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Cooking on a Budget

Date Published: 18/06/2025

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A Recipe for Success at South Avenue Primary School

The "Cooking on a Budget" course at South Avenue Primary School has been hailed as a tremendous success, transforming the culinary skills and confidence of its parents. This innovative programme, aimed at engaging families in learning how to cook nutritious meals on a budget, has gained widespread praise from both parents and children.

I loved learning to cook gorgeous, healthy meals that don't break the bank. For years I hated how much processed food my children eat, but it was cheap. Now I can make healthy, nutritious meals even cheaper!

Parent from our Cooking on a Budget course

The course was designed with several key objectives in mind: to engage parents in Family Learning, boost confidence and skills in cooking and teach participants how to stretch their budget while preparing healthy homemade dishes. Additionally, the programme sought to involve children in cooking activities, encouraging them to try new foods and enhance their culinary skills.

The course has helped me and my little girl to bond better over cooking

Parent from our Cooking on a Budget course
Mum and dad helping daughters chop tomatoes

Here's a taste of what makes this course so special:

  • Community Building: Participants formed new friendships and a supportive group dynamic, fostering a sense of community.
  • Confidence Boost: Many parents reported a significant increase in confidence, with the tutor noting, "this learner blossomed in confidence".
  • Practical Skills: The course improved participants' maths skills, particularly measuring and budgetary calculations such as determining the cost per kilo to support the making of affordable and nutritious family meals.
  • Peer Support: Parents supported each other in developing essential cooking techniques, such as kneading pizza dough and the safe use of knives.
  • Cultural Awareness: The programme introduced participants to food and ingredients they hadn't tried before.
  • New Knowledge: Participants gained new knowledge in areas such as budgeting, cost-effective ingredient replacements and food preparation safety. They also discovered the versatility of ingredients and the benefits of homemade recipes over supermarket-bought meals.
  • Family Engagement: Parents took ingredients home to cook with their children, leading to increased positive engagement. Some children now prefer homemade meals to shop-bought meals.
  • Independent Living: Parents voluntarily recreated the recipes at home and suggested alternative ingredients to suit their families' preferences.
  • Future Learning Aspirations: The participants progressed to completing the "Keeping up with the Children - English" the following term.

It was a pleasure to work with these learners and see their enthusiasm for cooking and learning grow each week. Participants learnt how to budget and adapt recipes to make them cheaper and more nutritious. The children got involved at home and were excited to find out what they would be cooking each week and tried new ingredients. The course achieved more than just cooking however, as they formed friendships, supported each other and increased their self-confidence alongside their cooking confidence. I am so proud of them and so pleased to be part of their continuing learning journey.

Tutor for our Cooking on a Budget course

The cooking course achieved exactly what I had hoped it would. It brought a group of parents together, who then bonded and engaged in the programme. They then felt capable of moving on to a more academic course with confidence. This would not have been possible if they felt self-conscious or uncomfortable in the group.
The tutor from Family Learning, Kent Adult Education, alleviated any pre conceptions about learning as a parent. As a school this engagement is exactly what we encourage and this in turn has a positive effect on their children at South Avenue Primary and we are excited to keep working with Adult Education to see what else we can accomplish.

Helen - Family Liaison Officer

We are grateful to the Family Liaison Officer at the school for giving us the opportunity to deliver such a worthwhile and valuable course to these parents. They have embraced the chance to learn new skills and knowledge and to have fun learning with their children. I am thrilled that they loved the course so much and are excited to take their learning further with another Family Learning course. Parents will be presented with a certificate of achievement in the presence of their children, to witness the achievements of learning.

Caroline - County Education Manager for Family Learning at Kent Adult Education

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