'With the cost of living, everything is coming with a price tag': Portsmouth Good Grub Club provides free food and cooking classes for families

Sam Paulton and John Brooke have already run five sessions since this summer – engaging kids and adults alike with creating delicious meals.

Groups are also given the ingredients for the recipe taught in the class to take home with them and practise.

Their most recent event, held in the October half-term, taught participants how to make mushroom risotto, and other life skills such as budgeting, batch cooking, freezing and minimising food waste.

Recipes are walked through by development chef John, consisting of items found in food banks.

Sam, who has organised family sessions with John across Hampshire and Portsmouth for the government’s Holiday Activity Fund, said they are proving to be a hit.

The foundation manager, of CM Foundation, tells The News: ’The fact people return is always a positive response.

‘It’s about giving them ownership to support themselves, which every family would like to do in the long run, not to rely on food banks but what they can do

‘The energy crisis is something we need to think about. A lot of families we support might not be able to cook a dinner on a Sunday, so we’re giving them that opportunity.’

The Good Grub Club, previously organised under the Abri Housing Association, has run for two years.

It has received funding for 11 Sunday sessions in Fratton, with five left up until Easter.

Sam says that roughly 50 per cent of families need support with equipment, with one group in Bordon not having a working fridge.

She added the goal which every parent has – giving their children a better and healthier life than they had – is becoming more challenging.

‘With the cost of living, everything is coming with a price tag,’ the 42-year-old adds.

‘To do projects like this where families can spend time together, cook together and enjoy themselves, is great, without them worrying about the cost on top of it.

‘If we can support one family here today to change something in their lives, then we’ve made a difference.’

Sam says she hopes to expand the project by running more sessions targeted at young people.

‘Unfortunately, the cost of living is now a worry for them,’ she adds.

Sharmen Kail, 30, regularly attends the sessions with her daughters, Josie Schillemore, five, and Amilia, nine.

The single mum, from Eastney, said it’s great to cook as a family while setting them up for the future.

She adds: ‘Teaching life skills in a practical way is a godsend.

‘They really look forward to it. The fact they want to get up early definitely shows they like it.’

Sharmen says the recent economic climate has been tough for the family, as her food and electric bills have tripled.

She started to ‘panic’ about utility costs when she moved from tax credits to universal credit – changing payments from weekly to monthly.

‘Taking the ingredients home and having enough to make the recipe two and three more times is great,’ she says.

‘So I know if I’ve got nothing else, I can still feed them. It’s about to find stuff that’s cheaper and still healthy.’

Amilia, who took the lead in making the risotto, says: ‘I really like the flavour, but I’d take the mushrooms out.’

Diane Fowler, of Eastern Road, also sees the sessions as vital.

She tells how her family, including sons Tyrell, 14, and Jaxon, seven, have had to make cutbacks.

‘We’re going out to eat a lot less, we’re having to be more frugal,’ she says.

‘Takeaways are all gone, and these recipes are helping us to eat better.

‘We used to do things like go to the cinema, now we can’t.

‘We’re eating still, but the cumulative cost of everything is too much.’

The clubs offer more than just financial respite, but a chance to learn life skills.

Karrie Charlie, 44, of Somers Town, brings along her four children – Bodhi, 12, Jazmin, 11, Aiden, nine, and Luna, seven – for the first time to get to grips with tasks in the kitchen.

‘All the kids got to have a go at something,’ she says, ‘and the children that wouldn’t usually try something did.

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‘We’d love to do this again. Getting the ingredients is a massive bonus.

‘This will give people a bit more confidence and give them things that can last for multiple meals.’

Bodhi is particularly engaged as it is different to school baking classes.

He says: ‘In a class, you only get two minutes on things like how to chop an onion, but with this, you have proper time to be taught everything.’

For most of the visitors, the sessions offer more than just financial support.

Alejandro Agudelo, 42, of Southsea, is impressed with his children – Adrien, nine and Anais, three – being taught about food hygiene, how to handle ingredients and be comfortable in the kitchen.

‘Every opportunity we have to get them in the kitchen is good,’ he says.

‘They love it already. It’s important for families to join in together, learn something new and share experiences.’

Mr Agudelo said he’s had to adapt recipes he knows to make them cheaper but to maintain nutritional standards.

The Good Grub Club aims to give families the tools they need to create staple recipes, beyond supporting them with food.

John, current chef of Noshbox and former head chef at Portsmouth FC, ran 10 cooking projects over the summer.

He’s doing everything he can to turn the tide of children being unable to cook for themselves.

‘Children aren’t being fed or educated properly when it comes to food,’ he says. ‘The education system doesn’t prioritise life skills, so it falls to us to teach them and encourage them to love cooking and be in the kitchen.

‘Nutrition and diets are poor, and I’ve got a privilege where I have a skillset to help others.

‘Behaviour breeds behaviour. If the parents don’t teach it, the same attitudes pass onto the children.’

And he adds that food banks are a ‘way of life’ for some due to ‘extortionate’ food prices.

He adapts recipes which can be batch cooked and frozen to get more for less.

Those skills, and meal planning, he deems essential to save money and time.

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He says he grew up in a family where his mum would cook every day after working two jobs and encouraging others to break that.

‘If we can give them the tools, the food to try the recipe at home and the motivation, we can turn this tide of ready meals and lack of education,’ he adds.

John changes his lessons to make the most of food bank ingredients, which some may not know how to get the most out of.

But above all, he wants to give these sensory and fun programmes to more families.

‘Some children who have turned up to our sessions across Hampshire who have struggled in school and elsewhere have really come out of their shells.

‘There are lots of families that need help and don’t have the skill sets to make healthy food and encourage kids to be in the kitchen.’