Foodbank cooking ideas – done four ways

When dinner must come out of a can – especially if provided by the local foodbank – it needs something different to make it special.

So, this year, following a specific request by North Norfolk Foodbank to create simple recipes using air fryers, slow cookers and microwaves as well as the usual hob, the Slow Food Aylsham cookery team has produced the latest recipe book which does just that.

The exclusive recipes have been created and tested by the team (including one who had to buy an air fryer specially) and published in time for Christmas as Canny Cooking 3 – the third in the series donated to the foodbank and passed on to clients keen to try out new recipes.

Slow Food are giving 150 of the books to the North Norfolk Foodbank plus £500 from previous book sales and donations.

Colin Chapman, lead volunteer at Aylsham Foodbank, said: “Aylsham is very lucky to have so many generous people and we thank Slow Food for their donations.

“The recipe books will be really helpful to our clients, especially as they are aimed at saving on electricity bills as well as providing basic meal ideas.”

Canny Cooking 3 contains 18 healthy and nutritious recipes using ingredients from a typical foodbank parcel, mainly canned and dried food, to be cooked in a slow cooker, air fryer, microwave or on the hob.

This reflects a shift in consumer behaviour towards healthier, more convenient and cheaper cooking methods – very much the Slow Food way.

Also, the previous two recipe books simply focused on the contents of the foodbank parcel. The third book acknowledges the need to save energy.

Air fryers have surged in popularity because they are affordable, don’t use as much oil as a traditional fryer, and are, therefore, much healthier than deep fat fryers.

And slow cookers typically cost less to run than an oven and the low heat destroys fewer nutrients than high-heat cooking.

• The recipes will also be useful to students leaving home to go to university. Selling at £5, all profits will go to the North Norfolk Foodbank. To buy a copy, please email Slow Food Aylsham.  Copies of Canny Cooking 2 are also still available to buy.

Christmas tree baubles out – kitchen gadgets in

Wooden spoons, cheese graters, vegetable peelers, and measuring jugs will decorate the Aylsham Foodbank tree as part of the Christmas Tree Festival at St Michael’s church.

Volunteer Samantha Graham said: “We have very kindly been given a generous donation to buy the kitchen utensils and at the end of the festival we will make these into packs and offer them to our clients along with the Canny Cooking 3 cookbook.

“There will be a small information board next to our tree to explain what will happen to the utensils and how these will accompany the recipe book and what Slow Food is about.”