Category

• Promising Local Practice

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Poverty impact

• Mitigation

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Poverty driver

• Reduce cost of living
• Provide benefit in-kind (material)
• Non-driver - improving quality of life

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Keywords

• Slow cooker
• Food poverty
• Cost-of-Living Crisis
• Fuel Poverty
• Public Health

Aim

The aims of the project are:

To work in partnership with key services and other professionals to identify vulnerable residents experiencing or at risk of experiencing food poverty and food insecurity due to increasing cost of living.

To provide a more energy efficient cooking method to reduce fuel and food poverty by distributing slow cookers of varying sizes to qualifying Tameside residents.

To provide advice and support on eating well and reducing energy bills, plus signposting for further support.

To build rapport and relationships between the Tameside residents and Tameside support services.

Summary

The Slow Cooker Project arose from the need to assist the rising number of vulnerable families in Tameside facing food and fuel poverty post Covid and in a deepening cost-of-living crisis. Working through a referral-based system, the project is providing slow cookers, starter kits and a recipe and energy saving booklet to those in need in the Tameside area. Using a slow cooker allows for more energy efficient cooking and has been found to allow and help the households involved to opt for healthier and more budget friendly meal choices.

What difference does it make?

As a result of implementing the Tameside Slow Cooker Project, many of the families who took part to the project have felt more confident in making warm meals without having to worry about the prices and found themselves eating more healthily as a result.

Key take-aways

• Provision of slow cookers can help people from deprived household categories to have a healthier diet, as well as to reduce the cost of warm meals. There is a demand for the slow cookers.
• Provide information and support to encourage people to benefit from the project as much as possible e.g. recipe and energy saving booklet to support them in using the slow cooker as well as encouraging healthier eating, signposting to further support for food and energy etc.
• Ensuring the completion of the professional evaluation and the resident evaluation is important. Professionals can sometimes notice aspects that the families themselves do not.
• Ensure localities have sufficient storage for the slow cookers. Be sure to manage stock and expectations for delivery by promoting accordingly.

 

Organisations

Tameside Council

Location

Tameside Council (borough within Greater Manchester)

Contact