Eating Well on a budget, and Let’s Cook Live Cooking Demo
The household food shop can be a big expense for many families, and that pressure is increasing with prices rising. To continue to stock up on tasty ingredients and make delicious, healthy meals it takes extra thought, planning and creativity, but it is worth it.
Where you can shop local
Living in Bury we have a wide choice of supermarkets, discounters, independent stores and markets on our doorstep.
We are really lucky to have the fantastic Bury Market with over 300 stalls offering a diverse range of products and fresh ingredients with some great bargains to be had. See how this reporter from the Manchester Evening News got on with £10 at Bury Market.
Plan, Plan, Plan…
Meal planning can bring many benefits. Not only does it play an important role when it comes to sticking to a budget (by making sure you only buy what you need), it also helps prevent food waste, saves time and money, and helps you stick to healthy eating.
Meal planning gives you the opportunity to use up left over food that you have in the house to stop it from going to waste.
You can find some other useful ideas here.
Cracking Good Food - Power up the Flavour
Consider plant-based days when drawing up your meal plan, this is just one way you could save some money and help the environment.
You can find some other useful ideas here.
Cook fresh meals from simple ingredients
There are many free family recipes at your fingertips these days. The BBC Good Food website for example has a section dedicated to budget healthy recipes. Whether it's dinner recipes you're after, or breakfast ideas, there is something for everyone, from stir fries to soups to curries - the list is endless. If you want something more structured, then the Family Budget Meal Plan and the Vegetarian Budget Meal Plan does the hard work for you.
If you would like support with increasing your culinary confidence, then check out Bury Adult Learning’s FREE ‘Improve Your Mood Through Food’ courses. Learn how to cook simple meals, understand how what we eat can affect how we feel, and how making small changes to the way we cook can develop a healthier lifestyle. Look at their website or ‘Like’ them on Facebook to see what other opportunities are available.
Bury Cares about you and Good Food
Did you know that Bury has its very own Food Partnership? The Bury Food Partnership connects community organisations and individuals across Bury and Greater Manchester to challenge and help shape the way Bury sources and provides good food for all.
Bury achieved the prestigious Sustainable Food Places bronze award in June 2022. The award recognises Bury Food Partnership’s work to promote healthy, sustainable, and local food and to tackle some of today’s greatest social challenges, from food poverty and diet-related ill-health to the disappearance of family farms and the loss of independent food retailers.
Check out the Bury Good Food Charter and discover how you can get involved.
Let’s Cook
A free live cooking demo was held on Bury Market on Friday 26th August 2022 by the Bury Adult Learning and Market Teams who cooked up some fantastic dishes using affordable ingredients sourced on Bury Market, including a chickpea curry, a chilli con carne and rice served on its own, as a burrito filling and as nachos. There was healthy vegan soups and a tasty tomato sauce.
It was a great success and feedback from market customers was great. Conversations were held about recycling and reducing food waste, free school meals and how to make meals from leftovers.
There are plenty of websites and information out there which can be a useful resource, however it can be a little overwhelming at times. Wouldn’t it be great if you could just see for yourself how it can be done - with real life demonstrations from real people, where you can interact, see in real time how to prepare meals and find out how good they taste? If you missed the live cooking demonstrating or would like to learn more, why not book a place on one of Bury Adult Learning's FREE Improve Your Mood Through Food courses:
Learn how to cook simple, healthy meals including looking at the theory behind food and how what we eat can affect how we feel. Gain an awareness of how to develop a healthier lifestyle by making healthier food choices. Also learn about the many opportunities for employment or self-employment within the catering sector.
Bury Adult Learning also offer a variety of other food and cooking related courses, all of which can be accessed here.