By Ewen McRae
Cooking classes in Melton to help those facing food insecurity are winning strong early support.
Part of the ongoing soup kitchen at Melton Senior’s Community and Learning Centre, the cooking classes show how to prepare meals on a tight budget.
Organiser Kylie Farrugia said the classes were a welcome addition to the soup kitchen.
“It was previously just bread and soup that was available, but thanks to the funding of council we’ve been able to open it up to have the opportunity for meals and also these classes every second week,” Ms Farrugia said.
“After talking to a lot of people in the community, we realised that there were a lot of people suffering food insecurity and people are wanting to learn more about what they can do … how to make their budget stretch a bit further. We had about 15 people at our first class and we’re hoping to grow that.”
The classes are run by volunteers, who decide which recipe they will present, with the cost of each one coming in under $20.
Ms Farrugia said there was a strong need for such classes.
“We usually get 40 to 50 at the soup kitchen, so there’s demand for this sort of thing,” she said.
“The idea of running the cooking classes is to give us a bigger reach and to help more people. It’s a very social night, which is very important – just sharing a meal and cooking is great for everyone.”
The next class will take place on Saturday, July 6, with future events on the first and third Saturdays of the month.
Anyone interested in getting involved can visit facebook.com/soupkitchenmelton or simply attend on the night.
