A collaboration between two local chefs, FoodCare Orange and Mission Australia is helping local families eat better and healthier all without blowing the budget.

Food relief charity FoodCare has been helping feed locals experiencing financial hardship for the past ten years. Four days a week, they open the doors of their March Street supermarket offering people the chance to grab a range of fresh and frozen foods, and household items for free or at a discounted rate.

But with the rising cost of living, there has been a huge increase in people seeking their help, says volunteer Sue Clarke.

“The numbers coming through the door have increased enormously. Earlier in the year we were seeing about 360 a month, we're up now over 800 a month,” says Sue.

“Because there's so many people experiencing hardship, we're just trying to find ways that we can help them along.”

Teaming up with local chef and regular Orange City Life contributor Ruben Lopez Mesa and former foods technologist and chef Alison Karbowiak, FoodCare has begun offering free cooking classes to their customers, recognising that many people have limited skills in the kitchen and simply don’t know how they can make delicious, healthy meals that won’t break the bank.

“A healthy diet is actually cheaper than the normal diet that we eat with the high level of discretionary foods and fast foods,” says Alison, who is currently undertaking a Masters in Nutrition.

“It's actually cheaper to eat a healthy diet, but people's perception is that it's not, that fruit and veggies are really expensive.”

For a lot of people, it’s simply not knowing what to do, not having those skills in the kitchen that’s stopping them from cooking cheap, tasty meals at home, says Alison, 

“So if we can give people those skills then it accesses this amazing selection of fruit and veg which is then cheaper for them, it saves them money and the health outcomes are enormous.”

And at FoodCare, spending the minimum of eight dollars on products from their shelves means customers can get free bread, fruit and vegetables, added Sue.

The first of three planned cooking workshops took place on September 12 at the Marang Gunya Community Centre, with a focus on making the most of leftover bread. The next workshop on October 10 will look at different ways to use eggs: crumbing chicken schnitzel, two omelette options and making aioli from scratch.

“I guess our starting point was there's always bread at FoodCare, so here's a few ideas of what you can do with it,” says Alison.

“And eggs are really, really cheap protein and the options are endless. It just opens up a world of people for people to adapt to suit their flavours and tastes and it's quick cooking as well.

The recipes and techniques taught in the cooking classes use products from the FoodCare supermarket and are made with everyday kitchen equipment. Mission Australia has come on board to fund the program and it is hoped it will continue in 2024.

“If we can make people cook at home, that's a win,” says Ruben.

“We work really hard to try and make fresh produce available. What this is doing is enabling them to see how easy it can be to make a healthy meal and something that's really simple.”

Regular readers of Orange City Life will be familiar with Ruben’s zero-waste approach to cooking but he particularly has a passion for making cooking a part of day-to-day family life.

It is something he is excited to be able to share with others in these classes.

“I think the most exciting thing for me is about motivating as well to just have fun,” he says. “Understand that it's quite fun to cook for your family, for your partner or whatever and embrace that moment, which is very important for us as human beings just to connect through food. That's what I feel I loved the most.”