporting people to eat well and have a healthy weight is a public health priority.
“We need to address the high levels of excess weight, obesity and poor diet we know are contributing to worsening trends in Scotland’s health. The association between these issues and health outcomes such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers has been established for some time.
“We want to ensure Scotland is a place where we eat well and have a healthy weight. The Scottish Government is committed to restricting promotions of foods high in fat, sugar or salt at the point of purchase as research shows this is when people make decisions about what and how much to buy, for themselves and their families.
“This consultation, together with our Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan, demonstrates the ambitious and wide-ranging action we believe is needed to address this challenge, and support improvements in diet and health and wellbeing in Scotland.
“The consultation will run in parallel with an extensive programme of inclusive stakeholder engagement, to improve the process of developing, implementing and reviewing regulations to meet our long-term public health and economic aims.”
The consultation will run for 12 weeks, closing on 21 May 2024.
ELREC is pleased to announce our new small project, The Creative Kitchen, thanks to the cost of living part of The Lottery Community Fund. And in partnership with Cyrenians who give us fresh ingredients.
The project aims to deliver free weekly workshops on sustainable cooking, making simple yet nutritious and fresh meals from whatever you have left in the fridge.
The sessions will be delivered in different locations, with the first one held at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre, by our staff member and chef, Shana.
You can find out more by following us on Instagram:
THECREATIVEKITCHENCOMMUNITY
The sessions are free, to sign up please email: bolyn@elrec.org.uk
