Jamie’s Ministry of Food North East welcomes Barnado’s

At the end of last year, Jamie’s Ministry of Food North East welcomed a lovely group from Barnardo’s Young Carers & Family Support Service, who came to try some fab Jamie recipes and pick up some top cooking tips.

As carers, these young people spend a lot of time at home looking after an ill or disabled family member, but this week they got to spend all their time in the kitchen, cooking up delicious food to serve at a party for family and friends. Working with MOF teachers Joanna and Hazel, they learnt lots of tasty recipes, including chicken fajitas with salsa and guacamole, salmon tikka with a cucumber yoghurt dressing, and chicken kebabs with a delicious barbecue salsa and rocket salad.

On the last day, the kitchen was transformed into a dining area, where the group served the dishes they'd perfected during the week. Among the guests was Thomas, one of a young team that recently cycled from Edinburgh to Blyth to raise money for Barnardo’s. The money Thomas and his friends raised helped our young carers fund their course with the Ministry of Food.

Jenny Moodie from Barnardo’s says: “The week was a great success. They all really enjoyed the experience and took away some great skills, not only in cooking and healthy eating, but also in budgeting. They've learnt that, for the price of a family-size microwave meal, they can cook a healthy meal from scratch.”

Heidi Salanki, also from Barnardo's adds: “All of the young people tried foods that they had not had before, and one young person is now thinking about a career as a chef.”

The course got some big thumbs-up from our new cooks too, and among the lovely comments were: "I really enjoyed the time I spent here, with lovely people teaching us how to make lovely food!" and "Thank you so much for having us, I’ve really enjoyed the experience and had lots of fun. I hope we can do this again!"

Congratulations to everyone involved and we hope to see you again soon at Jamie’s MOF North East. Meanwhile, keep cooking guys!