FOOD & DRINK


It is worth teaching the very basics of cookery at home to ensure your son or daughter doesn’t live off frozen pizza and cooked breakfasts.


chopping an onion, cooking potatoes in different ways, as well as peeling and dicing other types of vegetables to turn them into a simple vegetable soup or stew. Try to incorporate pulses into every day meals too e.g. lentils in a lasagne, smoky homemade baked beans (by adding smoked paprika to your beans in a tomato sauce), or chickpeas in a curry are a cheap source of protein and iron which may be lack- ing if meat is being cut out of diets due to cost.


If there is no time to teach cookery be- fore your young student heads off, then give them a good cookery book and some essential equipment to make sure they at least have the right tools to exper- iment. Cookery books which have easy step-by-step instructions and a compre- hensive overview of all types of cookery are the best as they contain all the basics recipes needed before branching out to more exotic dishes. I would also add a good vegetarian cookery book and a cooking-to-a-budget book to the mix too. Some cookery book suggestions include: Jamie’s Ministry of Food, Delia’s Complete How to Cook, Ballymaloe Cookery Course, Leiths How to Cook, BOSH! Simple recipes, Amazing Food, All Plants, and A Girl Called Jack: 100 delicious budget recipes. Students may also like to look at reliable cookery websites such as: BBC Good Food, Jamie Oliver or Cooking on a Bootstrap for in- spiration and simple recipes.


Teaching students to be canny with their shopping baskets is also incredibly useful. Send them out to do a weekly shop for you so they understand the cost of food, and teach them how to plan meals so food and money aren’t wasted. Encourage students to shop around at markets to find the best deals. Frozen vegetables and fruits preserve nutrients far better than those left in the fridge (plus they don’t rot and end up in the bin), frozen meat and fish are cheaper although try to encour- age students to opt for less meat but de- cent quality, (making up for less meat by


eating iron and protein rich vegetables and pulses, local butchers will be able to recommend cheaper cuts of meat and ad- vise on how to cook it.


Finally, if all else fails, rest assured that your student will always return for some deli- cious home-cooked meals and you can send them back to university laden with dishes of food you have made for them.


Best of luck to all students embarking on their new adventures.


Cookery equipment list


Knives: 1 serrated, 2 small or medium paring knives, 1 large Chef’s knife, 1 bread knife


Saucepans: set of 4, small to large


1 large stock pan, which can also be used to cook large quantities of pasta or rice when having friends round


1 medium cast-iron casserole dish 1 medium sized frying pan


2 or 3 oven proof dishes e.g. square or oval ceramic dishes in small, medium and large


1 deep roasting tin 1 shallow roasting tin Sieve and colander


Measuring cups and/or weighing scales Measuring jug


3 Chopping boards: one for raw meat and fish, one for cooked meats and fish, one for vegetables – to help with this choose colour coded plastic ones, they will also survive the dishwasher unlike wooden ones


Stick or jug blender Potato peeler Silicon spoon Whisk Spatula 3 wooden spoons Potato masher Cheese grater Mixing bowls


Storage containers – ideally thick glass ones with plastic lids which can then be put straight in the oven (without the lid!)


Doune Mackenzie is a trained cook and was Marketing Manager at Leiths School of Food and Wine for eight years. She now works for a charity which has set up a school in Ethiopia www.broomwoodinethiopia.com


www.focus-info.org FOCUS The Magazine 21


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40