Change Council launch their own cookbook

This week, our Change Council - a group of cared for and care experienced young people - launched their cookbook, which includes easy to make recipes for those living on a budget.

In 2019, a group of young people worked on a campaign to raise awareness about how much money care experienced young people have to live on. The group worked out that, on average, a care experienced young person without a job would have just £21 per week to spend on food, drink and transport after their bills were paid.

The group spent two days in a professional kitchen at Sunderland College and at the end, held a lunch for professionals and senior managers from Together for Children. The young people organised games for the staff to play throughout the lunch, including true or false statements and human bingo. They also asked each staff member to write out a receipt at the end of the lunch for how much they would have paid for the meal. The purpose of this was to show that a professional might go out for lunch and spend £10 on one meal but that is half of what a care experienced young person has to spend for the entire week.

Since then, the group have secured funding for and developed a programme of starter hampers, which will include the cookbook, for every care experienced young person who Together for Children supports to move into independent living.

Gabby, who was involved in the project, told us: "It's a really positive thing to have been involved in. The cookbook has simple recipes that will help people to make healthier and cheap meals. I do a lot of batch cooking myself and it's much more effective. It can be hard to follow recipes online, but the cookbook is easy to follow and well planned out.

I was part of the group that did the cooking course at Sunderland College and it was great to be involved, I've not done anything like that before. We prepared, cooked and plated the food for the lunch and all of us made suggestions and ideas for the cookbook. As a group of young people, it's all different foods that we like to eat ourselves."

Nikki Donaldson, Participation and Engagement Officer, adds: "It was a great experience for the young people to visit a professional kitchen and work with the team at Sunderland College to prepare and make different meals. The staff who attended really enjoyed the delicious food our young people cooked up.

"Paying £10 for a meal in a restaurant is something many of us might take for granted and I think most were shocked by how little young people have to live on each week once their bills are paid. It was great for the young people to raise awareness about this and secure funding to create the hampers for care experienced young people who are moving into independent living. Moving into your own place can be challenging for any young person and might be the first time they're learning to do things like budget and plan meals. Having a hamper to get started when they move in, as well as a cookbook filled with meal ideas, will make a real difference as they get settled into their new home."

Want to get your hands on a copy? You can buy one for £7.50 and all funds raised will go towards funding future projects for cared for and care experienced young people in Sunderland. If you'd like to purchase a copy of the cookbook, please email youthvoice@togetherforchildren.org.uk. 

Members of our Change Council are supported, encouraged and empowered to run their own meetings, create actions, develop campaigns and have their say about things that matter to them. Members of Change Council are also given opportunities to influence decisions about how services are run by Together for Children and our partners.

Want to know what else our Change Council have been up to? Find out about their Change the Language campaign, which aims to challenge the language used by professionals when talking about cared for and care experienced young people and their experiences.