Community Partner 2019

People on low incomes, or people who live in deprived areas, often have less healthy diets and regularly eat takeaways and highly processed ready meals.

We know that conventional cooking classes have little impact on changing entrenched habits and preferences for familiar takeaway-type of food. Therefore, Bags of Taste devised a completely new and innovative type of cooking class that motivates otherwise disinterested participants to change their habits in favour of regularly cooking good and tasty food at home.

The programme is based on the science of behavioural change and goes way beyond just
teaching skills. We educate and motivate participants to cook better than a takeaway for just £1 a portion. We help people to change their diet and food preparation habits long term, as well as distributing thousands of good, tasty ready-to-make meals each year.

Our impact is phenomenal. Evaluations show that the diets of our participants significantly improve, boosting vegetable consumption by 38% and reducing takeaway and ready meal consumption by 87%. These results are sustained long term, not only improving health, but also helping participants to save around £1,400 on annual food bills. Because the programme is enjoyable and accessible to all, we help ease social isolation and improve the prospects and quality of life for all participants and volunteers.